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Yes, the artist list for Outside Lands has been out there for months. The food and drink lineup has been out since June, so maybe you’ve already planned to try out certain restaurants. And certainly you’ve already planned your daytime-to-fog outfit for Friday, August 7, through Sunday, August 9. Is there anything left to surprise concertgoers, just two weeks out from the big festival?
Well, if you’re the kind of food goblin we think you are, the folks at Outside Lands have one more surprise up their sleeves. With the return of limited-edition menu items comes a new type of food showcase for festival attendees: Snack Series. Over 20 restaurants committed to serving snack-sized portions of menu items, with the idea that concertgoers can sample their way through the food offerings for $16 or less. The items won’t be listed anywhere on menus, but the signage for certain restaurants will feature a Snack Series icon for those participating in the snack hunt. Think of it as a snack side quest, a food-obsessed scavenger hunt, but rather than having to decipher clues, let this be your (treasure) map of where to go.
Already, some of the snacks have been settled upon, and it looks to be a good mix of options. Wise Sons and Outta Sight Pizza already announced they’re teaming up for a booth, and they’re offering a nostalgia-inducing, half-pizza bagel with mozzarella, tomato sauce, jack cheese, and basil on a sesame bagel. Reem’s serves a half-lamb quesabirria flatbread wrap made with lamb and queso Oaxaca, wrapped in Arab-style flatbread with consomé on the side. Nobu, meanwhile, will have a mini chicken karaage donburi with chile water-brined Jidori chicken thighs and Calabrian honey aioli over rice. (The full list of Snack Series participants is below, if you don’t want to just scout all the signage, with more details on the menus to be released online, and — probably — via the app.)
If you’re truly in the mood to put some time into your food tracking, limited-edition menu items return this year, and “limited” is not hyperbole at all. With just 10 orders available per day, diners will likely have to get to the concert at opening and beeline it to a specific restaurant. Smish Smash brings it with their uni burger, featuring Santa Barbara uni and an American wagyu patty, complete with shiso leaf and yuzu kosho ponzu aioli. Piglet & Co. is also going the way of the uni with uni lou rou fan, featuring five-spice-braised pork, uni, smoked trout roe, and shoyu tea egg over furikake rice, per the press release. It’ll also have a dreamy-sounding honey-walnut pork-and-shrimp sandwich with panko-breaded pork and shrimp mousse, served with candied walnut relish, namasu cabbage slaw, and burnt honey mayo on a brioche bun. For the drink-obsessed, Poorboy Coffee is offering Cereal Killer Coffee, a “clarified coffee cereal milk punch topped with citrusy strawberry cold foam.” Wild. This could be the most caffeinated, pastry-loaded, uni-slinging Outside Lands yet.
To see the full food and drink lineup, with anticipated menus, head to sfoutsidelands.com.
Snack Series participants
Abacá: Sisig fried rice
Bini’s Kitchen: Half-order of Momo dumplings (choice of four Nepalese chicken or vegan dumplings)
Bodega SF: Half-order of the pho dip
Bun Mee Vietnamese Sandwich Eatery: Mini loaded fries
Charles Chocolates
Dolores Park Cafe: Loaded tots
El Garage: Quesabirria
Gumbo Social: Mini chicken and sausage gumbo
Izzy’s Cheesesteaks: Mini cheesesteak
Merkado: Mini rice bowl
Nobu: Mini chicken karaage donburi
Om Sabor: A single vegan taco
Piglet & Co.: A single chashao pork or tofu bao
Reem’s: Halved quesabirria flatbread wrap
Respectable Bird: Mini tenders and fries
Ruru Kitchen: Mini acai bowl
Shawarmaji: Halved chicken shawarma wrap
Tiya
Total Meltdown: Grilled cheese
um.ma
Wise Sons x Outta Sight: Pizza bagel half
Wooly Pig: Halved Asian cubano
Limited-edition menu items
Bodega SF: shaking wagyu beef burrito
Little Sweet: Durian sticky rice waffle
Love Burn’s: Cluck Around & Find Out Challenge is a four-level hot chicken experience with waiver-required final tender and complimentary milk
Original Joe’s: Joe Momma So Spicy, a dish of spicy rigatoni stuffed into a cheesy garlic bread bowl topped with spicy honey bomba tenders and mozzarella
Piglet & Co.: Uni lou rou fan, honey walnut pork and shrimp sandwich
Poorboy Coffee: Cereal Killer Coffee
Smish Smash: Uni burger
