Editor's note: We continue our Kogi BBQ Taco Truck coverage with this insider's look from Kogi team member Alice Shin. You already know that a day on the Kogi truck is a long one, but Alice dissects the day even further, revealing the good and the bad. Photograph from Eric Shin on Flickr After adopting a 4-star chef into the family and renting out a humble little truck, we’ve been on the road in search of bellies hungry for our K-town homage to Mexican taco trucks. Here are some of the things I learned along the way. Fasten Your Seatbelts Riding around at 55 mph in a creaking, hulking Korean taco truck feels a lot like surfing. It’s also the... More

Editor's note: Each week, Gretchen VanEsselstyn of Chile Pepper magazine drops by to drop some Serious Heat. Here at Chile Pepper magazine, masochism is alive and well. For our annual March "Hot Sauce" issue, we tasted a few hundred hot sauces from makers large and small over a four-week period. We categorized them, wrote up notes, took some photos, and assembled the info into a giant buying guide. And then we checked in with our gastroenterologists. This year, we took a journey through the alphabet, from A for Asian and African sauces through Z for ZestFest, with stops along the way for categories like Chipotle, Dessert, Garlic, Jerk, Mustard, Texas, and, of course, XXX. I is for Ideas, and the... More

The Kogi BBQ Taco Truck has a cult following in L.A. We take a peek into the daily routine of Kogi staff member Mark Manguera to get an idea of what it takes to run the Kogi truck. It's a 9-to-5 job, but not in the way you'd expect. More

"Man, I’m getting hungry, but I’m only allowed to drink diesel." Editor's note: The L.A. Times carries a story today on the Kogi Korean BBQ taco truck and its Twittering ways. We figured we'd talk to the truck itself. Kogi co-founder Alice Shin interprets the truck's responses for us. If you’re an Angeleno, you've no doubt heard of Kogi. If not, get to know it here. Photograph courtesy of Eric Shin Name: Kogi Location: Downtown Los Angeles, Venice Beach, Silverlake—generally wherever I can find hungry vampires fiending for our goods Occupation: Taco truck URL: kogibbq.com, twitter.com/kogibbq What is Kogi? You can call it our homage to the Mexican taco trucks that fed and sustained us in our Korean American youth.... More

2009 Golden Chile Awards Your Spicy Food To-Do List: Part 1 Every year in Fort Worth, Texas, culinary professionals and hot food aficionados gather to judge the longest running and most prestigious competition in the zesty food world: the Fiery Food Challenge. Hundreds of products are blind-judged in a grueling three-day process until only the finest, fieriest foods emerge victorious as winners of the Golden Chile. As editors of Chile Pepper, we can't judge—it's too likely that we'll recognize the flavor of a product we know, and skew the results. But we did drop by the judging last weekend just in time to see one taster jump to his feet. "There's something on my leg!" he exclaimed, "and it... More

Photographs from Fast Food Critic. Tired of the bland corn-colored crunchy shells at Taco Bell? They now have red ones in honor of the 89-cent Volcano Taco, part of the "Why Pay More!" value menu. The red shell is stuffed with grated cheddar, green lettuce, cheesy "lava" sauce, and ground beef, what Fast Food Critic is calling "possibly the spiciest sauce on their menu." He thinks the "volcano" cheese sauce is even more fiery than Taco Bell's "fire sauce." Unfortunately the red taco shell tasted like a regular shell, but could introduce the possibility of a red soft tortilla.... More

Editor's note: Spicy thrill-seekers have been getting their fix from Chile Pepper magazine for more than 20 years. Editors Gretchen VanEsselstyn and Andrea Lynn, plus a team of intrepid tasters, testers, writers, and photographers, put together the bimonthly print magazine, temporarily paralyzing their taste buds by working through the newest hot sauces, salsas, and more. And now you'll reap the benefits, as they'll be sharing thoughts and observations from the fiery food world with Serious Eats readers. Check out their posts for the hottest products, recipes, events, and news around. Events If you live the zesty life, and you're in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, check out ZestFest 2008, Chile Pepper's red-hot food show, taking place September 5 to 7 at... More

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Inspired by a LA-area chain called Killer Shrimp that serves nothing but the eponymous dish, Jaden of Steamy Kitchen shares her recipe for Killer Cajun Crawfish. I was planning on having just a grilled cheese sandwich and chorizo for dinner, but how can I now that I've got crawfish on the brain? Life is so hard.... More