Yen for Fiery Flavor Launches Salsa Line

James Teschner has spent many a late night in his kitchen trying to meet the desires of his friends at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Port Hueneme.

His friends want salsa. And Teschner, 34, is more than happy to oblige.

Earlier this year, buoyed by rave reviews from those friends, Teschner decided to bottle his salsa, label it and take it public. Thus was born JC’s Midnite Salsa, a line of seven salsas of varying degrees of spiciness.

Earlier this month, Teschner, a naval center engineer, entered his products in the Fiery Food Challenge, sponsored by Chile Pepper Magazine of Albuquerque.

And boy was he hot.

Hot enough to dominate the competition’s salsa category, winning a first-place honor for his Hotter Than Hell variety, and second place for his Hot version.

The native of Arizona said it took a number of years, a lot of trial and error, and an intense love of salsa to come up with the winning recipes. “During college [at the University of Arizona] the thing was to go out and have chips and salsa,” Teschner said. “I got a fetish for them.”

Teschner decided to make his own salsa after his sister, Cheryl, found a recipe that first caught his eye and, later, his taste buds. The initials JC on the salsa label stand for John and Cheryl.

“I kept changing it and changing it until I finally came up with something,” he said. “After I got the recipe down, I started messing with the heat.”

Along with Hot and Hotter Than Hell, Teschner’s other salsas are labeled Mild, Medium, Garlic, Hell Hot and 911. The last, he said, is his attempt to quiet two co-workers.

“I’ve been working for a couple of years to get them to burn and I finally got them,” he said. “It’s not the hottest in the world, but it’s hot. It has a really good flavor and still retains the heat level.”

As the popularity of his products has grown, so has Teschner’s workload. He recently started making regular trips to Carpinteria, where Santa Barbara Creative Foods Inc., a salsa maker, prepares his large orders.

Teschner concocts smaller batches himself on regular trips home to Tucson. He said he wouldn’t mind finding a small kitchen to work out of in Ventura County.

JC’s Midnite Salsa--named because of those late hours spent perfecting it--is available locally at Smith & Smith Purveyors of Fine Salsa Sauce in Ventura, or by calling (800) 81-SALSA.

“One thing that stands out is his range of heat,” said Ron Smith, owner of Smith & Smith. “I mean to tell you, his 911, a habanero [type of pepper] salsa will curl your tongue up quick.”

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What is a French chef doing preparing an Irish feast for St. Patrick’s Day? In the case of Gael Lecolley, who will be cooking one Sunday at Ojai’s Wheeler Hot Springs, it’s not a remarkable stretch.

“I lived in London for five years and I used to be a chef there,” said the native of France. “I went to a lot of Irish places and had a lot of friends from Ireland.”

Lecolley will begin the multi-course meal with a four-leaf salad, followed by an appetizer choice of Irish smoked salmon, vegetable barley soup, or baby lamb salad with goat cheese.

For the entree there will be a choice of corned beef and cabbage with potatoes, lamb shank casserole, shrimp sauteed and flambeed in Irish whiskey, filet of sea bass, New York steak, or three-vegetable terrine (carrot, spinach and turnip purees baked in a brioche and served with baby leek sauce).

Dessert will be a choice of Irish cream cheese cake or Irish pudding with brandy sauce.

Dinner will be served from 5 to 9:30 p.m., with musical entertainment from 6 to 10 p.m. Cost is $35 per person. Call 646-8131 for reservations. Wheeler Hot Springs is located at 16825 Maricopa Highway.

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For food of a different nationality, Giovanni’s Restaurant in Camarillo will host a winemaker dinner Monday night. The Italian cuisine will be served with wines from the Clos du Val winery in Napa.

The menu will open with rigatoni with formaggio, followed by halibut prepared with tomatoes, basil and pine nuts. An Iowa corn-fed roasted chicken will be served for the entree, with dessert and coffee capping the meal.

Dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m. Cost is $45 per person. Call 484-4376. Giovanni’s is at 5227 Mission Oaks Blvd.