A Spicy Show Today!
This week’s show begins with a trip to Los Angeles through Mexican food. My first guest is Bill Esparza with his new book L. A. Mexicano – Recipes, People and Places.
Richly photographed and authentically local, L.A. Mexicano showcases L.A.’s famously rich and complex Mexican-food culture, including recipes, profiles of chefs, bakers, restaurateurs, and vendors, and neighborhood guides. Part cookbook, part food journalism, and part love song to Los Angeles, it’s the definitive resource for home cooks nationwide, hungry Angelenos, and food-loving visitors. Features a foreword by Taco USA ‘s Gustavo Arellano and more than 100 photos by Staci Valentine.
Bill Esparza is recent winner of a James Beard award for his coverage of the L.A. taco scene in Los Angeles Magazine . Considered one of the country’s leading experts on Mexican food, the L.A. native curates the annual Tacolandia festival in Los Angeles; writes about Mexican food for Los Angeles Magazine and others; appears regularly on CNN, KCRW’s radio show Good Food; and appears on such television shows as I’ll Have What Phil’s Having , Bizarre Foods , and Top Chef . A noted saxophone player, Esparza has traveled and eaten extensively throughout Mexico, Latin America, and, of course, Southern California. Follow Bill on Twitter. Get a copy NOW!
In the second half I’ll be talking to Lawrence Wu founder and mastermind behind WUJU, a producer of unique hot sauces.
In 2014, Lawrence Wu was fresh out of college, working behind a desk in the world of Pharmaceutical Marketing. But growing up around his family’s restaurants, Larry had always dreamed about building his own food business. One day, he was sitting at his friend’s dinner table, when his buddy’s father asked him to try his homemade hot sauce created from a close-kept family recipe. After one taste, Larry had an epiphany. This sauce didn’t just add generic “spiciness” like most hot sauces – it was something much more than that – it added a unique flavor element he had never experienced before. www.wujuhotsauce.com
Hot sauces have traditionally been red, vinegary, and boring – but he wanted to create something different – he wanted to create the Dijon Mustard to the Ketchup in the hot sauce world. Something that would change the world of hot sauce forever. Using that recipe as a baseline, he set out to develop a mustard-based hot sauce with a sweet side, blending ingredients like agave nectar, mango, curry, and Thai inspired spices & flavors.
Several months later, after months of experimenting & perfecting, Lawrence founded WUJU. After a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign that was funded over 400% in a little under a month, WUJU is on its way to store shelves across the country. $5 flat rate shipping and use this link to get a 20% discount! http://getwujuhotsauce.refr.cc/MQ2QSRN via @wujuhotsauce
Good Life Guy’s Wine of the Week: Something cool & refreshing to go with a little heat 🙂
Freixenet Carta Nevada Semi Dry Cava
Freixenet blends Carta Nevada Semi Dry sparkling wine to perform as an individual star, but gives it just enough versatility to use as an inspiring aperitif in anticipation of a delightful meal. Bridging the gap between dry and sweet sparkling wine, Freixenet Carta Nevada Semi Dry is also a suitable partner in sparkling wine cocktails. This wine has a residual sugar level of 3.7 percent, giving it a brilliant balance of sweet and dry. The toasty aroma and fruity, flavorful palate deliver creamy, sweet peaches with smooth custard flavors. Just the right touch of acidity keeps it lively.
Great just dancing in the glass by itself, Carta Nevada Semi Dry is also a terrific partner for light liqueurs and muddled fruits in sparkling wine cocktail recipes. A pleasant accompaniment to spicy flavors of Mexican and Indian menus, it its also the perfect cava complement for celebratory canapes, as well as lighter desserts.
On Sale at Jacob Liquor Exchange here in Wichita!
Scotto Cellars is a 5th generation family owned and managed wine company who treats team members not only as collaborators but as family members that are encouraged to think creatively with a can-do attitude. Everyone at Scotto Cellars is an innovator who learns more while we listen than when we talk but doesn’t shy away from expressing our positivity, enthusiasm, passion and honesty in ourselves and more importantly our wines.
Bradley Gray is the Public and Media Relations Manager for the Scotto Cellars organization. He joined Scotto Cellars in May of 2013, and oversees publicity for the Scotto Family’s 40-plus brands of premium wine, hard apple cider and mead. Like everyone at Scotto Cellars, he wears many hats, so if he’s not courting wine journalists, he may be on a sales trip promoting Pacific Coast Hard Apple Cider, creating advertisements for wine magazines or shooting photographs at a wine gala in San Francisco. Bradley Gray is a 20-year wine industry public relations veteran based in Sonoma, California.
The world may not need another Chardonnay, but wine lovers who covet bright fruit flavors, creamy vanilla oak accents and the softer, more elegant flavor profiles that come from malolactic fermentation wish that every Chardonnay could be RICH & CREAMY!
In the second half I’ll be talking to Martin Ervin he is the Dad – C.E.O. responsible for 9 Lazy Kidz soon to be 10. He is a hard worker and very attentive Father. His hot sauce will knock your socks off! Literally. . . “Now don’t you be lazy….. pick your socks up at least when they get knocked off.” The first edition of this energetic new family run company is “Q’s Spicy Mango Sauce” (Q for Quintin) and I can attest to the great flavor of this fine sauce. It needs to come in a bigger bottle so it can be consumed like soup!
flavors and healthful ingredients. Handcrafted in small batches, the uniquely American syrups and extracts reflect the flavors and sensibility of the region.
2014 Marietta Cellars Angeli Cuvée 
First up is Chef Lisa Palacios Mistress of great food and owner of the 
Good Life Guy’s Wine of the Week:
Standing at the crossroads between the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and Asia, Turkey boasts astonishingly rich and diverse culinary traditions. Journalist Robyn Eckhardt and her husband, photographer David Hagerman, have spent almost twenty years discovering the country’s very best dishes. Now they take readers on an unforgettable epicurean adventure, beginning in Istanbul, home to one of the world’s great fusion cuisines. From there, they journey to the lesser-known provinces, opening a vivid world of flavors influenced by neighboring Syria, Iran, Iraq, Armenia, and Georgia.
About the Authors
Our Edna Valley Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc offers elegant aromas of honeydew melon and grapefruit. On the palate, these citrus notes are echoed and complemented by