Salsa tasting tough on tastebuds

DAVID ROCHKIND/Daily Tio's owner Tim Seaver shows off an award from Chili Pepper magazine. Every first Sunday of the month Tio's gives away tons - literally - of hot sauce. They provide the chips, all you have to bring is a couple of strong tastebuds.

By Mariela C. Flambury
For the Daily

Every Sunday we all go through the same thing. We wake up at around one or two o' clock, watch several hours of TV and spend another several hours on the phone - all in an attempt to avoid the dreaded thought of homework. Well, Tios Mexican Café provides a way to help the average University student avoid their academic assignments this weekend with the eatery's free, monthly salsa taste testing.

On the first Sunday of every month, between noon and 4 p.m., Tios tempts rebellious taste buds with approximately 80 different varieties of scintillatingly hot salsas shipped to the restaurant from manufacturers all over the country. The salsa-making companies send Tios samples of their latest creations, and whether or not they will be sold in the store depends on the patrons' reactions at the monthly tastings.

The event includes tortilla chips for the dipping, and the reassurance of "all-you-can-eat" for those hungry and broke on a Sunday afternoon. Olivia Seaver, whose father, Tim, owns the restaurant, explains Tios's famous Wall of Flame. "We have little booklets that help you keep track of the salsas you've tasted and after you've tried 100, you get on our Wall of Flame and a T-shirt which says, 'I Tasted 100 Hot Sauces at Tios and Lived to Tell About It,' and after each additional 100 you get something free like hot pepper shorts or a hot pepper apron..."

After you taste 100 sauces, your name is proudly displayed on a paper jalapeño that is mounted on the wall. The actual Wall of Flame is quite impressive, with more than 200 satisfied customers' names listed.

Tios also contributes to the salsa world with its own varieties of sauces, including mild, medium, hot and extra-hot. Seaver explains that their sauces are all made with the freshest ingredients.

Tios's dedication to salsa extends beyond Ann Arbor, as shown with their participation in national salsa-tasting conventions. The Fiery Food Challenge, held annually in New Mexico, recognized Tios's salsa skills in 1997. In that contest, Seaver remembers, the restaurant "entered its extra-hot sauce and won first place and a Chili Pepper award." She also notes that this award-winning salsa is the most popular one with eat-in customers - most likely due to its notoriety.

Seaver suggested that "Dazed Insanity" was probably the most preferred salsa of patrons. Malene Prince, a LSA sophomore and frequent participant in the tasting, has fond memories of "Dazed Insanity."

"It was one of the best foods I have ever tasted," she said. "Everything you could ever want in a hot sauce."

This Tios tasting is definitely real, and not for the slight-of-heart. Seaver said she witnessing several strange occurrences at regular salsa tastings, including, several students who tasted several salsas and began crying uncontrollably, and a taster who was unable to breathe after tasting a particularly hot salsa, requiring an ambulance to be called.

So the next time you're in the mood for a little spice in your life, check out the happenings at Tios's salsa taste-testing. Most agree It's a monthly experience that's as much fun as it is affordable.

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