Sriracha Festival spices up Los Angeles
Most college students know sriracha as a spicy red savior, the loyal condiment that allows disappointing dining hall food to transcend its banal blandness. Author Randy Clemens (The Sriracha Cookbook) and food blogger Josh Lurie (FoodGPS.com), however, feel that sriracha is a versatile and exciting ingredient in its own right, and an incendiary part of the Los Angeles food scene.
That’s why these foodie friends have joined forces to bring Downtown Los Angeles its very first Sriracha Festival, this Sunday, Oct. 27, from 3 to 6 p.m. at Lot 613 in the Arts District. The event will feature food vendors from across L.A. county, as well as several breweries and bartenders, and even one company specializing in house-made ginger ale — served with or without sriracha.
The event is partly sponsored by Huy Fong Foods, Inc., the manufacturer of America’s standard sriracha sauce with the green cap, often called “rooster sauce” because of its logo. The company’s founder, David Tran, will make a special guest appearance at the event. Tran’s version of the Thai dipping sauce is vastly different from the original, according to festival co-producer Randy Clemens.
“The Huy Fong Foods version is completely American. All the peppers are grown within a few hours of Los Angeles,” Clemens said. “It’s still very much a Southern California thing.”
When Clemens was growing up, Tran’s sriracha was only available at a limited number of stores — mostly Asian specialty food markets. Now the chili sauce can be found on Walmart’s shelves and in the dipping sauce at Applebee’s.
Sriracha’s success might be attributed to its versatility. A native of Los Angeles, Clemens is especially eager to highlight the way in which sriracha, the “chameleon” condiment, works well with the city’s various types of cuisine. Some of Los Angeles’ culinary giants will be in attendance, including Eric Greenspan (The Foundry) and Christian Page (now at Short Order), and will provide new dishes to highlight this unique hot sauce.
“Some of them are already making sriracha-themed things in their restaurants,” Clemens said. “Others we reached out to because we really thought they’d have something cool to say with it.”
The traditional Thai restaurant Jitlada will bring its house-made sriracha sauce to the festival, and Plan Check Kitchen + Bar even makes a spicy fruit leather.
“I’ve learned very quickly that I’m not the only one who’s crazy about sriracha,” Clemens remarked.
Some highly touted eastside chefs will also help to spice things up. Festival participant Wes Avila might ring some bells for USC students because of his popular Guerilla Tacos truck, which parks just blocks from the festival. Avila was between restaurant gigs when he decided to use the last of his money on a cart and ingredients, and set up a taco station at The Produce Project, Downtown’s answer to the Santa Monica farmer’s market.
Avila’s vegetarian taco will feature cauliflower and a chili paste made with sriracha sauce. He has started serving his festival taco as part of Guerilla Tacos’ daily changing menu in anticipation of the festival, but at home, sriracha is a constant.
“I can’t speak for the rest of the country,” Avila said, “but here in Southern California it’s become a staple, like you see it on people’s kitchen tables pretty much anywhere. You just have Sriracha in the fridge. It’s one of those things that’s become part of Southern California.”
Los Angeles is a multicultural metropolis, and the widespread embrace of sriracha sauce by many different kinds of chefs is indicative of SoCal’s unique cuisine. Cultural collision, fusion and innovation are what gives this city its spice.
“I think a lot of people just discount Los Angeles because they think it’s a fake place,” Clemens said. “There’s nothing farther from the truth. L.A. is a great city and I think a lot of people are getting a renewed pride in things that come from their city.”
Guests who are 21 and over can purchase tickets to the Sriracha Festival in advance for $49, and gain access to all food and drink vendors. A portion of the proceeds from the event will go directly to Food Forward, an organization committed to rescuing wasted produce and donating it to more than 40,000 hungry local residents every month.
“I certainly didn’t picture any of this four years ago when I turned in my first book proposal,” Clemens said. “I hope people enjoy this festival as much as I’m going to.”
The Sriracha Festival will take place at Lot 613 in Downtown Los Angeles on Oct. 27 from 3 to 6 p.m. Advance tickets are $49.