Surfer brings back the flavors of Baja—in a bottle.

On a quest for the ever-elusive, uncrowded wave south of the border, surfer and hot sauce maker Rob Burns found himself enamored by the zesty food of the Baja region. Once he started to recreate Baja’s distinctive taste through his homemade hot sauces, his friends couldn’t get enough of it, and a company was soon born.

Encinitas, California Aug 31, 2007 – The name Rob Burns seems like an appropriate moniker for someone with a passion for hot sauce. As a master hot sauce maker, Rob has scorched a tongue or two on many occasions. But it was his love of surfing and his travels through Baja, Mexico that led him to find something other than just waves—he discovered a taste for the local cuisine that he simply had to reproduce upon returning stateside. The solution to his dilemma was to ultimately create three distinctive hot sauces that personified Baja’s spicy offerings.

“I started making the sauces at home, mostly for friends and my own consumption, but the demand for the sauces just grew out of proportion,” says Burns. “At that point, I basically had to start a business, or I’d pretty much go broke keeping up with requests. That’s when I created Scorpion Bay Hot Sauce.”

The entrepreneurial Burns, along with his business partners, met one evening to discuss their business plan. While brainstorming over a few beers they decided on naming the company Scorpion Bay after an elusive surf break located just south of the sleepy fishing village of San Juanico, in Baja Sur. It’s a place that still maintains an authentic, rustic feel that echoes the flavor of the sauces Burns creates.

There are three offerings in the Scorpion Bay lineup: Hotacado Avocado, De Arbol and Chocopotle Chipotle Hot Sauce. What makes all of these sauces stand apart is their consistency, which is noticeably thicker than traditional commercial hot sauces. To facilitate pouring, rather than thinning the sauces Burns opted to package his sauces “with wider mouth bottles.” He adds, “We simply refused to compromise, so the bottle redesign was the obvious choice.”

The company’s business plan is a simple one—produce a great product while attaining little more than self-sufficiency and the ability to travel at will. Wade Koniakowsky, a San Diego artist specializing in surf and landscape paintings, created the artwork for the label. Scorpion Bay’s motto, “Do what you love—do it well and you will never go wrong,” is found on the side of every bottle.

Burns’ ultimate goal is to elevate the way people think about hot sauces, so that they’re less of a novelty item and more of a key ingredient to virtually every culinary item.

Currently Scorpion Bay Hot Sauce can be purchased via gourmet food shops across the nation and on their website, which also features easy-to-follow recipes for entrees, side dishes and even hot sauce themed desserts such as “Key Lime Hotacado Avocado Hot Sauce Pie” and “Chipotle Chocolate Sundaes.”

About Scorpion Bay Hot Sauce:

Scorpion Bay produces premium gourmet hot sauces that reflect the regions and cultures we discover during our travels. Our ultimate passion is to find and produce the newest and most original flavors the world has to offer.

Contact:

Rob Burns, Founder

Scorpion Bay Hot Sauce

760-917-2805

http://www.scorpionbayhotsauce.com

###

If you’d like to find out more about Scorpion Bay Hot Sauce, or to schedule an interview with founder Rob Burns, please call 760-917-2805 or email Rob at rob@scorpionbayhotsauce.com

Innuendo Foods Updated For 7th Anniversary

How do you celebrate your birthday? Some of us will throw a party, or be the victim of a surprise party. Some will go out for a nice meal with friends, and others simply take the day off work and do nothing.

Innuendo Enterprises LLC is celebrating their seventh anniversary by sporting some new duds on the World Wide Web.

This spiffy new attire was made possible by the very creative web designer Israel Levi at Javlynx in Northern California. Javlynx worked hand in hand with Innuendo Enterprises LLC to provide a seamless, interactive Web experience that was both easy and enjoyable to navigate.

Some of the new features of the NEW Innuendo Enterprises LLC website include a URL update to their new home at http://www.innuendofoods.com , a product page that features pop-up information on each of the click able image links, links to a blog, a newsletter to which you can subscribe, and page that details events they will be attending. There is so much information packed into this new site you may not be able to get to it all in just one visit.

If you like hot sauce, barbecue sauce, marinades or anything to do with great food and fun, help them celebrate their birthday by visiting the new website. If you see something that interests you click on that Contact Us link and send them a quick note.

Review: University Chicken Sports Pub

One Sunday we were cruising around Santa Clara on various errands. Suddenly there was a cry out from the back seat of the car; “let’s get some hot wings”! So off to University Chicken we go.

I remember this place as the Cluck U Chicken Co. It has been a few years since I had been there and now it seemed to be transformed from a fast food type place to a sports pub. Rumor has it that there was some legal nastiness over the name since there was already a chain with the prior name. But that is a tangent which we won’t bother to follow.

The menu is on the wall over the count at which you order. The food is standard pub fare with a heavy push towards the wings. Some of the patrons in the place were enjoying burgers and onion rings, while other seemed to be sweating in agony over a paper bowl with almost glowing red saucy wings.

We were there for the wings so we stared at the heat scale sizing up the different levels of soon to be self inflicted pain. “How much can I take”, was buzzing through our heads? The levels of heat were listed as follows: Mild, Traditional, Atomic, Nuclear, Traditional Death, Thermo Nuclear, and Global Thermo Nuclear. You can get those wings as standard bone in hot wings or Devil Bites; chicken tenders soaked in the hot wing sauce.

We all agreed that the standard wings are the way to go. I opted for the Traditional Death flavor and the rest of the people in our group went with Traditional and Atomic.

So let’s start at the bottom of the scale; the traditional wings were just that. They were not too saucy with an orangey color, and a vinegary tang. They had just the slightest amount of heat. Being one level from the bottom of the heat scale this wing was as its name described.

The Atomic wings were the next to be tasted. This one confused me a bit. They seemed milder to me that the traditional, however, they are sweet not tangy with a hint of ginger or mace. This flavor confused the pallet in to thinking they were milder. They did have a great flavor and were very enjoyable. It was like an Asian fusion flavored hot wing.

Now it’s time to sample Traditional Death. Really, how hot can they be? They are just trying to scare you with all that death talk. I mean let’s get real it is just food after all…right? Open mouth, enter pain! Now I like very hot food, and that is what these wings are. The sauce is darker than the traditional and there is an ever so slight flavor of extract sauce, maybe Dave’s Insanity, I’m just speculating? By the third wing my face is numb. The pain has subsided to a warm glowing, numb euphoria. I order the 12 piece because I love hot wings. Wing number 6 brings on the lightheadedness and number 7 a slight disorientation. The other people in the party are talking to me but I’m not sure I am hearing what they are saying. Remarkably I answer back. Wing 8 is the end, the numbness is wearing off and we are re-entering the pain phase. I chuckle to myself as I look up at the menu board and realize that there are two more heat levels above what I’m eating. I pack the last four in a foam togo container and hope they don’t burst into flames in my car while I’m driving home.

The atmosphere at University Chicken is typical college sports pub, it’s a bit grimy and neglected looking, and there are plenty of TV’s to watch the game du’ jour. The service is walk-up and soft drink refills are 50 cents. The staff seemed less than enthusiastic. The wings however get the LAST BITE stamp of approval. You can go with mild or face melting heat, traditional, death, or global thermo nuclear… It’s your funeral!

University Chicken

2565 The Alameda
Santa Clara, Ca 95050 - Map It!
Phone(408) 241-2582