Hoyo’s Kitchen – Spiciest Dish in Columbus Series

Hoyoooooooo’s.

If you don’t know about Hoyo’s Kitchen, you need to get yourself to North Market (Downtown). After a hot sauce delivery at Flavor & Fire, we were putzing around to figure out lunch. I’ve done a few North Market spots over the past few year’s but Hoyo’s was still on the list. Remembering all the good things folks had mentioned, I got in line. Just standing there, the aroma blew me away.

Opening up in North Market in August 2019, Hoyo’s Kitchen is a fast favorite. I probably had 10-20 different people recommend it to me over the years, so I was excited to finally give it a try.

The Lady of the Farm had wandered off to get some curry at Satori Ramen, but I was on a mission to get some new heat into my face.

Bowl Setup:

• Spicy Rice
• Orginal Spicy Chicken
• Chickpeas
• Spinach
• Original Hot Sauce

The rice has that slow build with heavy cumin and spices that give way to the eye-watering heat. There’s an addictive tingle that keeps you diving back in for more and honestly, I think I could eat a bucket of this rice. Nose running, I glanced around the upper deck of North Market, making sure no one would see the disgusting spice gremlin I was turning into.

Veggie-wise, the spinach doesn’t do much in terms of heat, but with the chickpeas and the hot sauce mixed in, another version of heat started to creep through. A more traditional front-of-the-mouth spiciness, the original hot sauce has a bit of the vinegar bite, then a sharp heat that falls off, leaving the blanket of spiciness the rice affords.

Rounding out the bowl is the chicken. I didn’t fully catch the name of it, but if you’re peering past the window at Hoyo’s just look for the heavily powdered chicken with visible seeds on top. Each chunk of chicken has a spiciness that permeates throughout, with little pustules of capsaicin that pop out sporadically. Once again a solid base heat mixed with peaks of peppery punch. Eyes watering, and ingredients mixed, the bowl continued to present a whole mouth heat bite after bite.

A mouth-breathing mess, I gazed into my still half-full bowl and decided to tap out. Awesome level of heat, but so much food in one bowl (a good problem to have). Sweating through the leftovers later in the evening I thought about where Hoyo’s Kitchen ranks. The different types of heat make this an interesting dish and with all things considered, we’re placing Hoyo’s Kitchen at #23. This is an “I could get this every day and I don’t care how disgusting I look sweating through it” dish. The flavors and spicy layers are just *chef’s kiss*

10/10, would definitely get Hoyo’s Kitchen again, and it’s likely that it will be the primary spot I head to for lunch when I’m in the area.

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