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First Annual Sriracha Festival Comes To L.A.

Annie Lloyd |
October 21, 2013 | 9:56 a.m. PDT

Staff Reporter

L.A. Sriracha Festival (FoodGPS)
L.A. Sriracha Festival (FoodGPS)

As anyone with a taste for spicy food is aware, sriracha is one of the trendiest hot sauces on the market. Los Angeles is hopping on the bandwagon with fervor by introducing an annual event: The L.A. Sriracha Festival.

The festival will take place Oct. 27 from 3-6 p.m. at Lot 613 in the Arts District downtown. Tickets are going for $49 ($59 at the door) for General Admission and $80 ($90 at the door) for VIP access.

General Admission tickets will allow attendees to sample from all the chefs who are attending the festival, while VIP tickets include reserved seating, early admission and a signed copy of “The Veggie-Lover’s Sriracha Cookbook.”

The event is only available to sriracha-obsessed people over the age of 21. 

Sriracha, a chili-based hot sauce, originally comes from Thailand. More specifically, the coastal city Si Racha where seafood is widely popular. The rooster Huy Fong, with its unmistakable red bottle and green cap, differs significantly from truly native sriracha sauces.

Serious Eats explained the difference in their recent sriracha taste test: Huy Fong sriracha “is geared toward the palates of American chili-heads who prize heat above all else, rather than the more balanced sweet-hot-sour balance that the Thai original goes for.” 

Even founder of Huy Fong sriracha David Tran admitted this in an interview with the New York Times. He said, “I know it’s not a Thai sriracha ... it’s my sriracha.” None of these differences have diminished sriracha sales. According to Business Insider, around 70,000 bottles are filled each day. 

The festival on Oct. 27 marks the first time the sauce acts as the ingredient of honor for a food event. Guests will be able to experience different local chefs incorporating the hot sauce in a variety of dishes. From tacos to desserts to cocktails, the festival looks like a veritable feast of sriracha experiences.

Randy Clemens (author of The Sriracha Cookbook) and FoodGPS are the producers of the event. The expansive chef list includes Wesley Avila of Guerrilla Tacos, Neal Fraser of BLD, Christian Page and Willy Barling of Short Order and Ernesto Uchimura of Plan Check Kitchen + Bar. Eagle Rock Brewery, Beachwood BBQ & Brewing and Firestone Walker Brewing Co. have the craft beer portion of the event covered. 

The L.A. Sriracha Festival adds to the already gluttonous list of Los Angeles-area food events this fall. From the “LA Times: The Taste” event over Labor Day Weekend to the recent “Ramen Yokocho Festival” and “Fried Chicken Festival” to the upcoming “Bon Appetit Grub Crawl,” Angelenos have plenty of food festivals to try.

Reach Staff Reporter Annie Lloyd here. Follow Staff Reporter Annie Lloyd on Twitter here.



 

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