The Best Food in Ballparks Across America
The 2015 Major League Baseball season is shaping up to be as much about food as it is strikeouts, homeruns, and the race to the pennant.
This year you’ll find a greater mix of high-end, creative, decadent, and off-the-wall culinary delights at America’s ballparks that will hit homeruns with fans hoping for healthy, jonesing for junk food, or willing to take a swing from either side of the plate.
Don’t worry. The parks are still serving up hot dogs, peanuts, and Cracker Jack. But it will be just as easy to find short rib, mini fried rice balls with pepper jam; waffle cones stuffed with mashed potatoes and fried chicken covered with honey mustard; churro dogs on donut buns topped with whipped cream; as well as a variety of vegan and gluten-free options.
One of the biggest trends happening is a slate of top-quality (locally sourced, organic, made-to-order) ingredients typically found in higher-end restaurants, courtesy of the popular local chefs many stadiums are adding to the lineups.
Josh Capon, co-host of Spike TV’s Frankenfood and the award-winning executive chef behind New York City’s Lure Fish Bar, B&B Winepub, and El Toro Blanco, is one of them. For his debut at Citi Field, home of the Mets, Capon is rolling out Pressed, a grilled cheese concession serving up a signature slow-braised short rib sandwich with taleggio cheese. Capon has visited plenty of MLB parks over the last few years and has seen a dramatic shift in what fans are eating.
“It’s not about dirty-water dogs anymore. People have become more sophisticated … they’re broadening their horizons,” he told Yahoo Food. “They want to eat healthier. They want better ingredients.”
Here’s a roundup of some of the new treats, signature dishes, crazy desserts, and gastronomic spectacles (along with a few standbys in stadiums that have yet to release their new offerings) you’ll find at your favorite park this year. We listed the location where we could. Follow your nose to find the rest.
Back to the ballpark basics:
Make a better hot dog
A hot dog taste test
How to make hogs in a blanket
