Sauce-maker savors wins

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Captain Spongefoot, aka Paul DiBello, is back from Anaheim, Calif., where four products from his Granby-based Captain Spongefoot Trading Company were honored at last month's America's Best Food Event.

DiBello's Sriracha Z Sauce took home the first-place trophy in the "medium wing sauce" category, and his Chipotle Wing Sauce won third place in the same category. Second place in the "grilling/finishing sauce" category went to his Colorado Sweet Heat Cranberry- Chipotle Sauce, and the Captain Spongefoot Colorado Gift set took third place for packaging.

DiBello is approaching euphoria over the wins, but he's not so happy that he failed to notice when this reporter referred to his company as "Captain SpongeBob."

"I've been Captain Spongefoot for 35 years, and that's a whole lot longer than a certain cartoon character has been around," he said somewhat heatedly.

And no wonder. DiBello became Captain Spongefoot after having both feet and two fingers amputated because of frostbite suffered on an ice-climbing expedition in 1974. His first prosthetic feet were made of a spongy material, and they made a squishing sound whenever he got wet working around boats at his sailing business on Lake Granby. Ergo, "Captain Spongefoot."

DiBello became active in disabled skiing in 1979 and five years later founded the National Sports Center for the Disabled ski competition program in Winter Park.

Three years ago, he took his friends' advice and went commercial with his homemade wing sauce. He knew he was onto something when he entered some of his first commercially labeled sauces in the 2004 National Buffalo Wing Festival in Buffalo, N.Y., and took home three trophies, including first prize for "best medium traditional wing sauce" in the "out-of-town" category.

"Our clients were limited to maybe two restaurants at the time," DiBello recalls.

DiBello retired as the ski program's director in 2005. Since then he has been the sauce company's full-time chief cook and bottle washer, spending many of his hours at the Captain Spongefoot production facility in Aurora.

The original recipe Buffalo Wing Sauce and the Chipotle Sauce are $4.89 for a 12-ounce bottle at King Soopers and City Market stores. The Sriracha Z Sauce and Colorado Gift Set are available online at captainspongefoot.com. DiBello plans to start selling Colorado Sweet Heat Cranberry-Chipotle Sauce online in the fall.

• If a fine oolong is your cup of bliss, you'll want to partake of the eighth annual Rocky Mountain Tea Festival, Saturday and Sunday at the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse. Anyone can register for as few or as many of the seminars, classes and tours as they like.

For example? Cooking With Tea, $10, with Dushanbe Teahouse owner Lenny Martinelli, 9 a.m. Saturday; Celestial Seasonings VIP Tour, $16, 10 a.m. Sunday; The Japanese Way of Tea, $15, 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Sunday; Wild Herb and Tea Walk, $15, 2 p.m. Sunday; Pairing Tea and Chocolate, $15, 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets must be purchased in advance; call 303-442-4993. More information: boulderteahouse.com.

Do you have a tip on a new food product or grocery trend? Contact Janet Simons at simonsj@RockyMountainNews.com, 303-954-2547.