Just as if we’d ordered it that way, another year of fabulous hot sauce festivities drew to a close, the sun-bleached crowds left Waterloo Park, and then the skies opened up, dropping more than three inches of desperately needed rain on parched and crispy Central Texas. What could be better news than that?
Perusing this year’s list of winners, the maxim that comes to mind is “practice makes perfect.” Last year’s big winner, Larry Blanton, came back strong again this year, taking first place in both the Individual Red Sauce and Special Variety categories and Hall of Flamer chef John Randall placed second in Green Sauce. There are only two new winners in the entire restaurant section, meaning the judges were once again impressed with restaurants that consistently get their salsas just right. Reviewing the “people’s choices” among commercial bottlers’ wares, it’s pretty obvious that Austin’s hot sauce loving populace recognizes quality when they taste it, year after year. Ask for the award-winning concoctions in local grocery and specialty stores and tell ’em The Austin Chronicle sent you.
As always, we offer our heartiest congratulations to all the winners and encourage all entrants to keep coming back, because practice does indeed appear to pay off.
Winners
*Denotes previous winners. Honorable mentions listed in order of voting.
Contestants are from Austin unless otherwise noted.Individual Category
Red Sauce1st Place: Larry Blanton (Houston)*
2nd Place: Brent Kirby
3rd Place: Debbie Tucker (Cedar Creek)
Honorable mention: Gigi Cantu, Bob Zink, Derek Eckert, Clay Hert (Portland, Ore.), Valery Dubov, Michael Grissom, Rosa I. Salas, Deborah Vogt (Georgetown)
Green Sauce
1st Place: Benita Trevino
2nd Place: John Randall*
3rd Place: Mark Kobdish (Smithville)
Honorable mention: Jose Avalos
Special Variety
1st Place: Larry Blanton (Houston)*
2nd Place: Susan McCartney
3rd Place: Ben Petko
Honorable mention: Joan Bryant, Joe Martinec (Cedar Creek), Leonardo Rodriguez, Megan Murphy
Restaurant Category
Red Sauce1st Place: The Yellow Rose*
2nd Place: Trudy’s*
3rd Place: Elva’s (Corpus Christi)
Honorable mention: Evita’s Botanitas, Trudy’s, Evita’s Botanitas 
Green Sauce
1st Place: Trudy’s*
2nd Place: Antonio’s Tex-Mex Cafe & Cantina*
3rd Place: Evita’s Botanitas*
Honorable mention: Antonio’s Tex-Mex y Cantina, The Yellow Rose, Evita’s Botanitas
Special Variety
1st Place: Iguana Grill*
2nd Place: Southern Food Service Mgmt. (3M Cafeteria)
3rd Place: Trudy’s*
Honorable mention: Curra’s Grill
Commercial Bottlers
(People’s Choice Awards)Red Sauce
1st Place: Ana’s Salsa*
2nd Place: Texas Lava’s Simply Delicious Salsa*
3rd Place: Rose’s Just Right Salsa*
Green Sauce
1st Place: Rose’s Salsa Fresca Verde (Austin)*
2nd Place: Smoky Hill Verde Sauce (Austin Spice Co.)*
3rd Place: Hombres Foods Texas Smoked Verde*
Special Variety
1st Place: ATA International’s Hot Paradise Hot Salsa (Belton)*
2nd Place: Jump Up & Kick Yo Butt Peach Mango Habanero Salsa (La Grange)
3rd Place: Sgt. Pepper’s Smoky Chipotle Pesto*
Pepper Sauce
1st Place: Aztexan Pepper Co. Habanero Supreme*
2nd Place: Winston’s Hot Pepper Sauce*
3rd Place: Sgt. Pepper’s Tejas Tears Habanero
Judges for Individual and Restaurant CategoriesPreliminary Judges
Fred Alvarado, Henry Alvarado, Robert Bryce, Carlos Contreras, Pat Earvolino, Joe Nick Patoski, Jim Shahin, Dave Walsh
Celebrity Finals Judges
Sam Dickey, Alan Lazarus, Miguel Ravago, Grady Spears, Kathrine Tuason, Robb Walsh
This article appears in August 31 • 2001.