“[For the Coachella Food and Beverage lineup] I want people to feel like they got a genuine taste of what makes California’s food culture so special—it’s beyond the taste of things—it is diversity, roots, boldness, and creativity.”

- Adrian Garcia, Goldenvoice Culinary Director

As sure as birds, bees, and soft purple petals in Jacaranda trees return in the springtime, so too does the world-famous Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, which turns Indio into an international culture hub for arbiters of taste and tastemaking for two weekends every April. Twenty-seven years out of its bohemian roots, Goldenvoice’s Coachella maintains a food lineup as revered and as varied as its musical counterpart—the likes of which, this year, include artists from Justin Bieber, Sabrina Carpenter, Karol G and Youngthug, to fakemink, Geese, FKA twigs, and more. 

Within the one square mile that will welcome thousands of festival-goers, Goldenvoice Culinary Director Adrian Garcia employs over 100 bars and restaurants from both local and worldwide destinations. An exciting addition to this year’s culinary experience is an expansion at Street Food Alley, permitted by a passageway that joins the Terrace to the Beer Barn, and as Garcia reveals, will connect guests from DoLab to Qasar. This aisle is dedicated to Southern Californian street food, and includes pizza from Spicy Pie, Los Angeles staple sandwich establishment Fat Sal’s, Indio’s Gabino’s Creperie, American-Japanese fusion hot dog Sumo Dog, and Cena Vegan for vegan street food. 

On the fine-dining front, Nobu will return for its second year to Red Bull Mirage at Quasar Stage to serve a reservation-only omakase service that, in addition to the famous flavors prepared by Nobu sushi chefs, includes access to the Mirage’s first floor. And a few yards down at the Rose Garden, land artist Jim Denevan’s Outstanding in the Field emerges for the 11th year, an idyllic long-table formal seating experience that exists as a kind of sanctuary in the midst of the fast-moving festival. Each day of each weekend, a different chef from their respective restaurant will host Outstanding in the Field, with Weekend 1 seeing Michael Beckman from Workshop Kitchen & Bar, Alan Sanz from Mírate and Daisy Margarita Bar, and Jonathan Harris from Linden, while Weekend 2 will be hosted by Charles Namba from Camélia, Tsubaki, and OTOTO, Donnie Masterton from The Restaurant & Christian Herrera of Live Baja Catering, and Nico de Leon.

Over by the Ferris wheel and Spectra is the Terrace, where Churrería El Moro will be serving at Coachella for the very first time via pop-up. Intended to be a hub of quick and energizing bites to enjoy between sets, the Terrace offers fried chicken from New York’s Rokstar Chicken and Thai fried chicken by Shlap Muan, Cajun seafood from The Boiling Crab, delicious, nutrient-packed dumplings from Arizona-based Lovebite Dumplings,  Backyard Bowls, and to name a few. 

And, at the epicenter of it all, festivalgoers will find Indio Central Market. Serving as the beating heart of the festival’s living, breathing, culinary ecosystem, the market is designed to satiate the needs of all at the nexus of the grounds. This year, the Central Market offers an array of substantial comfort meals, healthy options, as well as small, dessert-like delights, offering a survey of the California culture tourists from around the world flock to: see here, East LA favorite tacos from Villas Tacos, famous curries from, Farmhouse Thai Kitchen, Korean-Mexican cuisine from Kogi, coffee from  Everbloom Coffee, and plant-based pizzas from Forever Pie, amongst a myriad of others.

Finally, for those looking to whet their palettes while recovering from the high-energy dancefloors, the Beer Barn returns, offering food from Marathon Burger and Prince St. Pizza. Throughout the festival, as has become the norm in the past couple of years, guests can always expect speakeasies and surprises– The Cabin by Houston Hospitality has returned, alongside Mixteca, the Tiki Bar, Block Party, and Love Hour.  bringing its signature sense of escapism and surprise, a transportive hideaway known for its immersive design and magical, late-night energy.
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With Coachella on our heels, we spoke with Garcia, who shares his insights on curation, how he thinks about and considers the guest experience, and the beauty in what food, resting, and gathering spots can offer us at one of the world’s most famous festivals.

When you began to curate this year’s F&B lineup, what from last year's lineup did you want to maintain? How did this year’s curation process differ from years past? 

Every year I go back and look at the data. What was a hit and what was a miss? What made people happy, what had long lines and wasn’t able to turn and burn fast enough, what are people saying online? I also take into consideration where our restaurant partners are located on the festival site and stage programming, which all impact the weekend's success. I keep meticulous records of every detail that could affect the curation process — keeping in mind not just the guest's satisfaction, but also our restaurant partners' goals. I take it all very seriously. The guests tell you everything you need to know if you are paying attention — and believe me, I’m paying attention. 

What I always want to protect is the mystery. To keep the discovery truly pure, I don't just maintain the mystery for the guests — I keep it mysterious for our staff too. When the team is genuinely curious and genuinely surprised, that energy is real, and you can feel it across the entire site. It translates, and you can't fake that. The on-site builds, the hidden bars, the things people stumble into on their way to a stage — that anticipation works the same way a performer lineup does. When I overhear guests talking about a speakeasy they found or see posts of festivalgoers having the time of their lives at one of the special experiences we've created, those are the moments where I feel it — this is more than an event. It truly is an experience, and the food and beverage program carries an energy that grows those three magical days in the desert.

What was different this year is that we announced earlier than usual, and that gave me extra lead time to curate on a deeper level. More time to research, find the locals, try different things, get restaurants excited, and coach them up for service on the field. A big part of what I do is help position our restaurant partners to not just show up but show up and thrive. That extra time allowed me to go deeper with people—to help them build something special and make their experience both memorable and lucrative. And of course, there are things you keep but evolve. Golden Hour is a perfect example—same bar, different party. I like to keep pushing forward because if you're not moving forward, you're standing still. And if you know me, you know standing still isn't really my thing.

Especially when it comes to Coachella, we like to think about festivals as a collation of sensorial experiences—not just composed of music, but rather an entire stimulation of the body and mind. How does the food and beverage program at Coachella cater towards experience over sustenance?
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The Indio Central Market (ICM) is probably the best place to start answering this question. What we've built there isn't a food court—it's a lineup. Every restaurant partner brings their own special energy, their own aesthetic, and their own unique story to the festival. ICM is so special because it’s a full food hall that did not exist two weeks before guests stepped foot onto the field and it won't exist two weeks after they're gone. It only lives for six days a year, in the middle of the Empire Polo Fields. It’s a moment in time that nourishes so many people, that serves as a meeting point for so many guests, and it only exists temporarily in this wildly beautiful space that is Coachella. That impermanence is part of what makes it feel so electric—to me, and I hope to everyone else. 

It's also worth mentioning that within ICM, there are multiple completely different experiences available to guests. On one side you have a perfect, gracious view of the Outdoor Theatre. On the other, there's a party—aka the Heineken House. Depending on where you're standing or what you're craving, there is an experience available for everyone. That same sensory layering happens all across the grounds. A guest can be walking between stages and get distracted by an out-of-place door or sign that pulls them into something they've only heard rumors of—and suddenly they've forgotten all about their plans because they’re fully present and in the moment. They turn a corner and find themselves in an alleyway that didn't exist before, and that excitement spreads as they share their findings with friends they've made throughout the weekend and post online. That word of mouth, that organic energy—that's what we're building toward and those realized moments of feeling absolutely present, that is my purpose.

The Tiki Bar is something I'm especially proud of. It lives in a space that was never open to the public until last year—honestly, it might be my favorite corner of the entire grounds. The story behind it goes back to my time at 106.7 KROQ, where I produced a special event called Breakfast with Jack Johnson. It was around that time that I first experienced Lake Medjool. No one really knew about it then. But last year I thought: we should share this. We should turn this into something special for people to be a part of. and so the Tiki Bar found its new home and its evolution continued on.

I made the deliberate choice not to talk about it too much—to protect that mystery again—because I thought, how fun and invigorating would it be for a guest to stumble upon it on their own? Like a secret passageway that leads to treasure. When something is a discovery and not a destination, the feeling when you arrive is completely different. There are so many reasons people come to Coachella—the chase for a good time, for an escape, for something new and I hope that in my own way, I am creating those opportunities. Giving people a moment that becomes part of their Coachella story and ultimately part of some of the best times of their lives.

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Obviously, many people from outside of California come to Coachella to get a small taste of the California essence. How would you say that this year's program reflects, in a microcosmic sense, the broader California culinary landscape?

As someone born and raised in Los Angeles, this is probably my favorite part of what we do. People come from all over the world to visit California—-for the weather, the beaches, and Coachella. Tucked inside of the Coachella experience is the opportunity to taste California. Not just hear about it or see it on Instagram or TikTok, but to actually get an opportunity to taste all of it if you wish. There are some restaurants that my friends talk about as if Coachella is the only opportunity they have to eat it even though they live 20 minutes away from their establishment. Coachella is the new Vegas in the sense that there is a version of it for everyone and I think for a lot of people it is becoming more and more about the culinary opportunities and experiences they can take advantage of. That is something I think about when I’m curating the food and beverage lineup. I want people to feel like they got a genuine taste of what makes California’s food culture so special—it’s beyond the taste of things—it is diversity, roots, boldness, and creativity. When I look at this year's lineup, so much of it is rooted in California—Villa's Tacos bringing handmade blue corn masa tacos rooted in generations of family tradition, Gabino’s Creperie repping the Coachella Valley, Maciel's representing California's plant-forward food consciousness, and Sumo Dog bringing that only-in-California fusion spirit that makes this state's food culture like nowhere else on earth.

These aren't just great restaurants, they are California. They are the neighborhoods, the communities, and the cultures that make this state unlike anywhere else in the world. If you want to understand what California tastes like in 2026, you could spend months driving up and down the state, or you could spend a weekend at Coachella. I'd say we've made a pretty compelling case for the latter. On that note however, I’m always encouraging people to visit brick-and-mortars. To visit the restaurants and sit down and let them show you what they can do when they're home and in their space. Coachella is an introduction and an invitation. I hope that people leave the desert with a list of places to visit and try more from, because when that happens that means we did our job right. We did not just feed them but we gave them the opportunity to extend their Coachella experience into their everyday lives. 

What are some vendors and activations guests can look forward to both weekends?
I cannot wait for people to try Churrería El Moro. I’ve been watching them for years, and when their Echo Park location opened up this year, you best believe I was there waiting in line, supporting and eating some of the best churros I've ever had. To see the response from the community truly made me happy and informed me that they are ready for the beast that is Coachella. But honestly, the way I think about the overall line up this year is like a Friendsgiving. Everyone is coming over and everyone is bringing something different and delicious to the table. It’s not just California coming to the table either, it’s from down the street and across the country. New York to Palm Springs, and many places in between. They are bringing their best and heading your way. Coachella is a music discovery experience and that is one thousand percent still true, but now it’s also one of the best food discovery experiences in the world. I don’t take that lightly. 

Something new I’m excited about this year is what I’m calling Street Food Alley. It’s a new passageway we’ve opened up on site that takes guests through another neighborhood within the festival. It’s focused on street food culture — quick, delicious, and high energy. Some of the restaurant partners guests can find in the alley are Gabino's Creperie, Innamorata, Kogi, Unreal Poke, Fat Sal’s and more. I think it will be a natural fit as it connects guests to Do Lab and Quasar — I think it will become part of how people move through the festival site rather than just a place you stop to eat. 

And after over seventeen years of being a part of Coachella and a very lively cocktail program, our team has decided it’s finally time for a signature cocktail. We’re calling it the Coachella Sunset. It’s a love letter to the Coachella Valley and pays homage to the agricultural community that is the heartbeat of this region. We had a lot of fun working on the recipe with the goal of capturing what a Coachella Sunset tastes like—citrusy and salty and thirst quenching. I’m excited to see people try it and even more excited to see them literally walk away with a memory in their hands. 

Another restaurant partner I am excited for on site is Softies. If you haven’t had their burgers yet, I don’t know what you are waiting for. It is going to be a lot of fun watching them bring their energy to ICM. We are also bringing in some incredible new plant-based options for our vegan friends! Gokoku is going to bring some delicious dishes to the desert and I’m also excited to have Marselle’s Plant-Based Butcher & Deli on site to keep everyone fed throughout the weekends. Overall, there’s a lot more to discover this year than there was last year, but that’s all I'll say about that. 

Those who are participating in the F&B lineup feed the festival—to the benefit & nourishment of guests, artists & their teams, those working the festival, and more. In your time as F&B director at Goldenvoice, in what ways can this kind of exposure impact a restaurant/culinary provider?‍

The Coachella effect is real—and it works on multiple levels simultaneously.

There's the local community effect first. Suddenly, a restaurant that people in their own neighborhood maybe took for granted becomes the talk of the festival. People who live down the street are seeing posts and thinking—wait, everybody knows Shlap Muan? I didn't realize Papa Headz had that kind of following? To me, that is one of my favorite outcomes because it means the exposure isn't just for the hundred thousand people on site — it's a signal to everyone watching from home that they should go check these places out, whether they made it to the show or not.

And speaking of Papa Headz—that story is exactly why I do what I do. This is a burger concept that started as a pop-up out of someone's house during the pandemic, with little to nothing to start with, and slowly but surely worked their way up through every milestone—pop-ups, food truck, and brick and mortar. That kind of hustle deserves a stage. Coachella is that stage. Watching a brand like that get in front of a hundred thousand people is genuinely one of the most rewarding parts of this job.

Then there's the patron effect. You're getting in front of over a hundred thousand people who may fall in love with your restaurant for the rest of their lives. If a festival-goer finds that one dish that truly speaks to them—while they're in the middle of this epic, emotional, once-in-a-year experience—that memory is sealed forever. That flavor will always tie back to that moment. That's not just exposure. My wife for instance, fell in love with Miya Miya at Camp Flog Gnaw one year and since then wherever we go, if it’s available, she’s going to wait in line, regardless of how long it is, to get her chicken shawarma wrap the Yaz way. That's what happens when you’re doing it right. You obtain lifelong customers. 

And then there's the artist side—and this is where things get really fun. I'll get a phone call that Tacos 1986 had to close their booth because a certain entourage came through and ordered a couple of hundred tacos. Or a band decides they really want Kogi to come make food for them backstage after their set. Or Tyler, The Creator stops by the Indio Central Market just to grab a burger—and that moment goes viral and completely changes that restaurant's next day on site. These things happen. They are real. And they are some of my favorite moments to witness.

I can't take credit for any restaurant partner's success—that belongs entirely to them and the work they put in. But I do support it with everything I have, and I genuinely hope that every partner I work with feels that.

You once said that you look for “heart and consistency” when bringing restaurants to the desert. What qualities do you feel the Outstanding in the Field participants share this year?‍

Outstanding in the Field is one of those things I look forward to every single year—and I mean that in the most personal way possible. I've attended OITF dinners outside of Coachella, and the experience never fails or falls short. I've walked away from those dinners with people who are still my friends to this day—and that says everything about what Jim Denevan has built. That's the power of a long table dinner.

What makes OITF so special at Coachella specifically is that it is romance in the midst of perfect chaos. A hundred thousand people are moving in every direction, bass is shaking the ground—and then you step into the Rose Garden and you're suddenly seated at a beautifully set long table with exceptional service and inventive, elegantly presented food. An oasis within an oasis. For some guests it will genuinely be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The chefs who take on OITF at Coachella are culinary heroes as far as I'm concerned. Cooking at the highest level, for 200 guests a night, inside a music festival — the pressure is not small. And every single one of them rises to it.

This year's lineup is extraordinary. Michael Beckman — James Beard Award winner, Southern California native, and the creative force behind Workshop Kitchen & Bar in Palm Springs — is returning for his second year. When a chef of that caliber wants to come back, you know something special is happening at that table. Charles Namba's background reads like a culinary adventure novel — from New York's EN Japanese Brasserie and Chanterelle to helping open Thomas Keller's Bouchon in LA, and now running three acclaimed concepts including James Beard Award-winning sake bar OTOTO and French-Japanese bistro Camélia. His talent is matched only by his character. Alan Sanz brings a globally informed perspective to contemporary Mexican cuisine, and Nico de Leon closes out the series with a menu rooted in Filipino and Angeleno fare — meaningful in a year when Coachella itself is making history with its most diverse lineup ever. The table reflects the moment.

When I look at all of these chefs, I see people who have spent years building something honest. None of them are here by accident. They showed up — consistently, with everything they had — and the food world took notice. Michael rooted in the desert community long before it was cool. Charles staying true to who he is across three beloved concepts. Alan cooking the food of his culture with world-class technique. Nico telling a story that's long overdue on a stage this size. That's what heart and consistency actually looks like. And that's exactly the energy I want in the Rose Garden.

How would you describe a “perfect food day” at Coachella—in one day, what would be your personally preferred breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert stops? 

The perfect food day at Coachella would take me around the world in a culinary sense. Often, what I want to eat is impacted by the flow of the day, the issues that need to be addressed as I get pulled in different directions, and the surprise stops and friendly encounters that lead to the best moments. I would start the day early with coffee in camping at Drip Daddy and see how the campers are holding up after another wild night. I try to hold off as long as I can for early eats so I can save room for all the deliciousness inside the grounds.

Once doors open, I head over to Indio Central Market to stop in on some friends — starting with another coffee at Everbloom. An iced latte with honey lavender house syrup will keep my body feeling no pain. Now it's time for food, and I'm a fan of sharing. I'll grab a table in the shade and dive into a few tacos from Villa's Tacos and a loaded Kogi fries to really get the taste buds working.

Now it's time to make the rounds and see how guests are interacting with the site. I tend to flow in a beeline pattern — moving where I'm needed, checking in with area managers, and witnessing which restaurants patrons are flocking toward. Perhaps it's time for another coffee and something sweet. I'll swing by Churrería El Moro for a 12-pack of churros and a chance to make some new friends. Café La Vecindad sounds like the perfect pairing for my fresh hot churros.

As the day becomes night it's time to take in the Golden Hour sunset and enjoy the new Coachella Sunset signature cocktail—maybe two. The dinner rush comes quick as patrons move from stage to stage. There's so much amazing food to try, but tonight I'm going to keep it plant-based and make my way over to Gokoku for their Orange Tofu rice bowl near the Sonora stage. Since I'm sharing with friends I'll also need to grab a Reuben from Maciel's to carry me through the evening. 

Each night goes late when you have patrons living in the festival for 24 hours a day. If I break the 30,000 step mark, a late night snack may be in order—meaning it's time for a Love Hour burger break with a side of chicken nuggets & caviar. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it.

Next question… What are we going to eat next?