$45 caviar tots? Here's everything you need to eat at Coachella Weekend 2

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While attempting to drawback a breeze successful Isabel and Helen’s “Take Flight” creation installation with interconnected windmills during the archetypal (scorching) play of Coachella, a mysterious purple operation caught my eye. As I approached it, I noticed the yellowish Takis logo successful the corner. Figuring that the enclosed abstraction was astatine the precise slightest shaded and astatine champion air-conditioned, I rapidly got successful line.

The neon-lighted activation features interactive walls guests tin “graffiti” utilizing peculiar pens and plentifulness of photograph ops, but I was astir funny successful escaped samples of the rolled tortilla chips, including the caller Blue Heat spirit that tastes similar Cool Ranch Doritos but crunchier and with much heat.

This was the archetypal freebie I nabbed successful the festival that’s go arsenic overmuch a showcase for elaborate headliner signifier sets arsenic it is for dynamic (and often pricy) nutrient options. If you’re heading to the Empire Polo Club for Weekend 2, present are my vetted recommendations for wherever to devour and drink.

In the aforesaid country arsenic the Takis, find Korean spice marque Buldak along with Hi-Chew gummies, and don’t miss Travis Scott’s “Mad Max”-reminiscent activation. The headlining rapper was successful complaint of “designing the desert” this twelvemonth (though his power isn’t felt overmuch beyond this pop-up) and partnered with Erewhon to springiness retired escaped ginger shots.

Eating and drinking your mode done assorted marque freebies is simply a hack for anyone who’s trying to prevention wealth astatine the three-day festival that costs upward of $600 for wide admittance tickets. If you request thing heavier than a snack (and you will), determination are inactive plentifulness of affordable options scattered passim the grounds.

At Indio Central Market, Italian deli All’Antico Vinaio is offering its signature focaccia sandwiches, including the festival-exclusive La Coachella with prosciutto, stracciatella, sun-dried herb and basil. At $14, it’s the astir costly point connected the menu. The remainder of the sandwiches are $12 each.

Dallas-based Sandoitchi is conscionable a fewer stalls down with a paper of Japanese sandwiches connected fluffy achromatic bread, including strawberry with chantilly cream, Spam and eggs, ovum crockery and chickenhearted katsu. Most items are betwixt $20 and $25, but if you’ve got wealth to burn, there’s an A5 Wagyu katsu and caviar sando for $250.

For a chill treat, halt by McConnell’s Ice Cream oregon Happy Ice, tucked connected other corners of the nutrient hall. You tin besides drawback a caller young coconut from Farmhouse Kitchen for $12 — get your money’s worthy by scraping retired the nutrient aft you’ve finished the hydrating drink.

Near the Sonora Tent, Smorgasburg L.A. vendor Mano Po is bringing Filipino flavors to the festival, including longganisa lumpia that travel six to an bid for $14 (a veggie enactment is besides available), a longganisa burger for $15 and ail shrimp with atom for $22.

Butter ail shrimp and atom from Mano Po, disposable adjacent the Sonora Tent astatine Coachella.

In the aforesaid area, College Boy Cheesesteaks is an L.A.-based pop-up from erstwhile Philadelphians who got sick of traveling backmost eastbound to fulfill their craving for Philly cheesesteaks. The squishy Amoroso’s rotation is packed with finely shaved Black Angus beef, fried onions and melted American food — though mushrooms and halal chickenhearted are besides disposable arsenic fillings. I followed the proposal of the idiosyncratic who took my bid and added sautéed mushrooms and pepperoncini to my sandwich, bringing my full to $25. Without those additions, the cheesesteak is $18 connected its ain oregon $25 with fries.

Across from the Gobi Tent, the Aperol Piazza is an excuse to soak successful aperitivo culture. Lounge nether the umbrellas, instrumentality photos successful the marigold-tinted abstraction and larn however to marque the cleanable Aperol spritz.

Behind the piazza, you’ll find Postmates’ Pizza Remix, featuring Prince Street Pizza’s signature Sicilian-style quadrate slices topped with ingredients from section restaurants. I’m campaigning for them to adhd the portion from Bridgetown Roti, with honey-jerk chickenhearted and mango chutney, to the imperishable menu.

If Weekend 2 temperatures are likewise assaulting arsenic they were astatine Weekend 1, you’ll privation to question retired the tiki barroom oasis successful 12 Peaks VIP Area adjacent Menotti’s java stand. Upon entry, you’ll find yourself nether a screen of leaning thenar trees, with a pond that laps up against a palapa barroom serving tropical, fruity cocktails to a reggaeton-pop soundtrack that bounces betwixt Sean Paul and Calvin Harris.

A breeze flows done the windows, and shaded benches borderline the pond-lake. It’s tempting to hold retired the day vigor successful this clandestine watering hole, evidenced by the agelong enactment of festivalgoers waiting for much radical to permission truthful they tin yet marque their mode in. Visit aboriginal to bushed the crowds.

This year, 2 eating experiences competed arsenic the astir luxurious astatine the festival. Outstanding successful the Field returned to the VIP Rose Garden with a multicourse family-style meal served each evening astatine sunset. Held astatine a agelong communal table, the meal includes vino pairings and a invited cocktail from Gray Whale Gin, positive all-day entree to the roseate plot for those who purchased the meal but don’t person VIP wristbands.

On Saturday, chef Diego Argoti of the Estrano pop-up and erstwhile enforcement cook of now-shuttered Poltergeist, brought a consciousness of chaotic whimsy to the feast with platters of battered frog legs drizzled with Sichuan capsicum buffalo sauce, grilled beef lingua with strawberry puttanesca and refried lentils, positive a pandan food mochi barroom with rum raisin boba that glowed greenish acknowledgment to a dusting of lime leafage sour patch.

Battered frog legs with a broadside of blue-cheese labneh astatine cook Diego Argoti's Outstanding successful the Field dinner.

Weekend 2 dinners volition beryllium prepared by Eric Greenspan, the recently appointed cook for Hollywood’s forthcoming Tesla diner; Wolfgang Puck’s lad and protégé Byron Lazaroff-Puck; and Danielle and Alessandro Zecca of Highland Park’s Mexican-Italian edifice Amiga Amore.

Coachella’s different opulent eating acquisition comes courtesy of planetary Nikkei edifice concatenation Nobu, successful concern with Red Bull vigor drink. Together, the brands person erected Red Bull Mirage, a multilevel playground crossed from the EDM-focused Quasar Stage. There are open-air booths facing the signifier wherever guests tin bid vessel work with a la carte options from Nobu, portion the interior features a chef’s antagonistic with omakase service.

Those who person experienced the upscale edifice mightiness find the $350 tasting paper lacking — the food is inactive caller and high-quality, with fashionable items similar stone shrimp tempura and yellowtail jalapeño, but not the signature achromatic cod with miso.

Besides, reservations are already sold retired for Weekend 2.

For the 2nd twelvemonth successful a row, 12 Peaks VIP Area was location to my favourite bites. Something Good was my archetypal afloat repast astatine the festival, but the murphy flautas proved memorable, with three, crispy king-size maize tortillas wrapped astir ail mashed murphy and dressed with queso fresco, crema, cabbage, pickled reddish onion, cilantro and your prime of reddish oregon greenish salsa (I had excavation doused with both).

Chubby Club comes courtesy of Chubby Group, down Chubby Cattle BBQ successful Little Tokyo, with a big of Wagyu and uni-filled options, including a savory uni crystal pick with uni, sushi rice, soy sauce, wasabi and seaweed flakes piled into an crystal pick cone. But it was the fried Wagyu and pork dumplings that stood retired astir to me. The chewy morsels travel sopping successful soy condiment and flecked with chile flakes, with a affluent and juicy nutrient filling.

After attempting to bid caviar-topped chickenhearted nuggets astatine Camphor (they were sold retired of nuggets), I recovered my caviar hole astatine Sumo Dog, a Japanese-inspired blistery canine concatenation with aggregate California locations. At $45, the wasabi and caviar tots are considerably cheaper than the $100 caviar nuggets served astatine Camphor.

The tots were crispy and good seasoned, topped with togarashi crème fraîche that carried a faint citrus sensation with subtle heat. The wasabi condiment was sinus-clearing, with a generous information of the achromatic pearls gleaming connected top. I recovered a grassy spot facing the Coachella Stage and waited for Megan Thee Stallion to statesman her set, acceptable for immoderate “real blistery miss s—.”