Second Best Meal at Coachella

I was planning on writing about the best meal in the history of Coachella until I read about Cut sous chef Ken Concepcion’s weekend. So I guess the meal I had Saturday morning was the second best meal at Coachella.

For six of the last seven years I’ve enjoyed the majesty and migraines of the desert music festival known simply as Coachella. There’s been hundreds of great bands,  thousands of sweaty hours in the dance tent, scores of picturesque sunsets, not nearly enough minutes in front of the misting fans and billions of ingested dust/dirt particles. In the beginning food was a total afterthought. One rough year’s consumption of spicy sausages, chips and salsa for breakfast and a Hadley’s date shake left a lasting impact which I won’t get into detail about.

In a sign of more adult behavior, this year featured a home-cooked meal by a friend’s mom who lives in Palm Desert.

Cool, fresh caprese never tasted as good as when eaten in the 100 degree desert. Multiple courses of sausage never were as satisfying or necessary as when eaten between twelve hour days of direct sunshine, blazing heat and even hotter dance moves. Soft, fluffy gnocchi never comforted as much as when enjoyed with mimosas and bloody marys next to a stunning golf course, lake and swimming pool. Lord knows the naked wizard could have used the meal before he got tasered by security:

(the purple suit is his costume and the white boa on the floor is his prop…)

As of today I’m announcing my retirement from Coachella, but I’ve said that before…