Lemon-juice cleanses and detox teas, phthah. Some of us clear the system with the purging fire of chiles -- the scouring heat that ignites the lips, the jagged pain that descends from sinuses to diaphragm, the beads of sweat that form on swaths of skin we never knew had sweat glands.
San Francisco does not lack for sweat lodges of the gastronomic kind. The peppers that first made their way east on Portuguese and Spanish trading ships have circumnavigated the globe, returning to the city in the form of Korean stews, Thai salads, and North African condiments. After the jump, here are 10 of the best dishes that set multiple parts of our bodies aflame in 2011. A round of Tums for the house!
1. Duck larb at Thai House Express
