As soon as you sit at a table outdoors in Coffee / Sabor in Logan, it is obvious that this is not a typical lunch crowd.
Apart from a small cup of tomato sauce every table receives, four bowls of salsa, including two light green concoctions and two large bowls of chili peppers - one with slices and set with fried peppers in oil - are delivery without asking.
"It must be Thursday again," about a waitress says with a smile, the recognition of the seven men. "Are you going to eat all the sauce?"
Yes, thanks, they are.
Three years ago, a group of employees of the city of Logan shared a small bottle of sweet and hot jalapenos. The picnic was a success, and the Director of Security in the city of Scott Douglass, Director of Water and Wastewater Bob Laursen and landfill Director Richard Albiston do not let it end there. They formed a group lunch, later known as the "dark side" to attract and repel some dinner partners the burning palate and stomach during meals. Since then they have taken the tradition of a higher level, and hotter.
"Trust me," says Douglass, cracking wise and prudent leader, offering a Chilean yellow pepper a collection in your office to a newcomer.
Douglass is a line obviously been used before, given the smile on his face watching the newcomer's reaction after eating the sandwich in one powerful bite.
"Do not trust anyone," Laursen counters. "The new person always gets sidetracked by the elderly."
After sharing the original peppers, veterans of the group began meeting for lunch at local restaurants every Thursday during the warm months, and potlucking in Logan Service Center during the winter. The lunches began in the Old Mexico Restaurant El Toro, Douglass said, until the reputation of being gluttons for punishment led to a sharp struggle between his will and the restaurant's kitchen.
"We are in the stage to see how hot it could make," said Douglas. He said the staff of El Toro happily obliged and soon, "Each of us was waving a white handkerchief, saying, 'Uncle, uncle."
The partys - where sandwiches chile, ham, enchiladas, chicken wings, and corned beef and cabbage are served - not have been very different. A lot of spices is a part of the meetings, thanks to some homemade creations Albiston and a collection of hot sauce and jalapenos to make a supermarket south of jealousy.
"Hazardous waste". "After Death Sauce." "Arizona Gunslinger". "Hot Sauce from Hell: Revenge of the Devil." "Tabasco Habanero".
As each bottle is removed from the refrigerator yellow with a red and white "Flammable" sign on the door, comments and stories of growing up.
"There are some things that I will not touch. There is no taste, it hurts," said Laursen as a bottle marked "100% Pain" is removed. "Nobody is going to play, but they Richard".
But even Albiston has its limits, especially when the name of "Dave's Folly" is connected.
He pauses, bringing back the memory, and admits: "That's going to have the chrome ball down."
Albiston talks as the expert, is the chef of the group. His specialty is in the refrigerator. It is a jar of red liquid, the light of the moon tomato marked by a hand, "Good and Snappy" at the top. The drink is made by draining the juice and homemade salsa, like all foods in which the group is interested, it comes with a kick.
"Quality control is not very good at that," Douglas says with a smile, despite the 80 / 4 of the things that were consumed in the Service Center this year could be evidence to the contrary.
Douglass said the meetings are open to all, but many of those who accept the invitation to decide quickly who prefer a home meal. The men have not forgotten our fallen comrades, and actually enjoy telling stories about the stomach that could not be with the dark-siders.
At 12: 30 pm at Cafe Sabor, 10 bowls of salsa at different stages of sitting on the vacuum table as the group arrives at the conclusion of lunch. While everyone seems satisfied, is Douglass has to make sure the sauce and peppers have been added to food does not cross the line. Not that the line has not been crossed before, Douglass recalls with a sense of humor.
"I've had my system whisper back to me, 'Thanks, but that should not be here.'"