It doesn't take a genius to know the answer. Chilies. It's a known fact, as the Thais love hot spicy food garnished with hot chilies, so do the Mexicans, which brings up the question--which is hotter, Mexican or Thai chilies?

We have been auguring the point for the last couple months. Once a week we (Mitch and Steve) go out for dinner, each week it's a different place, a kind of "food safari" we call it. And what better place is there to do this than Bangkok. Being a cosmopolitan city that it is, and the capital of the country, embassies from every country around the world are represented. What results are ethnic restaurants that spring up representing these countries, and many with the strangest, and often exciting, native cuisines? We live in Bangkok, thus dining out can be an adventure. Even for visitors.

Now the two of us don't always agree. Mitch says Thai chilies are hotter; Steve' says Mexican. So to solve the chili argument, we headed to la Fiesta's on the corner of Silom and Patpong roads.

The location could be any better, and the decor is truly Mexican, even though its owner, a lovely woman named Patty, is Thai. "I may be Thai but I know my Mexican food," Patty protested when we ask her about Mexican food. But she was convincing. Especially when she plopped down on our table two pitchers of Margaritas. Who wouldn't like the place? Patty is a remarkable Thai lady. Six years ago she opened the restaurant, which she designed herself.

Still, a Thai designing a Mexican restaurant and cooking Mexican food? Unusual, yes, but not in this case. Patty fell in love with everything Mexican when she visited Acapulco, and now each year she travels to Mexico to collect new recipes. She researches her food, and imports all her spices from America. "I even used to import all my dishes from Mexico," she said. "But with my staff breaking things, I found I could buy exactly what I need at the Sunday market." Patty has 17 employees and supervises everything that goes on. Divorced, with a daughter in her 20s, she jokes that she is still married, to La Fiesta that is. "I'm single," she adds, "but not available."

We made one mistake. Before we downed our first Marguerita, waiters in their Mexican dress filled the table with plates of delicious entradas (appetizers in Spanish), or which we thought were appetizers. To our chagrin, we began gobbling them down, including Patty's import jalapeno chilies. Then they brought the corn tortillas, which we now learned that the entradas were actually fillings for the tortillas. A couple more Marguerites and it didn't matter.

Mitch went for the avocado openers. Dish after dish arrived, served with chilled sangria, wine with fresh fruit. Lots of beef and fish. The refried beans were superb, and Patty calls it her secret recipe, but she does admit she cooks the beans for two days. Some of the dishes do have a Thai flavor. The garlic taste gives them away. The big question that came up: which are hotter, Mexican chilies or Thai chilies? It's a question without an answer. Patty settled it by saying: "They are different, and that's all that matters." We guess she's right. They are different. The desert was ordinary, but the piece de la resistance was the coffee, Patty insisted on brewing it herself. It was sensational. Served in a stemmed glass, she made it from Kahlua, with lumps of brown sugar added. It was so powerful I couldn't sleep for two nights.
La Fiesta has an ideal location, on the corner of Patpong and Silom Roads. Before Patty bought it, it was Wendy's. There's live music every night at 9:00, and the bottle of Mescal the waiter puts on your table has a worm at the bottom of the bottle. That shouldn't be a concern. If you finished the bottle, you won't remember the worm.