Pitmaster John Lewis announced the sixth annual Lewis Chile Roast will be held on Sunday, October 1st from 12 pm to 5 pm at Rancho Lewis (1503 King St.) and the adjacent Pacific Box & Crate courtyard.
The Lewis Chile Roast celebrates the acclaimed pitmaster's favorite ingredient, the Hatch green chile, and honors the annual chile harvest in the Hatch Valley in New Mexico. The festival boasts a wide range of activities including tasting tents with the area's best chefs, live music, a kiddie corral with children's activities, and plenty of cold beverages. This year's festival will also feature singer, songwriter and musician, Whitey Morgan headlining the afternoon along with Solid Country Gold.
The Lewis team will truck in over 3,000 lbs. of fresh hatch chiles for the event, roasting them on-site and selling them by the 1 and 5 lb. bags. Chile lovers can pre-order roasted chiles on Lewis Barbecue's online store and pick up the product at the event or purchase roasted chiles and other products on-site. Exclusive hatch chile merch and products will be available for purchase at the festival too.
Local restaurants participating include Berkeley's, Bessinger’s BBQ, Chasing Sage, Cirseas, Daps Breakfast & Imbibe/Cleats, Delaney Oyster House, EVO, Husk Charleston, Kwei Fei/Beautiful South, Lenoir, Lola Rose/ The Grocery, Ma’am Saab/Malika Canteen, Maya, Millers All Day, Minero, Palmira BBQ, Pink Bellies, Rebel Taqueria, Renzo, Sorelle, Sushi-Wa, The Drifter, The James and Welton’s Tiny Bakeshop. John's Texas friends, Truth BBQ will be joining the party this year as well. In addition to the tasting tents, partnering neighbor, Edmunds Oast Brewing Co. will create a special chile-infused beer for the roast.
The event benefits Friends of Joseph Floyd Manor, a non-profit providing advocacy, resources and support to the residents of Joseph Floyd Manor (JFM) through community outreach and awareness, donations, and fundraising. Neighbors to Rancho Lewis, JFM is a public housing facility designated for elderly and disabled citizens on the upper peninsula.
General admission to the event is free and open to the public with a suggested $10 donation to Friends of Joseph Floyd Manor. Chiles can be preordered at www.rancholewischs.com/chile-roast. Follow @lewisbarbecue & @rancholewis on Instagram for festival updates and sneak peeks.
