Java.July.2016

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Chicken fried hot dog Photo courtesy of OKRA
JACOB CUTINO FROM HOMEBOY’S HOT SAUCE Some Like It HOT By Sloane Burwell Phoenix likes it hot. No, not the inveterate solar fire that we’ve been experiencing lately, but the slow burn in the back of the throat that comes from devouring peppers and chiles and the whole enchilada. Heat that comes from carefully crafted sauce that is good enough to top any tasty treat. Jacob Cutino knows all about this kind of soulful fire, and he’s bringing it to the masses. Unless you’ve been hiding under a culinary rock lately, you’d be hard pressed to miss Cutino’s Homeboy’s Hot Sauce. Restaurants like Okra are creating one-off dinner events around his fiery concoctions, and places like Citizen Public House and The Gladly are cooking up dishes that feature his saucy sauces on the regular. With this kind of success, you’d think Cutino would have been the Head Homeboy forever. But the reality is more impressive. “This (making these sauces) had been a passion for me, a hobby in my spare time,” he says. “But my wife told me that I needed to share this with the world!” Cutino knew he was onto something when he was working as a restaurant manager, and his staff would text him pictures of them stealing the magic potion out of the walk-in. In fact, his hot sauce’s reputation as a game changer is how he came up with the name. “People would ask me in front of other people, ‘Have you tried homeboy’s hot sauce?’ and that is how I came up with the name,” says Cutino. Homeboy’s Hot Sauce recently added Verde to their lineup, joining the Jalapeño and Habanero. A gorgeously green color, the Verde is tart and exceptionally balanced. The Jalapeño hot sauce is a beautiful dusky red color that is hot, of course, but well balanced and earthy. When the sauce settles into the bottle (a quick shake fixes that), you can almost see tiny flakes of grated local carrot. The Habanero is an almost orange color, with a blast that takes about 15 seconds to hit you. Ghost, named for the nuclear chile pepper, is a seasonal sauce—although Cutino does make a year-round special blend for Okra. The finale, The Hot Ones, is a collaboration with heatonist.com from Brooklyn. Each sauce is fire, to be sure, but still flavorful. That is due to Cutino’s careful blending. “I think carrots have their own natural sweetness,” he says; other ingredients round out the flavor profiles. This blending is what allows you to get both heat and flavor. Cutino began selling Homeboy’s Hot Sauce only last April, at the Uptown Farmers Market. “We sold 30 bottles on the first day. To be honest, we were kind of blown away,” he says. “We’re really grateful and are just taking everything in stride.” You’ll still find Homeboy’s every week at the Uptown Farmers Market, where even the market manager is a fan. “She tells me that she puts it on cereal,” says Cutino. This isn’t even the weirdest way he’s seen it used. You’ll find it on local menus in beef jerky, pecan pie bars and dessert impresario Tracey Dempsey’s homemade peanut butter. For Cutino, success is still a family affair. He and his wife run the business, and another family member, who designed the logo, helps part time. They are expanding to add more staff to keep up with the demand, which is pretty impressive for a concept that didn’t exist prior to October 2014. “I quit my job, and just went for it,” says Cutino. Locally sourcing ingredients as much as possible, Cutino and his team are hoping to add a fruit-based hot sauce to their lineup. The sleek, clear bottles show off the ingredients, all of which are gorgeously colored, due to their natural ingredients. The clean, modern concept behind Homeboy’s branding goes along with the concept behind the sauces. “We are modern, we are local, and we think the clean images are really what we are about,” Cutino says. And that is clear—great ingredients and great passion make a great hot sauce. A Denver native, Cutino has managed to carve out a niche for himself in Phoenix with Homeboy’s Hot Sauce. His background in running local restaurants has helped endear him to the food community. His commitment to excellence is apparent in the respect he’s earned by virtue of his work ethic. “Everywhere that I’ve worked as a manager, I made sure I could personally cook each of the items on the menu. That’s important to me,” Cutino says. That dedication has helped him understand what makes something work in the kitchen and on the table—as well as how our growing season impacts his ingredient choices. Cutino is hardworking and ambitious, and I’m eager to see his next endeavor: The Homeboy’s Hot Sauce Cook Book. We like it hot here; there is no denying it. And it isn’t just the weather. The heat has managed to imbue itself into our collective flavor consciousness. Food doesn’t always need to be hot. It just needs the right jolt of sinus-clearing flavor from time to time. Or if you’re a hot sauce lovin’ Phoenician like myself, at least once a meal. And the fact that Jacob Cutino has managed to make all of this happen in less than two years makes me wonder what will come next. I’m thinking about a peanut butter and fruit–based hot sauce jelly sandwich right about now. My recipe entry in his cookbook is just writing itself. Homeboy’s Hot Sauce homeboyshabanero.com JAVA MAGAZINE 21
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Page 7 and 8: BUZZ SUMMER BREAK By Robert Sentine
Page 9 and 10: danieltookerphoto.com Various strai
Page 11 and 12: COMING SOON TO THE MIM MUSIC THEATE
Page 13 and 14: Portraits by Johnny Jaffe In a city
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Page 17 and 18: JUSTIN QUEAL Artistic Synergy By De
Page 19: at Phoenix College. She is currentl
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Page 29 and 30: Art Direction : Jen Deveroux Design
Page 31 and 32: I’m not sure there has been more
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