I waited until the following morning before writing this. I was livid when I walked back from Rock Bottom last night. Being someone who travels a lot I end up eating out way more than anyone should. Perhaps it is for this reason I’m more sensitive to the issue. Hasn’t anyone else noticed chefs are hiding uncrushed hot this and Uber hot that in _everything_ these days. Pretty soon they will be throwing peppercorn in your drinking water.

This trend is ruining our health as a nation. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the massive rise in sales of Prilosec and Nexium. It seems that most supermarkets have trouble keeping them stocked. We won’t even talk about the short term quick fix antacid products.

All of the chains seem to be jumping on board. Applebees used to have good food. I went to one recently and asked for my meal to be mild, preferably no spice. What I got was something with uncrushed pepper hidden everywhere. It was impossible to scrape it off. The spice was so bad I had to order cheese sticks just to help soothe my mouth and throat. Regrettably the cheese sticks were too far behind the actual meal to prevent an evening of anguish and multiple flaming exits.

Even time honored comfort foods are falling victim to this demented spice craze. I saw beef tips on the menu last night. I love beef tips and noodles. It is a time honored Midwestern comfort food. Some places opt to serve it over rice instead of noodles, but comfort food none the less. Not last night. I was glad I read the detailed description. They serve it over mashed potatoes with various kinds of peppers ground up in them and top that with some kind of spiced cheddar cheese.

Here is a tip for all of those chefs out there from someone who grew up raising cattle. Putting uncrushed pepper of any kind on a steak is a sure fire way to ruin a prized piece of meat.