The past few years, nearly as much hype has been made of Coachella‘s food lineup as the music, and this year has been no different: concepts from major restaurateurs, including NY’s David Chang and LA’s Stephane Bombet, are among the fests’ many food booths.
But it’s not been their fried chicken sandwiches and poke bowls that have inspired the most bite buzz this year: that’d be Mom‘s Spaghetti, a Coachella-only pop-up inspired by (and endorsed by) Sunday headliner Eminem, named after a throwaway line from “Lose Yourself,” and serving — you guessed it — spaghetti and meatballs.
I’ve been writing about food and music for more than a decade, so I couldn’t resist, though maybe I should have: the $12 spaghetti and meatballs was acceptable, if a little under-seasoned and a bit overcooked. Also on the menu, a ‘sghetti sandwich for $11, vegan meatballs for $15 and red bull energy drink for $5.
On a hot-ish festival afternoon it didn’t exactly hit the spot; half of it ended up in the garbage. But as a novelty concept, it was brilliant, as were the one-off $40 promotional tees with the logo available right next door. In this case, it may have been better for Eminem to actually lose himself in the music, and let the food-making go elsewhere: If your mom served this spaghetti, chances are you didn’t have friends over for dinner much.