It’s a cold, dreary January, and the folks at Diego’s Cantina and Hot Charlie’s have conjured up a fun little reprise: the Hot Chip Challenge, taking place at the bar at Diego’s beginning at 4 p.m. this Saturday, January 22.
“I was thinking of organizing a contest on National Hot Sauce Day for several months, and I wanted to incorporate a local hot sauce,” says Natasha Kwan, co-owner of Diego’s, Frida’s, and soon-to-open Station No. 3 in Benton Park.
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Charlie Backer is the founder of Hot Charlie’s line of hot sauce and hot sauce dusts. “His array of hot and hotter products was perfect for this kind of thing,” Kwan adds.
Here’s how it works:
- The contest is limited to 12 contestants, ages 21 and over. The entry fee is $10. Interested fire breathers can find the official rules and waiver here.
- The contest has seven rounds.
- Each round includes one chip and must be eaten it its entirety.
- Each contestant has 60 seconds to eat each chip, and the only beverage allowed is water.
- “We start with medium heat, and each chip will get progressively hotter,” Kwan says. “By the end we’re using the hottest sauce and grilled peppers, along with the membranes and seeds.”
- The competitor who negotiates the most chips will be declared the winner.
- The winner gets bragging rights, a $50 gift card to Diego’s, a bottle of Patron Silver, a basket of products from Hot Charlie’s—and, hopefully, a quart of milk to put out the inferno.
