The roaming restaurant Outstanding in the Field is also often, quite literally, stationed in the middle of a field. Now in its 10th year as a fixture at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, the company’s founder, Jim Denevan, and his team of culinary artists transformed the sprawling VIP Rose Garden into a celebration of local farms and seasonal produce.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, festivalgoers were invited to recharge from the musical madness around a 200-person, winding communal table. The seating was nestled among blooming roses with sweeping views of the festival grounds. Each evening of the festival began with a welcome drink—an Aperol Spritz—sparking the start of a four-course, family-style dinner that’s as creative as the performances just a stone’s throw away.
The cuisine was crafted by a rotating cast of world-renowned chefs, including TV personality and cookbook author Eric Greenspan, ANIMAE executive chef Tara Monsod, and LA-based chef Byron Lazaroff-Puck. Another standout was Danielle Duran Zecca, who brought her signature “MexItalian” cuisine alongside her husband and culinary partner, Alessandro Zecca, with whom she runs the LA-based restaurant Amiga Amore.
On Sunday, guests were treated to a cuisine-fusing menu from the couple that included handmade agnolotti stuffed with Oaxacan cheese and Weiser Family Farm squash, chile-braised short ribs with polenta and local citrus, and a refreshing salad of blistered Coleman Farm greens tossed in a tangy guajillo vinaigrette.
Each visiting chef brought their own flair and style to the table while honoring the best ingredients Coachella Valley’s local farms had to offer—a testament to Outstanding in the Field’s mission to reconnect diners with the land and the people behind every bite.
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