Outside Lands 2023 best food to try
For those that want to pair this weekend’s stacked Outside Lands lineup with scrumptious food, you’re at the right place. With nearly 100 food, drink and dessert vendors — many from the Bay Area — the annual festival at Golden Gate Park is as much a food event as it is a sonic one.
Newcomers include fried chicken savant Fowl + Fare, smoked meat-slinger Horn Barbecue, Taiwanese comfort specialist Piglet & Co., Colombian small plate joint Parche and chefy torta pop-up My Friend Fernando. Moon, a new concept by the folks behind the Michelin-starred Sorrel, is also set to make its debut at the festival offering grilled skewers dusted with spice. They join the colorful cast of returning restaurants like El Garage, Jo’s Modern Thai, Chef Smelly’s, Wahpehpah’s Kitchen, Daytrip and alaMar (this time introducing its Dominican Menu).
With an overabundance of delectable options, here are 10 places to try that the Chronicle has already tried — many of which are some of the best restaurants in the Bay Area, in their respective genres. (Will their wonderful food translate to the festival setting? Check back during the three-day event for updates.)
The celery salad at Daytrip in Oakland.
Gabrielle Lurie/The ChronicleDaytrip
During the course of its nearly three-year lifespan Daytrip, the groovy restaurant in Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood, has evolved into something beautiful. Its focus on fermentation means change is always afoot and you’re guaranteed to try something challenging or unheard of, but in the best way possible.
Location: Polo Field near the park’s north tunnel
Menu: Spicy pork butt sandwiches, eggplant parm sandwiches, habanero fries, coconut and black sesame brown butter cookie and stone fruit spritzer.
Quesabirrias at El Garage in Richmond.
Kelsey McClellan / Special to the ChronicleEl Garage
El Garage, a birria trailblazer from Richmond, started off selling spiced, stewed beef from a garage before graduating to a brick-and-mortar restaurant. The taqueria’s claim to fame is well-stuffed, gooey quesabirria.
Location: Polo Field near north tunnel
Menu: Quesabirria, beef birria tacos, aguas frescas, fresas con crema and esquites.
Jerk fried chicken sandwich from Fowl + Fare in Oakland.
Cesar Hernandez / The ChronicleFowl + Fare
Chef William Allen is like a food alchemist turning ideas into edible gold. Fowl + Fare, his comfort food outfit with an indefinite residency at the Oakland bar the Lodge, is his lab. He makes some of the best fried chicken in the Bay Area.
Location: Hellman Hollow
Menu: Chicken sandwich, citric hot chicken sandwich and seasoned fries
The pork laab burger (Isaan style fried pork laab patty, lettuce, cucumber, herbs, shallot, laab dressing, makrut lime mayo on a brioche bun) at Jo’s Modern Thai.
Santiago Mejia/The ChronicleJo’s Modern Thai
This contemporary Thai restaurant in Oakland combines razor-sharp cooking and a semitropical aura. The dish that embodies the newness of what Jo’s brings to Thai cooking is the blockbuster burger full of Thai flavors.
Location: Polo Field near north tunnel
Menu: Drunken noodles, wings, Thai iced tea and Thai burger
Johnny Doughnuts
Johnny Doughnuts started off as a food truck in 2012 and opened its first store in San Rafael a year later. Today Johnny’s fried delicacies empire has stretched to three additional locations in San Francisco, Larkspur and Santa Rosa, and are a sweet staple at events like Outside Lands.
Location: Polo Field near Beer Lands
Menu: Doughnuts, doughnut sundaes, cake, coffee, affogatos and matcha lattes
Hot pork Milanesa from pop-up, My Friend Fernando.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The ChronicleMy Friend Fernando
This pop-up is run by a Tartine Bakery alum Jacob Croom and focuses on elevated tortas with quality bread and supper club dinners. Whether it’s lengua (tongue) drenched in silky mole or birria made with lamb, My Friend Fernando offers creative takes on Mexican favorites.
Location: Hellman Hollow
Menu: Pork Milanesa torta, summer squash torta, birria torta and birria fries
The flatbread wraps from Reem’s San Francisco.
Santiago Mejia/The ChronicleReem’s
Reem’s started off as a farmers’ market bakery, offering Arab baked goods before settling into its Mission District location. Whether it’s well-spiced flatbread, flavorful dips or colorful decor, Reem’s has a vibrancy that’s undeniable once it hits your lips.
Location: Polo Field near the south tunnel
Menu: Za’atar veggie wraps, sumac chicken wraps, falafel with tahini
Shawarma from Shawarmaji.
Santiago Mejia/The ChronicleShawarmaji
Initially a pop-up, Shawarmaji has grown to two locations, one in Oakland and the other in Santa Clara, offering Jordanian shawarma. The vibe tends to be casual but the food is bursting with flavor, especially when you add the restaurant’s exceptional garlic sauce.
Location: Polo Field near north tunnel
Menu: Jordanian chicken shawarma wraps, falafel wraps and fries.
Bobo’s The Pep, The Roni from Shuggie’s Trash Pie in San Francisco
Cesar Hernandez / The ChronicleShuggie’s Trash Pie
Not only does this San Francisco restaurant offer far-out pizza and psychedelic vibes, but it has a mission to reduce waste in the kitchen. The pies are distinguished by their quadrilateral (occasionally irregular) shape and nostalgic ingredients.
Location: Polo Field near south tunnel
Menu: Cheddar and feta pizza, sausage pizza and pepperoni pizza
Burgers from pop-up Smish Smash.
Josie Norris/Special to The ChronicleSmish Smash
Outside Lands 2023: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Sunday, Aug. 11-13. General admission starts at $299; VIP starts at $2,899. Golden Gate Park. S.F. www.sfoutsidelands.com
One of the leaders of the smashburger movement in the Bay Area, pop-up Smish Smash continues to amaze with lacy, crisp burgers. The keys to its success are the quality ingredients like grass-fed beef as well as a refined smashing technique that ensures optimal texture.
Location: Polo Field near north tunnel
Menu: Smashburgers, beef tallow fried, blended fruit smoothies
Reach Cesar Hernandez: [email protected]; Twitter: @cesarischafa
