What's Up With the Pedro and Vinny's Hot Sauce Contest?

By Erin Zimmer

Comments () | Published May 15, 2007

While the District fought for voting rights on the Hill in recent weeks, a less publicized voting campaign was taking place downtown. At the corner of 15th and K streets, Pedro and Vinny’s burrito cart proprietor John Rider, who we profiled in our May issue, took name suggestions for his homemade mango-habanero hot sauce on a yellow poster board posted outside the cart. As we reported back in February, Rider got the thumbs-up from a Florida bottling plant to sell his recipe nationally, spawning a Pedro and Vinny's sauce-naming challenge. Over the course of a few weeks, lunchers placed check marks and happy faces next to name ideas while waiting in line. "Burrito Juice" and "Mango-nero" got a few nods here and there but the winner, with over 30 votes, was "Mango Magma," hands down.
 

Though Rider is already envisioning the label artwork—mango-colored magma flowing from a volcano—he may need to consider runner-up names like "Mango Tango" and "Habango." That’s because as a regular customer pointed out, another "Mango Magma" hot sauce already exists--it’s sold at online retailer Papa Banana. Pedro and Vinny’s customer Sherry Womack, who first suggested the name, convinced co-workers and friends to emphasize "Mango Magma" when ordering in recent weeks. Before that, the community usually referred to it just as the Grey Goose mango sauce-- Rider always stores it in the familiar frosted vodka bottle.
 
Despite the naming fiasco, there's no stopping Rider's quest to bottle the recipe. He began the 15-week bottling process back in January and went through weeks of nutritional testing, which means his sauce should be on grocery store shelves this summer. He envisions a chart-topping favorite that is so popular, he'll need a private processing plant to meet demands. His confidence stems from his clientele's daily requests—they order "Mango Magma" (we'll call it that for now) over nationally-recognized, familiar sauces by Emeril and Tabasco.
 
So will the label's artwork depict mango-colored magma flowing from a ruptured volcano? We'll see. Rider is placing a phone call this week to the people at "Papa Banana." Either way, he'll dedicate a portion of the label to his K Street community in some form.

Pedro and Vinny’s, 15th and K Sts., NW (south corner of K St.); Pedroandvinnys.com.