Hot sauce can be good, but I fee too many people use hot sauce as a crutch for dishes that are not based off of it. Same with spices in general. I love spices, especially middle eastern and African cuisine and dishes that are built for it. But too many people think all food needs a million spices to be good, to which I say, you are just bad at cooking. Sometimes some salt, pepper and some lime or lemon is all you need (look at our Spanish cuisine YUM). Your food needs to stand out with its base ingredients plus salt, and then if spices can add anything to it, then go for it!