Sweet Heat

Combos that master the balance of sugar and spice

by Genevelyn Steele

June 6, 2023

3:07 PM

Mangonada at Dulceria Minilandia y Neveria Michoacana (Photo by Jay Paul)

$5.75 at Dulceria Minilandia y Neveria Michoacana

Minilandia's version of a mangonada, a classic Latin street food, takes the mango milkshake and studs it with chunks of fruit dunked in a kicky chamoy sauce and salty chile powder. If guests prefer something less sweet and more fresh, opt for the whole pineapple, which comes stuffed with cut fruit, cucumber and jicama and features the same piquant drizzle, minus the ice cream.

$7.50 at Surrounding Counties Coffee

This breakfast sandwich is the white woodpecker of Henrico — visually devoured but rarely sighted. In this Treat Shop collaboration, a glazed doughnut is halved and filled with maple-Sriracha-glazed veggie sausage, a fried egg and cheese. It's available on Mondays, but only if there are doughnuts left from Sunday. The same ingredients also take form in a kolache ($7), which Surrounding Counties owner Zach Archibald compares to the Czech breakfast version of pigs in a blanket.

$14 at Latin Quarter Kitchen

Can't take the heat? The burner is set to low on this patacon, a sandwich where the "bread" is starchy, flattened savory plantains spread with jalapeno-ranch sauce, fresh cheese, pickled onions and tangy flank ropa vieja, all mingling with chunks of smooshy-sweet caramelized plantains. Find it weekdays at the Broad Street ghost kitchen ChefSuite or aboard the Latin Quarter food truck.

$14.99 per 32 ounces at SoulSmith Kombucha

Thai chile peppers, ginger, and black and oolong teas fermented with sugar combine for the ultimate health tonic, according to its maker, Nani Smith. The founder of SoulSmith Kombucha suggests drinking this digestion-boosting elixir first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. It's fiery, but its sweetness and low carbonation make it go down easily.

$17 at Elegant Cuizines

Chef Theresa Headen combines West African fusion and heart-skipping presentation at her Grace Street restaurant, Elegant Cuizines. Her signature jerk spice blends Scotch bonnets with savory herbs and subtly sweet baking spices such as cinnamon, which tenderize the dense sprouts. The cherry on top of this heat-seeking, gluten-free and vegan veggie sundae is Headen's palate-tingling candied chile sauce.

by Genevelyn Steele

June 6, 2023

3:07 PM