Grateful Griddle - Spiciest Dish in Columbus
Grateful Griddle started the way a lot of the best food in Columbus does, out of a truck. Founder Lance spent 24 years as a stock and options trader before deciding he would rather feed people than stare at tickers, and he built the whole operation around two of his loves: the Grateful Dead and Ohio State football. The result is a tie-dye smash burger truck that rolls Deadhead culture and Buckeye pride into one window, right down to an onboard speaker system so whoever books the truck can run their own playlist while the patties hit the flattop.
The Lady got the Frisco Melt, shown below.
For years that truck worked the private event and catering circuit around central Ohio. That changed on June 9, 2026, when Grateful Griddle opened its first brick-and-mortar, a ghost kitchen tucked inside Presidential Sports Bar at 4060 Presidential Pkwy in Powell. The permanent spot is pickup and delivery only, no dining room, and the original truck still runs events, so there are now two ways to get a smash burger with their name on it.
The reason it lands on this list is a burger called the Fire on the Mountain, named after the Dead song and built on ghost pepper cheese, lettuce, tomato, and their “frisky” sauce.
I’m no deadhead, but I was curious about how dead I would be from inhaling this burger.
As advertised, Fire on the Mountain is two 4-ounce fresh angus patties with two slices of ghost pepper cheese, fresh jalapeño’s and spicy sauce on a brioche bun. You had me at “two.”
The crust of the patties and fresh jalapenos give the burger a nice crunch, followed by the tiniest of kicks from the spicy sawce. The sawce was tame enough that The Lady was able to dunk some fries in without issue. Solid sawce, but doesn’t really register on the heat meter.
Now, pickled jalapenos are all well and good, they just don’t hold a candle to the bright green snap of a fresh jalapeno that sends me to Shakedown Street, so I was grateful the path selected here was fresh.
I’m no Friend of the Devil, but I love a good ghost pepper cheese on a burger. It’s definitely the star of the show heat-wise for Fire on the Mountain, but unlike the uniformity of a Ripple, ghost pepper cheese has a habit of spreading the heat around. One bite gives you a little slap, while the next is only a little tap.
While the burger and I finished off the New Speedway Boogie, I thought about where it sat on the list. This one definitely didn’t have me playin’ cold music on the barroom floor, and I didn’t need a whole pail of water to cool me down, but it’s a fun heat level for those looking to step into the spicy game. That said, I’ll lay it to rest at #100, just into the triple digits and slightly spicier than the Bonfire Burger at The Rail.
Not too sloppy, not too spicy, I can see myself getting this burger any time I’m in the area.
Grateful Griddle’s brick-and-mortar is at 4060 Presidential Pkwy in Powell, OH, inside Presidential Sports Bar, and it’s pickup and delivery only. The food truck is still out catering events around central Ohio. You can find them at gratefulgriddleoh.com and on Instagram.
See our current rankings of spiciest dishes in Columbus and let us know on Instagram or through our Contact page about dishes we should add to the list.