2013 NYC Hot Sauce Expo: Sneak Peak

High River Sauces hosts the 1st Annual NYC Hot Sauce Expo and folks for a first time show, Steve Seabury who is the man behind the event is doing a bang-up job promoting the thing. This week they have been doing media relations with SiriusXM Satellite Radio, NY Times, NY Daily News, NY Post and get a load of this, Good Morning America! That is just for starters. I do not remember any hot sauce related event doing this much media to rival what this show is doing presently. We expect the Food Network, the Cooking Channel, Food & Wine Magazine, the Village Voice, and a host of other media outlets to be attending the show. I do not think I felt this much buzz leading up to a show before. I am honestly very excited and there are a couple of personal reasons why beyond what I have all ready told you.

Starting with, as P-Diddy says in his song, “I am Coming Home“. I hear that chorus and I think of coming back to my Long Island home where I grew up and Brooklyn where my parents and their parents grew up. To see my family and friends and all the familiarity of yesteryear. That song is also my Brooklyn Nets song as they are also back where they belong, remembering the time when I was a kid and my Dad took my Brother and me to the ABA NY Nets championship game where they won. Now they are back after so many years in NY and ready for the playoffs as they host for this weekend for the first time in Brooklyn history. You add in this huge hot sauce event and it is a historic weekend for Brooklyn. I only hope for the success of both moving forward.

Coming Home Chorus:

Back where I belong, yeah I never felt so strong (I’m back baby) I feel like there’s nothing that I can’t try and if you with me put your hands high

It is a proud moment for me because people are coming to my neck of the woods. While I have been in Virginia nearly 16 years now, New York is and will always be my stomping grounds. I owe Steve a huge debt of gratitude in not only making this show a reality, but far exceeding anyone’s expectations with the sheer coverage. I thank Steve for letting me be a big part of the show on the 1st day with what I believe will be a special happening that is NY to the core, a pizza eating contest. Yet, you can’t have a pizza eating contest without 2 things – one, is good, quality pizza, and we have that with Grimaldi’s Pizzeria, one of the biggest names in authentic NY pizza in the world. The next is that we have to represent the show, and it has to be a spicy pizza eating contest. When I hatched this brainchild, I told Steve I wanted to get this done with Tim Bader of Volcanic Peppers. I had to do a lot of convincing to get Tim to this event, and we did it all before we even had a pizzeria. Thanks to Stephen “The Murph” Murphy and his connections, or we would never have Grimaldi’s as the NYC Hot Sauce Expo’s Official Pizzeria. He will be shelling out The Murph’s Famous Bloody Mary Mix, so come check him out at the show and tell him Buddah sent you to try the best Bloody Mary Mix on the planet. Thanks Murph for coming through for us!

So ILoveItSpicy will be co-hosting the 1st ever Volcanic Peppers’ Fiery Pizza Challenge with Tim Bader as my co-host. Tim has prepared an evil spice blend with some of the hottest chile peppers in the world to be added with the pizza sauce before Grimaldi’s pizza experts put it into the oven. Then afterwards a nice Italian Seasoning will be added atop the cooked pie for that little extra kick that Tim knows how to administer oh so well. We will be serving up 10 contestants with 1 pizza pie each, and they will get 8 minutes to consume as much as they can. The winner will get this lovely trophy…

Besides our little challenge, there is more in store for those who want to join in on the action. Take a look at the calendar of spiciness below. The show runs from 10am-6pm, and you can obtain tickets in advance if you want. $10 General Admission or $100 VIP. The VIP are limited for each day. Once they are gone they are gone. You can buy the tickets on the official website HERE. You can also click on the blinking banner on the left sidebar as well.

VIP Lounge Tickets Include:

VIP Gift Bag
Free Bottle of High River Sauces
Subscription to Chile Pepper Magazine
Coat Check
Private Bathrooms
Sample Foods
Craft Beer Tastings
Open Bar

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
Saturday 4/20

10 AM Doors
Noon – Evil Seed – Peanut Brittle Challenge
1 PM – Volcanic Fiery Pizza Eating Challenge
Sponsored by ILoveItSpicy, Volcanic Peppers & Grimaldi’s Pizza
2 PM – Michelada Competition (Sponsored by Corona)
4 PM – Screaming Mi Mi Awards Show
6 PM – Close

Sunday 4/21

10 AM Doors
Noon – Heartbreaking Dawns – Spicy Cookie Challenge
2 PM – Blood Mary Mix Down Challenge (VIP AREA) – Sponsored by Tito’s Vodka & High River Sauces
4 PM – Rippin Red Hot Sauce Challenge – Brownie Eating Contest
6 PM – Close

You want to get a little pumped up? Check out their short video clip below, and in the meantime I will see you at the show on Saturday and/or Sunday. It is going to be a blast, and if you don’t think so, then Mr. Seabury has 5 words for ya, “Eat a Bag of Dicks”.