Los Angeles is entering its megaevents era as it plays host to a yearslong series of guests from around the world: It starts at the 2026 World Cup (hosted in part at Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium, which has been renamed Los Angeles Stadium for the tournament)
and continues through the 2028 Summer Olympics. And while many restaurants and bars in Los Angeles have eagerly awaited the influx of travelers and sports teams to help their businesses, which continue to struggle in a post-pandemic, post–Hollywood strikes moment, there have been some problems. The run-up to the World Cup has featured visa issues, the ripple effects of corporate greed, and a narrowly averted strike at SoFi Stadium.
Truthfully, I expected this to go a lot like Noma in Los Angeles: an insanely expensive quagmire, the exclusive domain of the rich and connected, arriving in our collective backyard but eternally out of reach to the average Angeleno like Tantalus’s fruit. Then the games started and the vibes improved dramatically: Fan zones lit up, tiny countries overperformed, Korean nationals found kinship in Guadalajara, and videos of awestruck tourists experiencing the wonders of North America (fast food, massive markets, high school football) flooded the internet. In short, the city feels awake and enlivened by the World Cup in ways I didn’t anticipate.
I had the extreme good fortune to be invited to attend the debut match of the United States Men’s National Team against Paraguay at SoFi Stadium thanks to the regenerative farming-focused Argentine-style tea company Yerba Madre. I had mixed feelings at first; it seemed strange to be anointed to attend an extraordinary spectacle that I otherwise couldn’t afford. But it turned out to be a joyous, thrilling experience with a more diverse and locked-in crowd than I expected.
Perhaps the smartest thing we did was eat before the match at the excellent Argentine restaurant Fuegos LA. It’s a little further from the stadium in Exposition Park (there are many great places even closer), but it has a comfortable setup to watch matches, crispy empanadas, plenty of malbec, and gourds of highly caffeinated yerba mate tea. The Argentine soccer team reportedly brought more than 1,000 pounds of mate with them to the last World Cup, and all that extra energy paid off — they won the whole thing.
I was well-fed and buzzing with caffeine as we flowed into the stadium on a river of red and white–striped USMNT jerseys like an impossible Where’s Waldo? page, waded through the vast concrete expanse of parking lots, past the security perimeter, through yet more empty concrete, and into the redesigned stadium. The game was intense and the crowd felt alive; it’s hard to pull yourself away for concessions, and at halftime the lines for everything (food, bathrooms, merch, the step and repeat selfie zone) get wild.
If you do have the opportunity to eat at SoFi Stadium during the World Cup, though, this is what I’d recommend.
What to order
- The security perimeter is huge and the inter-agency law enforcement presence is unprecedented, but never fear — you can still get a $2 shot of tequila poured from a cooler full of rapidly melting ice into a tiny plastic cup right outside the gate. (Shot prices more than doubled over the course of the game — afterwards a pour of the same mid tequila was $5. Still a good deal, though.)
- Beers inside the stadium run for about $20; a big can of Estrella Jalisco is probably the move. Be kind to your bleary-eyed bartender — one of them told us they arrived at 7 a.m. — and you may be rewarded; one person in our group ordered a double tequila and soda, but got a triple when the bartender accidentally poured an extra shot, realized it, then shrugged and handed it to us anyway with a conspiratorial wink.
- The vendors are mostly serving standards: lines for pizza, burgers, and barbecue were lengthy. Still, the stall with burritos and Tostilocos hit all the right chewy, crunchy, salty, sweet notes and was decidedly less crowded.
- When the jumbotron camera cut to Star Wars creator George Lucas, he was crushing a sandwich that looked actually very good. After they cut away, I took a walk to figure out which sandwich he was eating (if it’s good enough for the man who dreamed up Bantha Milk, it’s good enough for me), but couldn’t determine for sure. Let me know if you know.
- There are food trucks set up inside the ticketed perimeter but outside the actual grandstands. Oaxaca on Wheels, Curbside Kitchen, and Messi Burger remain good bets, while the slightly hidden location around the stadium edges keeps lines shorter.
- After the game, the vendors returned. There were a ton of hot dog carts, and I’m glad foreign visitors will get to enjoy the perfume of processed meat and onions that has become so integral to live events in Los Angeles.
Make a day of it
Take the full day to maximize your experience. Start with a meal somewhere nearby and leave plenty of time to walk a mile or two into the stadium, soak in the atmosphere, and maybe visit the Doritos Loaded Fan Zone for an extremely corporate brand activation that actually seemed pretty lit. After the game it will also be madness around the stadium as everyone streams out at once, chanting, shouting, singing, eating hot dogs, and doing tiny shots, so prepare to take your time leaving. Maybe keep the party going at Chili’s on the other side of Century Boulevard.
Insider tip
Parking is wildly expensive and the scene is such chaos that I’d caution against driving. Take a direct shuttle from one of the many pickup points at transit centers across the region, which is just $1.75 and full of fellow fans; the energy on the bus is high. If you want to take a rideshare car, walk well outside of the immediate vicinity before you call it to save everyone time (and money).
The takeaway
The World Cup crowd at the match I attended was invested and joyful; nobody in my section seemed bothered by the splatters of beer that rained across our backs after Gio Reyna’s buzzer-beating trivela goal. As we left, a jovial stranger carrying a hot dog pushed past us and over to one of the coolers full of Modelo for sale. Scattered chants of “U.S.A.” echoed around the parking lot as 70,000 people headed home. “I’ve never felt more American,” I heard him say as he picked out his can.
