In the husky desert twilight on Saturday of Weekend One of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts festival, I’m perched on a grassy hill overlooking the cavernous Sahara stage in the back corner of the venue. A group of glittery women sit down beside me, carrying between them a couple of pizza boxes they’ve nabbed from Saucy, a nearby gourmet pizza vendor. They take a couple of bites. “God,” I hear them giggling, “this is the best day I’ve had in months.” 

In the decades since its inception, Coachella has grown exponentially in size and scope, having burgeoned into a monumental cultural entity with brawn powerful enough to make or break an artist, vendor, or attendee’s career, with a maelstrom of brand activations and photo opportunities and vendors that can—and often times do—feel overwhelming for the starry-eyed first timer. Despite it all, what draws people back, year after year, are moments of communion such as the one I have witnessed on the grassy hill: A group of friends or a collection of strangers taking a beat to appreciate the magnificence of it all. The sturdy skeleton upon which Coachella as we know it has been built is as much an adrenaline-soaked beat on a sweaty dance floor as it is a meaningful minute on the outskirts, sitting beside a well-dressed friend, sharing a meal.

Adrian Garcia has been the architect of these incidents of communion at Coachella for over 16 years, and has served as the Culinary Director & F&B Director for Goldenvoice Festivals for the past five. This year, Garcia cultivated an impressive lineup for all guests: VIP offerings included Outstanding in the Field in the Rose Garden and the exclusive Nobu experience at the Red Bull Mirage; campers were able to eat a selection of food trucks, among them plant-based Word of Mouth and famous Dave’s Hot Chicken. There were fifteen unique restaurants in the Indio Central Market enjoyed by all, highlighting the cuisines of local and Los Angeles vendors like (highlights were Chef Roy Choi’s taco truck, Kogi and iconic West Coast staple, Farmhouse Thai Kitchen.)

Garcia took extra care this year to curate a sense of mystery that transcended traditional festival exploration; alongside bars scattered throughout the grounds (The New Bar; Clink Wine Bar; The Cabin), there were numerous speakeasies for guests to discover (among them, Mixteca, from NYC’s Please Don’t Tell team.) 

Three weeks from now, or months from now—even years from now, there will inevitably be a select few moments from this year’s festival that a guest will remember with utmost clarity. What will be left will be the feeling; that warmth that arrives when recalling how close one felt to the people with whom they came; the proximity to the joy of strangers; the ability to let loose, at least for a couple of days. If there is someone to thank for this feeling, Adrian Garcia is perhaps one of the most deserving. He has curated, and will continue to curate, a food lineup that engenders moments worth treasuring. 

What is your curatorial process for each festival, and what elements do you bring into your culinary direction that make each festival unique? 

Each festival is different and has its own vibe and rhythm, but the process is mostly the same for me. It’s my job to make sure that the food and beverage offerings onsite are more than just food and beverage. When I’m curating, I’m thinking about how things will play on site and how the fans will experience it. Whether it’s a great presentation worthy of an IG post or it’s something popular a patron has seen online but has never had a chance to try in person. I do a lot of research. I pay attention to what my friends and colleagues (even my teenage nieces and nephews) are into. I try to stay tapped into local scenes, not just in LA, but in the cities that each festival takes place in too. I make it a point to bring in local restaurants to the festivals we’re creating. It’s also way more than just curating and advancing vendors. It’s all about relationships, open lines of communication on the reality of festival life and convincing people that they can do it, they can vend at Coachella. I also help my vendors curate their menus to make the most out of the experience for them and the patron. I help them come up with ideas for exclusive items for the festival, how they can turn & burn faster than usual, and how they can set themselves apart. 

What will the culinary landscape of Coachella look like this year? How has it built on past festivals, and how will this year’s food and beverage offerings depart from tradition?

Coachella is a special festival for various reasons, but it’s also, essentially and with respect, one of the biggest food festivals that exists. If not the biggest. I’ve been attending Coachella for almost two decades now in different working capacities, and the culinary direction has evolved quite a bit. I remember in the earlier years crab fries were one of the cooler or more trendier things at the festival, but now, it’s on another level. The dining experience for the festivalgoer, whether they are in GA or VIP, has evolved to quite an elevated experience. 

This year, I feel that there is a pretty solid fusion of innovation and tradition onsite. We tried to support and encourage vendors to come up with unique and over the top offerings that you are not going to see anywhere else. For instance, chicken nuggets and caviar, new bar mocktails, over the top burgers etc. There is a deliberate and intentional effort to consistently enhance the festivals’ offerings, experiences, local flavors, thematic elements, and diverse options to enrich the attendee experience and make everyone happy. We aim to make sure that there is more than enough of what everyone could possibly desire without getting rid of the traditional aspects such as your churros, chicken fingers, and of course Spicy Pie. Because sometimes people are only eating for fuel, not fun. They want to get something in their system so they can make it to the Outdoor Theatre in time to see an artist they’re dying to see. Not every festival goer wants to stop and smell the roses when it comes to the food and beverage on site, some people just want to keep going and I want them to do whatever makes them happy.

What does hospitality mean to you? How does hospitality manifest differently at festivals as opposed to, say, hotels or restaurants?

Hospitality to me means making people feel seen and heard. Listening to the fans while also staying in-tune with trend forecasts. Before being the culinary director for Goldenvoice festivals, I was the Event Director at 106.7 KROQ, and hospitality was a big part of that job too. I’m not new to creating events and experiences for the fan and it’s truly my honor and passion to be able to do so. The fan needs to feel that this is for them and about them. Unlike a hotel or restaurant, hospitality at a festival needs to accommodate tens of thousands of different people all at once and all with different needs and expectations. There’s also not the same level of control possible at a festival as there is at a hotel or restaurant. At a fixed establishment, you can anticipate a guest’s needs, but at a festival we need to think about weather, noise, lines, people being exhausted, stage programming & crowd movement etc. We need to be prepared for just about anything. Curating the food and beverage for a festival of this scale is a yearlong process. I’m already having discussions and curating restaurants for next year. The second a fan walks into the show, I want them to feel welcome, safe, and ready to have a good time. They deserve that. 

What’s unique about cuisine in and around Indio that excites you?

Indio and its surrounding areas are special and unique because it’s a mix of old and new. The tradition of Mexican and Indigenous flavors and cooking in this area is deeply rooted and highlights how the immigrant community brings diverse options to an area that tends to have mostly chain restaurants. There are spots here that have been around since the 1920s and haven’t skipped a beat, like Arriola’s Tortilleria, who still make handmade tortillas fresh to order. One spot myself and my colleagues frequent when we’re in town is El Mexicali Café. It’s a staple in the community, and it serves authentic Mexican cuisine that you won’t find at the chains they have here. There are also innovative and fun new things that are emerging that are really exciting, I think. Like the local spot Cheekys’ who serves a bacon flight that will have you coming back for more for sure. Or my favorite sandwich spot, TKB, who are making sandwiches like you haven’t seen before. I actually had one for dinner last night. There is new energy that’s been coming in that is complimentary to the traditional and more historic spots and I think that’s a nice balance for any community. It’s inspiring.

What criteria do you look for in vendors/restaurants that make you want to bring them to the desert?

Heart and consistency. When a vendor or restaurant comes on my radar, the first thing I do is check to see what their social media presence is. I want to see how passionate they are and how consistent they are about what they’re doing. Who doesn’t love seeing people be excited about what they are doing or about a product they’re creating. It’s contagious energy for sure. It’s also important that the people I bring in can operate on a level that can serve thousands of people. Although we can’t avoid lines due to the volume of people on site, we want to bring people in that have a system down where they can have good throughput. We don’t want people waiting 30 minutes for their eats, they have places to be and things to see!‍

Let’s talk about the vendors and activations available at the festival this year. What are some highlights guests can look forward to for both weekends?

There’s a lot I won’t say because I want there to be a sense of discovery in the air. I want people to hear about things from new friends they’ve made and go out looking for it. I want people to show their friends “hey look what I found earlier.” I want to give the fans space to choose their own adventure. I will say though, there are a lot of new things onsite to be excited about. Of course, we’re bringing back speakeasies and this year we’ve added one in VIP that will open up an area of the grounds that most guests have never seen. We’re also always trying to add or change things for the different weekends so that even if you have been researching everything that happened on weekend 1, you can still be surprised and have something special when you arrive onsite for Weekend 2. Fans should always be on the lookout for new things that weren’t there the weekend before. I’m also pretty excited about Golden Hour. My hope is that patrons will enter the speakeasy and forget they’re at a festival for a while, which will leave them with a new reinvigorated energy when they exit the bar and get back on the field. We also have some new vendors in play that I think are pretty mouthwatering… Le Burger by Camphor and All’Antico Viniao are on my list of must eats onsite along with Farmhouse Thai Kitchen and Love Hour. I also brought something to the grounds this year that I fell in love with on a recent trip to Florence, Italy. I think when people discover it, they will love the experience of it. And there’s more than one of them, so happy hunting friends! 

How do you measure the success of a great food and beverage program? 

The money guys may have a different answer for you, but for me if people are talking about how good something they ate was or posting their eats for their friends to see, I’m happy. I want people to discover new things and try things they don’t normally have the opportunity to try. I want people to share with their friends and make a moment out of it. When I walk out onto the field and look around and see groups of friends sitting on the grass or at a table and laughing and eating, it feels overwhelmingly joyful for me. I love to see it. I also want my vendors to do well. I want them to walk away from the two weekends excited to come back next year.

What keeps you coming back as a curator, year after year?

I feel a deep sense of responsibility for the experience people have on site when it comes to the culinary aspect, even when it involves things that are out of my hands. I take what I do seriously, and some might say that I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and they might be right, but I do it because I love it and because how the fan walks away from the experience, I’ve curated for them, means a lot to me. I think because I’ve been coming to Coachella for so long now, in different capacities, seeing what it’s turned into today makes it feel like a challenge each year to top the last one. I really enjoy a challenge. I can’t wait to see what I create next.

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