NYC Hot Sauce Expo 2014
March 29 and 30, 2014
Penn
Plaza Pavillion
NYC
 |
| Allen, Two Frys with Steve Seabury, High River Sauces and Expo King! |
This year's NYC Hot Sauce Expo surpassed expectations. The
expo brought out hordes of Chile-head and Hot Sauce aficionados, and hot sauce
vendors from all over showcased their goods. Last year, the NYC Hot Sauce Expo
was in Brooklyn but this year, the new locale was right in the heat of the city
at Penn Plaza Pavilion, across the street from Penn Station and Madison Square Garden.
The location was great and adjacent to the Pennsylvania Hotel providing convenient
room accommodations for fans and vendors. The location offered an easy access
point for people in the five boroughs and New Jersey, as the subway and train
connections were right across the street.
 |
| Spicy Pizza Eating Contest |
 |
| Spicy Pizza Eating Contest |
The NYC Hot Sauce Expo event was the place to be for heat
lovers. Congrats to Steve Seabury and High River Sauces for making the expo
possible, and bringing the heat level in all its forms so everyone could enjoy tasting
and buying from a huge selection of products.
 |
| DEFCON Sauces Spicy Chicken Wing Eating Contest |
 |
| Igor from Astoria, Queens, NY, winner of the DEFCON Sauces Spicy Chicken Wing Eating Contest |
My wife Sophia and I attended the NYC Hot Sauce Expo on
Saturday, March 29 and saw two competitions, the Spicy Pizza Eating Contest presented
by I Love It Spicy and Volcanic Peppers with pizza courtesy of Grimaldi's, and
the DEFCON Sauces Chicken Wing Eating Contest. We enjoyed watching
the intensity of suffering looks on contestant faces from the fiery burn
ripping inside as they swallowed pizza and chicken wings. Igor from Astoria, Queens prevailed
(see photo), and took top honors for the trophy in the DEFCON Sauces Chicken Wing Eating Contest. The
chicken wings and wing sauce were made by DEFCON the night before. These
events were two of many scheduled today, on a stage in a large area in the back
of the expo room. Both events were crowded, and it took a bit of navigation
skills to see it all.
 |
| Karma Sauce |
 |
| Deception Salsa |
There were over forty hot sauce vendors, food vendors as
well as bars with water, drinks, booze, etc. The event was well organized and the layout good, featuring several rooms that opened up into a large area. I saw some of my local old friends
like High River Sauces, Heartbreaking Dawns, Bonfatto's, Torchbearer Sauces,
Jordan Brenners Waa Cha, Karma Sauce and more. Between Sophia and me, we
visited as many of the booths we could, and did a ton of tasting from Wimpy
to Extreme heat levels. A lot of vendors from last year were back like
Puckerbutt, Big Fat's, CaJohn's, all slinging their sauces and showcasing new
flavors.
 |
| Saint Lucifer |
I also met a lot of my online friends and cohorts from
companies Sweet Heat Gourmet, Gemini Crow, Voodoo Sauces, Hoboken Eddie's,
Hellfire Hot Sauce, Lucky Dog Hot Sauce, and Grinders, which I have been a fan for some
time. It was great tasting so many sauces and meeting these folks for the first
time, face to face. This expo provides a great networking aspect for us food
bloggers and shoppers alike, and it is great to be part of this Chile-head
community. I also met an online friend from the UK and the Clifton Chili Club,
Chili Dave.
 |
| Allen, Two Frys and Doug Spiros, Peppers And More |
 |
| Allen, Two Frys with Carline Phanor, Men Pa'w Sauces |
Some highlights were meeting my friend Chip Hearn from
Peppers.com and talking shop a few minutes. It was great to meet Carline Phanor
of the Florida
based company, Men Pa'w Sauces. I was thrilled to see my bud Johnny McLaughlin
from Heartbreaking Dawn's again, a big #1 fave sauce of our blog. I enjoyed
spending a few quality minutes with John the Creator, my friend from DEFCON
Sauces, Hellfire Hot Sauce maestro Merle, talking to Steve Seabury (event promoter
and High River Sauces king) and meeting Thom from VooDoo Chile for the first
time and buying PORCUS directly from the man himself. I have my eye on some of VooDoo Chile's sauces for upcoming reviews and recipes on Two Frys.
 |
| Allen, Two Frys |
 |
| Sophia, Two Frys |
One of the highlights was spending time all afternoon, on and
off with my pal Doug Spiros from Peppers and More from over the river in NJ. I am a member of this online group, and the Hot Sauce Group for some time now, and
it was an honor to meet and converse with this local Chile-head.
DEFCON Sauces
I started the expo with my friend John Dilley, President and
Creator of DEFCON Sauces. Based in New
Jersey, DEFCON had a large selection of award-winning
sauces, horseradish habanero spreads, and other very hot rubs and seasonings.
 |
| Allen, Two Frys with John Dilley, DEFCON Sauces Creator |
 |
| DEFCON Sauces new Contaminated Soil and other goodies |
 |
| DEFCON Sauces products |
We
purchased the new item premiered at the expo by DEFCON creators, Contaminated
Soil. As John put it, Contaminated Soil blend is a New Jersey product; an exquisite blend of
natures abominations. This powdery blend contains habanero, bird pepper, Trinidad scorpion, ancho's, cayenne, naga jolokia,
chipotle, jalapeño, hickory and other powdered peppers and flavors. I tasted
Contaminated Soil on popcorn, and it was good and spicy. I am looking forward
to cooking with it and posting a recipe soon.
 |
| DEFCON Sauces Wing Sauce products |
 |
| DEFCON Sauces Contaminated Soil |
 |
| DEFCON Sauces Deathmatch Mark IV Cluckwing Orange and Habby Pony Mild Habanero Horseradish |
Bonfatto's Wing Sauce & Marinade
I was pleased to see PA based Bonfatto's Wing Sauce & Marinade at
the expo. We have been fans since the
Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival some years ago. Bonfatto's offer a large
line of wing sauces and marinades, all diverse in flavors, and available in different
heat levels. I purchased one of their hotter sauces, the Apocalips Sweet Habanero Hellfire Sauce, and it was real smooth and flavorful.
 |
| Bonfatto's |
 |
| Apocalips Sweet Habanero Hellfire Sauce |
Also, recommended is Bonfatto's Hawaiian BBQ, one of our blog faves that we cooked with before. New to the
company are Bonfatto's Spice Cream with chili peppers, and the Sweet Peachy
Heat Wave Sophia tasted was amazing and said, "It was spicy, hot, sweet".
 |
| Varieties of Bonfatto's Wing Sauce & Marinade |
 |
| Bonfatto's Gooney B Sweet N Sassy BBQ Sauce |
Red Hawk Premium Peppers
It was nice meeting Red Hawk's Dan Lowenstein and his wife
at the expo. I have been following them on Facebook for some time and was happy
to do tastings of their sauces.
 |
| Red Hawk Premium Peppers |
 |
| Dan Lowenstein and his wife, Red Hawk Premium Peppers |
 |
| Red Hawk Premium Peppers, Grounds for Divorce Hot Garlic Sauce |
I found one of the top
garlic based hot sauces I have had to date, Red Hawk's Grounds for Divorce. Red Hawk has
done great and hit the nail on the head with this garlic sauce. Some other folks
with garlic sauces have not been able to get it right. Red Hawk offers an
impressive line of hot sauces, spreads, rubs and fiery condiments.
 |
| Red Hawk Premium Peppers |
 |
| Red Hawk Premium Peppers |
Race
City Sauce Works
Based in North
Carolina, Race City Sauce Works is another company I
have been following on Facebook. I was glad to do tastings with Race City
as they have an impressive selection of sauces. I really liked and bought a
woozy bottle of Smoked Habanero Honey Mustard and cannot wait to make a recipe
with it.
 |
| Race City Sauce Works |
 |
| Race City Sauce Works |
Owen G. Willikers' Chocolaty Chile Elixirs
Sophia went nuts over Owen G. Willikers' Chocolaty Chile
Elixirs and loved the creamy, rich taste of the Salted Caramel & White
Chocolate Formula made with dried fresh chiles. The elixirs are perfect for
adding to cocktails, coffee, milk and drizzling over desserts.
 |
| Owen G. Willikers' Chocolaty Chile Elixirs |
 |
| Owen G. Willikers' Chocolaty Chile Elixirs |
The MURPH'S Famous Bloody Mary Mix
It was awesome speaking to Stephen Murphy about his newer The
Murph's Hot & Spicy Famous Blood Mary Mix. I tasted The Murph's Famous Bloody
Mary Mix before and was looking forward to tasting the spicy mix. It was flavorful
and the best mix I have had to date. This is a very hearty mix containing
cayenne pepper sauce, horseradish and many other great spices. The Murph treated
us to a bottle of the Hot & Spicy to use for the blog.
 |
| Stephen Murphy, The MURPHS Famous Bloody Mary Mix |
 |
| The MURPH'S Famous Bloody Mary Mix |
-Allen and Sophia/Two Frys
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.