Deciding what to eat at San Francisco’s Outside Lands music festival is overwhelming with more than 90 different food purveyors. How do you decide?
One idea is to go to places that don’t currently have a brick-and-mortar restaurant in the Bay Area — meaning this weekend in Golden Gate Park might be the only place you can eat this food at the moment.
The team at Nyum Bai serve up Cambodian street food at San Francisco’s Outside Lands festival on Aug. 5, 2022.
A. GraffTake Nyum Bai, a popular Cambodian eatery that is in between restaurants after closing its Oakland location while it opens a new spot in San Francisco. The booth at Outside Lands is cooking up dishes you’d find from vendors on the streets of Thep Phenom. On Friday, I tried the Khmer noodles cha ($13), mixed with bok choy and scallions, piled high with salty peanuts and served with hot sauce and a slice of lime. A refreshing dish that I’ll be ordering again on Saturday. Also on the menu: Kampot fried chicken ($15) and Thai iced tea ($7).
The New Orleans-inspired sandwich shop Sandy’s recently shuttered its location in Pacific Heights and is looking for a new home. In the meantime, owners Peterson Harter and Moni Frailing are doing pop-ups and hosting a booth at Outside Lands where you can order their legendary muffuletta ($15) — a salty experience with layers of sopressata, mortadella, prosciutto, provolone and olive salad stacked between sesame-studded bread. There’s also a vegetarian mushroom version ($15). If you’re an olive fan like me, you will love these.
Another great spot for a bite is Azalina’s, serving Malaysian cuisine. Azalina’s is slated to open a new restaurant in the Tenderloin on Sept. 1, SF Eater reported. It will serve dinner only with a 5-course, $100 tasting menu. Outside Lands offers the chance to try a few items a la cart: You can find chicken curry nachos ($17), peanut tofu nachos ($17) and a pulled lam curry sandwich ($18).
