Coachella 2016: What to eat at the festival

Before you race to see Guns N’ Roses on the main stage at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival this year, you’re going to need something to eat. Food = body-swaying, head-bobbing fuel.

This year, the festival has once again made a serious effort to improve its food options. In other words, if you’re used to eating tacos from Mexicali and Guerrilla Tacos, gourmet hot dogs from Fritzi dog, anything and everything from Pot and Korean BBQ from Hanjip, you’ll be able to continue to eat like an L.A. food-lover-in-the-know-who-crushes-it-on-Instagram at the festival.

Here’s what you’ll be eating in the desert:

There will be three full-service restaurants, complete with tables, chairs and a wait staff including Roy Choi’s Commissary, Andy Ricker’s Pok Pok and Ricardo Zarate’s new project, Rosaline.

Participating food vendors include Afters Ice Cream, Backyard Bowls, Badmaash, BCN, Beer Belly, Blue Bottle, Burgerlords, Cassell’s, Clover Juice, Donut Farm, Eureka, Free Range, Fritzi Dog, GD Bro Burger, Guerrilla Tacos, Hanjip Korean BBQ, Hinterland, Indie Jams, KazuNori, KindKreme, Mallow Mallow, McConnell’s Fine Ice Cream, Menotti’s, Mexicali, Forage, Ramen Hood, Rocco’s Sweet Shoppe, Rossoblu, Sage, Smitten Ice Cream, Sotto, Starry Kitchen x Button Mash, Sumo Dog, Superba Food + Bread, Sweetfin Poke, the Church Key, Three Jerks Filet Mignon Jerky and Top Round Roast Beef.

Alvin Cailan (Egg Slut) also has plans to bring his Unit 120 Chinatown pop-up to the desert on weekend one and two, with LASA by Chad and Chase Valencia; Shao Kao BBQ by Luther Chen; Nighthawk by Jeremy Fall; a meal by Vartan Abgaryan; Twisted Filipino by Carlo Lamagna; and a new project by Jeremy Fall.

As for the cocktails, drinks will be provided by Seven Grand, Cana Rum Bar, Golden Gopher and Las Perlas.

And Outstanding in the Field, the pop-up dinner group, returns to both weekends of Coachella with two dinners each night of the festival, featuring chefs from around the country.

Weekend one will feature food from Antonia Lofaso (Scopa Italian Roots), Elia Aboumrad (Cassell’s Hamburgers), Nyesha Arrington (Leona), Chris Oh (Seoul Sausage/Hanjip), Kris Morningstar (Terrine), Michael Hung (Viviane), Daniel Ovadia (Nudo Negro in Mexico City), Jose Manuel Baños Rodriguez (Pitiona, Oaxaca, Mexico) and Francisco Ruano (Alcalde in Guadalajara, Mexico).

Weekend two includes dinners by Michael Voltaggio (Ink), Tal Ronnen (Crossroads), Lincoln Carson (Lincoln Heavy Industries), Brendan Collins (Birch), Steven Fretz (the Church Key), Bradley Kilgore (Alter in Miami), Jamie DeRosa (Izzy’s Fish & Oyster in Miami) and Jonathan Sawyer (Trentina in Cleveland). Tickets for the dinners are $225 per person (you must already have a festival wristband). Outstanding in the Field is also selling tickets to dinner along with a general admission festival pass for $624 per person, and dinner and a VIP pass for $1,124 per person. More details and tickets can be found at www.coachella.com/outstanding-in-the-field.

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