NOLA SHOW: Frog Legs, Lollipops & Chileheads oh my!

I am gearing up for another trip to New Orleans for the 2nd Annual NOLA Hot Sauce & Gourmet Show. I am excited as always to go to the city of New Orleans for the best food in the world and the land of foo-foo drinks. Oh, I love this place. Now you wrap a weekend of hot sauce and gourmet fare around the visit, and you get one heck of a good time not to be missed. Not to mention seeing all my chile brethren again makes me love life even more. I had a ball last year, and plan on having another awesome time again.

Featured this year are some extremely rare contests found anywhere in the world. Once again we have the Intensity Academy Lick-a-thon NOLA edition, which takes their amber-colored and tea-infused lollipop to annoyingly spicy levels not made for human tongue twirling. The thing about this lollipop is that before you get to the extreme extract levels of tortuous heat, you get to enjoy the sweet sugary flavor which I believe only adds to the pain. If you dare keep this evil confection on a stick for the entire duration of the contest, your mouth will feel it for a good day plus afterwards. Having been in this contest twice, once at the Weekend of Fire show a couple of years ago in it’s inception, and last year’s new hotter version, I can tell you from first hand experience you will feel it for a while. I won last year’s event talking smack the whole time. CLICK HERE for last year’s video. Yet despite my victory, my nemesis, Mr Victor Clinco, a two time winner of this contest is the only man to out lick me in this event. He truly does suck.

Vic with Michele of Intensity Academy & their Evil Lick-a-Thon Lolly

Then we have a contest I created for last years show, but because of a lack of time and sponsors we had to forgo it until this year. Yet having waited a year has brought the most popular wing sauce maker and contest to New Orleans. Thanks to Defcon Sauces the Deathmatch is coming to NOLA, but instead of the traditional chicken wings, we will have frog legs! So for the first time ever comes the Defcon Frog Leg Eating Deathmatch. Heat with green meat. Also a big thanks to the good people at Steinhauer Productions for donating and preparing the frog legs for the contest. We have a nice trophy to the winner, (not the one pictured below). Limited seats are available, so first come first serve, so you better hop to it! If you want to reserve a seat ahead of the show, let us know now.

There are more happenings going on as well. There is a Jalapeno eating contest which we also ordered a trophy for. A lot of shows do these kind of contests, but this will be the first at the NOLA Show. Then there is CaJohn’s Fiery Foods doing their Execution Station again. A torturous line of some of his hottest sauces that range from hotter than hell to please someone kill me now. Last year I was privileged to help run the station with his son Nate, and it was more than a blast. Especially, when an unlucky participant splattered the floor in front of the station with a chunky mixture of fudge and hot sauce. One of my highlights for sure.

We have a couple of Throwdowns going on as well. Firstly, a chili battle between Cousin Boudreaux and Tracy Carter of JACS Tailgaters will be a battle of the Bayou bragging rights. Then there is a live rematch of the Feast Your Eyes on This Spicy Cooking Challenge Final Round between winner Clement Bourg of Cajun Heat and runner-up Johnny McLaughlin of Heartbreaking Dawns. They will be cooking up Shrimp on Grits, New Orleans style with our very own Firehead Thomas emceeing the battle. Johnny will want to show everyone he is the man, while Clement will be defending the honor of the crown in what would appear to be his home field advantage in Cajun Country. I am sure it will be a fun time smelling, tasting and listening to both of them talk up their dishes.

There will also be judging going on behind the scenes for all the product entries to see who will win the Fleur-de-lis Awards for best products of the show. Last year marks the first time awards, and it is to be a staple of the show for here on out. To qualify, you must be attending the show. A little more detail followed by the list of vendors attending the show…

NOLA Fleur-de-lis Awards

Vendors attending the event can enter their products in the following categories to see what is truly best in show:

Specialty Foods – includes Marinades, Pasta Sauces, Jellies, Snack Products, Sweets, Pickled Products, Chili Mixes, Gumbo Mixes, and more
Condiments – includes Mustards, Ketchups, and Steak Sauces
Seasonings
Red Hot Sauce – Hot
Red Hot Sauce – Medium or Mild
XXX Hot Sauce – no Extract sauces allowed
Green Hot Sauce
Specialty Hot Sauce – includes Fruit, Garlic or Smoky flavors
Salsa
BBQ Sauce – Medium or Mild
BBQ Sauce – Hot

Vendor List
This might not be the complete list, sorry if I left you off. Let me know and I will add you in.

Participating Vendors

Black Swamp Gourmet
Boudreaux Cajun Kitchen
Ole Homestead
Bev’s Gourmet
Intensity Academy
Ole Ray’s Sauces
Cuddin Eddies
Wild Pepper
Captain Thom’s
The Extreme Gourmet
Wicked Cactus Sauce Company
Jane’s Jam-A-Rama
Conscious Choice Foods
Cin Chili
Evan’s Gourmet
Riley’s Gifts And More
CaJohn’s Fiery Foods
JAC’s Tailgaters
Louisiana Pepper Exchange
Cajun Heat
Reva Foods
Flaming Joe’s
Red Hot Robin’s
Chile Pepper Magazine
Defcon Sauces
Deano’s Jalapenos
Slap ya Mama
Heartbreaking Dawns

NOLA Hot Sauce and Gourmet Food Show
Pontchartrain Center, Kenner, LA
Saturday, July 16, 2011 at 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Sunday, July 17, 2011 at 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM
Tickets are only $5.00 per day.
Website: CLICK ME
Facebook Page: CLICK ME
Vendor Information: CLICK ME