L.A.’s flamboyant taquero Jorge “Joy” Alvarez-Tostado, of Tacos 1986, is going to Nicaragua with Outstanding in the Field this month to join host farmer Felipe Cruz.

Alvarez-Tostado will be outstanding on the beach for a dinner on Saturday, January 18 at Rancho Santana, about two hours from Managua on the Emerald Coast. L.A.’s charismatic taquero spent two years there making tacos on the sand for surfers and swimmers before coming to L.A. and starting up his street taco stand with partner Victor Delgado. Outstanding in the Field founder Jim Denevan met Alvarez-Tostado at Coachella in 2019 and invited him to join them on their first visit to Nicaragua.

In 1999, Santa Cruz chef and artist Jim Denevan, who created large-scale drawings on sand, ice and earth, decided to stage a radical intervention to stale dining conventions. Instead of bringing farm-fresh ingredients to restaurants, he thought, why not bring diners to the fields where they could enjoy a communal meal and hear the farmer’s story.

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Outstanding in the Field, Coachella 2019 (Michele Stueven)

Denevan set up long tables for a handful of events in the middle of some of the most stunning places in California, such as Secret Sea Cove in Santa Cruz, and called it Outstanding in the Field. Since then, OITF has developed a dedicated following known as “field heads” and now produces more than 100 multi-course feasts each season, from coast to coast across North America, in Mexico and around the world.

OITF is also going to Australia for the first time this year. Their 2020 winter tour includes events in Mexico and Hawaii as well. Check out the full winter tour schedule here: OITF 2020 Winter Tour

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