Gluten-Free at The Hot Luck Festival 2018

by Deana Larkin Evans · May 30, 2018

Whole Enchilada Passes To Hot Luck Festival

Woot! Woot! I didn’t make it to the first Hot Luck Food & Music Festival last year, but boy did I luck out this year.

Tillamook cheese held a contest on twitter for two Whole Enchilada passes and I actually won them! So exciting.

That’s a value of $1100 and access to almost all the food and music events!

So the Hot Luck Fest is put on by Aaron Franklin, James Moody, and Mike Thelin over Memorial Day Weekend here in Austin.

There are several food and music venues around town with over 60 chefs and 6000 lbs of meat! And thanks to Tillamook, Brett and I got to experience a lot of it.

Of course, I had to hold back a little because I can’t eat gluten or most dairy but there was still lots of great food for me to eat. I mean I ate all the BBQ!

I followed the Tillamook bus around at each event we went to and they served ice cream sandwiches, brisket & cheddar tots, and a s’mores beer float. They were all a huge hit. Brett loved them!

Hi, How Are You?

So the first venue we went to was the backyard get-together at Franklin’s BBQ. We were given these awesome Yeti tumblers and drinks. We walked around trying the delicious bites and had more drinks. There were a lot of sandwiches, but I asked for a bite of the meat and extras without the bread. Then we waited in line to for a full plate of Franklin BBQ!

Brisket, ribs and pulled pork and sides. And as far as I know, it’s all gluten-free except the bread and the dark BBQ sauce.

I’ll have to admit this was actually my first time to actually go to Franklin’s BBQ. I’m not a morning person and just don’t have the patience to get up that early and wait in line. Although I’ve had a sampler at The Texas Monthly BBQ Fest, this experience was truly a bucket list moment.

Plus while we waited in line we got to try some lovely charcuterie and Antonelli’s cheese (they have the best goat/sheep’s milk cheese). So good and such a fun atmosphere.

Night Court

This event was held at Fair Market and had an Mall Food Court theme. I tried Lady Edison fancy country ham when we first walked in and it was incredible. Humanely raised and sustainably farmed. I’m excited to have discovered that brand.

Then we walked around and checked out the other bites while listening to 80’s music. The food all looked amazing but there weren’t really any gluten-free options for me. A lot of it was fried and bread-centric so I decided not to take any chances here. Brett tried some of the amazing bites then started to feel bad that I couldn’t try them, too. So we called it a night.

Al Fuego

This was my favorite event and we’ll definitely go back again next year. Live grilling and the old school music reminded me of my college years. It was so fun. Plenty to eat and drink and see.

This event was held at Wild Onion Ranch. It started out really hot but there was plenty of shade and places to sit. I loved that it was a night event as well. It cooled off as the sun went down and there was a nice hill country breeze. There were longhorns off in the distance. Such a fun vibe.

Union Wine Co. can smoked chicken. BBQ. More BBQ. Then there was that delicious bite from Loro – smoked tri tip with uni butter on a shrimp chip. I had about 5 of these. I think my favorite drink was the Pain Killer made with Sailor Jerry rum, orange and pineapple juice, and coconut cream. Huge hit!