Coachella 2015: A Pot pop-up and 800 degrees in the desert

“Should we get Egg Slut, KazuNori or Pot?”

These weren’t the words of downtown L.A. city dwellers contemplating lunch at Grand Central Market or Main Street or at the Line Hotel in Koreatown. These were two festival-goers at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival during the first weekend, trying to figure out what to eat after watching Bad Religion on the main stage.

Sure you’re sweating, a little dehydrated and trying to decide whether you should finish alt-J’s set or run over to catch Father John Misty, but sitting down to a great meal isn’t a problem. Angelenos used to a growing number of stellar restaurants at home didn’t have to leave their appetites in L.A.

And when we say sitting down to a meal, we actually mean sitting down, in a chair, at a table, with a server. Pot, Gadarene Swine/Scratch Bar and Terrine all set up actual restaurants in the VIP area, complete with wooden plank floors, a fountain and a trellis with strips of linen draped along each opening, creating a dreamy, flowing ceiling under the desert sky.

And if you were at the $225 Outstanding in the Field pop-up dinners, you were treated to four courses, with cocktails.

At Pot, there was spicy marinated cucumbers, soy-pickled daikon and a salad of greens, radish, fruit, pine nuts and mustard dressing as banchan. Then you had your choice of barbecue spicy pork or barbecue veggies. The Coachella version of the hot pot was a large to-go container of either cabbage with soybean paste, veggies, tofu and squash; kimchi, rice cakes and pork belly; or marinated ribeye bulgogi, noodles, kimchi, scallion and sesame. And for dessert, a mocha chip cookie. It was enough to fuel a dance party late into the evening.

In the VIP Rose Garden, Egg Slut and Ramen Champ offered people bowls of rice or noodles topped with soft-cooked soy sauce eggs, fried oyster mushrooms, bean sprouts, togarashi and greens; KazuNori had an area where you could sit at a sushi bar and eat hand rolls; and Cana Rum Bar, Cole’s and Las Perlas were serving craft cocktails.

And like any good meal at Pot, Scratch Bar, Gadarene Swine and Terrine, it came with craft cocktails. Ryan Wainwright from Terrine mixed up the Rosa Spritz (Noilly Prat French dry vermouth, Prosecco and lemon twist) and the Jesus Was a Bass Player (Absolut Vodka, Aperol, Noilly Prat French dry vermouth, lemon juice, orange juice, soda and an orange twist); there was a K-Town Long Island from Pot, with vodka, gin, rum, combier and mezcal; and a Bangkok Dangerious from Scratch Bar and Gadarene Swine, made with sake, pineapple, lemon juice, turmeric and cayenne.

If you weren’t sporting a VIP wristband, you could still get a hot dog topped with caramelized onions, pickled sweet peppers, jalapeno wasabi relish, Sriracha mayo, a sweet soy glaze, wasabi furikake and kizami nori at Kushiyaki Dog in the beer garden area -- which made its debut at the festival; pizzas from 800 Degrees; grilled cheese sandwiches with bacon from Beer Belly; and roast beef sandwiches from Top Round.

For more on where to eat Weekend 2, here are more vendor highlights. And a full list of where to eat here.

Expert at eating and #Coachillin. Follow me on Twitter @Jenn_Harris_