Chili & Max

On those rare occasions I’m at the Gateway mall I make sure to stop at Chili & Max. It’s one of those few places in a mall that does not sell clothing and it fun to go in and try some unique hot sauces. And the ability to sample before you buy is the reason I love coming here.
Last time I came I wanted to try a habonero (sp) sauce and they opened up a new bottle for me to try as well as recommended another one for a different kind of heat. I love that they were able to give recommendation; they know the products they sell. Plus they are super friendly and not salemen pushy which makes it a comfortable experience.

This is one of the few hot sauce shops in not only Salt Lake City, but the state (I think there’s one other nestled in a Quilted Bear in the mall in Ogden (not visited that yet) and of course, Grove Market — if you wanted, you could probably make a case for a Firehouse Sub location as well) and given that I’m definitely of that subset that can be considered a «chilehead», though not to the point of losing the thing that matters most to me about food: flavor. Hot sauce should be a nice accent, but not a dominant aspect and things that are hot for the sake of being hot are generally useless to me. Hot sauces that involve extract, for instance, taste horrid and ruin the flavor of food, which is the opposite effect I want. I think almost everything could use a little heat, but it has to enhance the flavor rather than destroy it or why bother. This concept applies to all condiments, whether it be ketchup, mayo or Blair’s Pure Death sauce.
That aside, the question here, given that this type of shop is somewhat of a novelty in Utah and likely to remain so for some time, is this: Is it worthwhile to fight downtown and crappy parking and the overall disdain I have for that area in general and this mall in particular to shop at this place vs. one of the emporiums online that require none of that? In shorter terms, is their inventory on par with one of those places online to make it worthwhile to go through that hassle to stock up without the weight and possibly shipping costs?
I went in not really expecting a lot, but hoping for the best because I really really want a shop like this to be able to succeed in Salt Lake, even given their questionable location for a shop. This is an outlet for the curiously named «It’s F’n Hot», a brand made in Park City, if memory serves. It quickly became clear that the main comparison will be with Grove. Grove definitely has a wider variety in terms of different sauces, especially in the novelty and specialty side; C & M is not even close, but in terms of sheer quantity, C & M has literally cases of stuff, though much of it is the Arizona Gunslinger and the house brand. As I was shopping for some fairly specific sauces, only one of which was actually in house, this was a fairly brief visit.
I didn’t get a chance to check to see if the product was expired but given how new this place is, I’m inclined to give it the benefit of the doubt. A huge advantage they have over Grove (I think the place in Ogden also does this) is the ability to taste the sauces, though when I was there I think it was (quite reasonably) limited to the sauces they already had open. Very few sauces taste especially good solo, but this is still nice to be able to have. The staff was generally nice, if a bit distracted by extraneous elements, when I was there.
Prices at here and Grove tend to be higher than online. Given the higher overhead of a mall setting, this one is considerably higher. I still plan to get down there to get some sauces I haven’t tried yet, but aside from desperately needing some sauce I can’t wait for online, I think the usefulness of this place is considerably limited and hampered by the location. I personally wish it wasn’t located in a mall at all, as I intensely dislike going to those, but perhaps there is some advantage of the shop being there that’s beyond my ken.
To finally answer the question, I posed earlier, the answer, finally, is conditionally. It’s worth going once to check out, if you’re at all interested in high piquancy condiments and you can much more readily try-​before-​you-​buy and get a single bottle to try for a fairly low dollar amount and not be out too much time or money. Whether it bears repeated visits is definitely in question, though.

I’M A HOT MANIAC!
PICANTE, ÉPICÉ, WÜRZIG, PICCANTE, SPICY.
I’M A HOT SAUCE MANIAC!
The mo’ hotta, the mo’ betta. If you are looking to tinker with the Scoville scale anywhere from 100 to 16,000,000 this is the place to buy your spicy concoction to experiment with. The shelves here contain hundreds of bottles of varying spice levels that await your trial. From smoky and savory to blatant pure Capsaicin, you will find your spicy complement at this hot shop.
Best part aside from looking at the outrageous selection is that you can sample your sauce before you buy it. If I were you, I would try a sample of their hottest sauce.
Oh, the joys of spice.