Hot Take

Jun 23

Eszett’s SBez hot sauce line is politically-charged. For our Los Angeles issue, we challenged Chef Spencer Bezaire to come up with a special, Rising Stars-themed flavor that sets fire to old industry standards.

When we saw Los Angeles Rising Star Spencer Bezaire’s hot sauces, team StarChefs couldn't wait to try the politically and culturally relevant products.

The Karen Melter sizzles with roasted pineapple, habanero, and yellow peppers, and the 2020 Vision, a blend of Kentucky bourbon and fermented peaches, features a decimated Mitch McConnell on the label. A COVID-19 pivot, Sbez hot sauces allow Bezaire to retail out of Eszett restaurant, flex his illustration skills, and throw a little subversive shade. We loved them so much that we asked Bezaire to design a new industry-themed sauce to coincide with the drop of this issue.

He came up with the Little D Energy, a tongue-in-cheek representation of toxic kitchen culture in the form of passion fruit and pink peppercorns. “The portrayal of screaming chefs throwing shit and harassing line cooks needs to end,” Bezaire says. “It is not OK for a generation of young cooks to think and feel that enduring this type of abuse is par for the course. It's not OK in any other profession, so why is it tolerated in restaurants? Certain people should just not be chefs much in the same way certain people should not be cops.”

The ecommerce description says it all: "Is your chef a screamer? A pan thrower? A table toucher? Does your chef make too many sexual innuendos and dream of being on cooking competition shows? Your chef may be suffering from ‘Little D Energy.’ This sauce is made with passion fruit and toasted pink peppercorns with habanero and yellow peppers. Just apply a small glob of this hot sauce to your favorite food, walk up to the chef in question, and give him a firm two-week notice."