The Chef-Made Philly Hot Sauces You’ll Want to Put on Everything
Keep your kitchen stocked with these peppery, flavor-packed condiments, from a vinegar-y seasoning for barbecue to spicy sambal.
Cafe Lift | Facebook
Every hot sauce lover has their favorite, from Crystal’s hot-salty-tangy punch to sriracha’s ubiquitous vegetal spice. But these Philly chefs made their own hot sauces so good, customers clamored to take them home. From fiery bottles of a classic cheesesteak condiment to tubs of sambal you’ll want to put on everything you cook, here are five great chef-made hot sauces from Philadelphia restaurants.
Baology, Center City
Although Asian cuisines are sometimes seen as spicy across the board, Taiwanese cuisine isn’t, overall. So co-owners Judy Ni and Andy Tessier use a mix of habanero and Fresno chiles to create a sauce that would best complement their potstickers, gwa baos, and fried chicken with lots of pepper flavor and an up-front hit of heat. Even better? Thanks to ingenuity in the kitchen, it’s a zero-waste product: the pulp, skins, and seeds strained out of the sauce are dehydrated and buzzed into a spicy seasoning (you can take a jar of that home, too).
Cafe Lift, Spring Arts and Narberth
It’s only fitting that this super-spicy hot sauce from restaurateurs Michael and Jenniphur Pasquarello’s family-friendly bruncherie should be named after one of the couple’s kiddos. Taste it at their city or suburban cafe, then buy a 16-ounce jar to spice things up in your own kitchen.
Geno’s Steaks, East Passyunk
Wherever you land on the Pat’s-versus-Geno’s debate, only one of the iconic South Philly cheesesteak spots has its own signature hot sauce for sale by the bottle. The tangy, sinus-clearing concoction, developed by founder Joey Vento more than 50 years ago, gets its heat from bird’s-eye chili peppers.
Hardena/Waroeng Surabaya, South Philly
The James Beard-nominated Indonesian mainstay produces a slate of its own sambals for use on veggies, meat, and fish — and you can buy them by the tub to freeze for home use. Choose from classic sambal terasi, boosted with pungent shrimp paste, or go vegan with red pepper or green garlic sambals.
Lechonera Principe, Kensington
The crackly-skinned, juicy pork at this must-try Puerto Rican spot is pit-roasted to perfection every morning. But if you like a little kick to your ‘cue, throw on a dash or three of their bracing house-made pique, a mix of hot peppers, herbs, and seasonings steeped in vinegar.
