NYC's hottest dishes

Restaurant: Sigiri, 91 First Ave.
Dish: devilled grilled (with choice of fish or meat), $15.95
Pepper: ghost chili
Influenced by a mélange of cuisines and closely related to Indian but with more kick, Sri Lankan food is prepared slowly and eaten spicy hot. Fiercely spicy hot. At Sigiri in the East Village, they refer to the top of their heat scale as “Sri Lankan spicy,” which is a notch up from “very, very spicy,” but chances are they won’t let you order that level. “You have to be ready for it,” says a server, as serious as the heart attack they don’t want you to have. Either way, devilled grilled, a dish in which fish or meat is saturated in ghost chilies, other peppers and chili flakes, is the city’s hottest, while still managing to be enjoyable. Past the heat, you’ll taste layers of flavors within.