When did Coachella become foodie heaven? The annual food lineup release has become just as important and anticipated as the music lineup. Under the leadership of Culinary Director Lizzy Curnen and her right-hand man and all around production wizard Adrian Garcia, the food and beverage program at Goldenvoice is without a doubt the best in the country. Coachella hosts popular restaurants and bars from around the country, local favorites and even has 3 Michelin Star restaurants on the roster.
Lizzy and Adrian aren't in the food business, they create experiences for festival goers. The amount of detail that goes into the special build outs for restaurants and the speakeasies are all to make that experience a memorable one. You may forget the Bad Bunny set list or who you saw in the Gobi on Saturday but you're not going to forget the light up floor at Sonny's by Attaboy, the tiki themed speakeasy, or that you ate a Le Burger from Michelin Star holder Camphor in a beautiful white room in the middle of the desert, or that you were transported to New York when you walked through a phone booth to enter PDT. Needless to say, Lizzy and Adrian are not to be messed with when it comes to curating the food lineup for one of, if not the biggest, festival in the world.
With that said, here's what we ate weekend 1 at Coachella 2023...
YANGBAN - SIGNATURE WINGS
YANGBAN is a Korean-American deli in LA's Arts District by Katianna Hong and John Hong. Their Coachella offering, three ginormous double fried wings glazed with a sticky, sweet & salty sauce.
GGIATA - THE SPICY P
Ggiata is an east coast inspired Italian deli in Hollywood. Their very popular Spicy P is a modest chicken cutlet, dressed with spicy vodka sauce, fresh mozzarella, grated Romano, basil pesto, all in a charred seeded baguette.
BANG BANG NOODLES - SZECHUAN GARLIC NOODLES
Bang Bang Noodles has established themselves as a Culver City staple since setting up shop in the Citizen Public Market. Their fan favorite Szechuan Garlic Noodles are savory hand pulled noodles topped with a spicy umami sauce under a bed of fresh veggies with your choice of beef or mushroom.
TRILL BURGERS - TRILL OG BURGER
Established by hip-hop legend Bun B, Trill Burgers is quickly becoming one of Houston, Texas' best burgers. The Trill OG burger takes two 44 Farms smashed beef patties, American yellow cheese, grilled onions, pickles and Trill Sauce
WOLFIE'S - FLAMIN' HOT CHICKEN SANDWICH
Wolfie's is just one of the amazing food concepts brought to us by restauranteur Jason Eisner. The Flamin' Hot Chickn sandwich is a housemade Flamin' Hot crusted chick'n patty slathered in their signature Awesome Sauce 2.0 with dill pickle chips, served on a toasted sesame bun.
HONORABLE MENTION: TKB BAKERY & DELI - THE TRUMP CARD
Although TKB is not in the festival, we have to give them their flowers. TKB Bakery & Deli was the Yelp! #1 Restaurant in America 2018 and to be honest should keep that title every year. It would be a sin to drive through the Coachella Valley and not make a pit stop at this desert gem. We're sure every sandwich on the menu is going to be the best one you've ever had but for first timers, we recommend The Trump Card. The enormous sandwich stacks turkey, salami, bacon, pepper jack, avocado, mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomato, onions, Jalapeño potato chips, and chipotle sauce on a jalapeño Focaccia roll