New at Safeco Field in Seattle this season: longbone beef ribs, available at Centerplate's Holy Smoke BBQ. (Courtesy Centerplate)
Centerplate’s marinated and toasted grasshoppers at Safeco Field in Seattle were all the rage for the 2017 Major League Baseball season. The grasshoppers return for 2018 and, along with them, dozens of new concession items across North American MLB stadiums.
“We are a very competitive business and we are trying to differentiate ourselves from everybody else,” said Steve Dominguez, general manager of Centerplate’s Safeco Field operations. “Sometimes it is a marinated grasshopper, sometimes it is a take on a great new item.”
Whether fresh On Deck Donuts ($8) with dipping sauce at Safeco; the Dilly Dog at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas, from Delaware North; Jane Dough Cookie Dough coming to three parks courtesy of Aramark; or Levy’s Cheeto-lote roasted sweet corn at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, every stadium has a mixture of new items rotating into the 81-game home schedule from spring through summer.
“We want to be relevant in the Seattle community,” Dominguez said about the effort to find something new. “Mariners fans are looking to us to be a leader. There is a lot of pressure. Sometimes it is a big win and sometimes we go back to the drawing board. We want to keep ourselves in front of it and relevant.”
In Seattle, Dominguez and chef Taylor Park said they have wanted to pull off doughnuts, a Pike Place Market staple, for a while. They brought the concept in-house and paired the mini doughnuts and jumbo doughnut bites with dipping sauces, including maple syrup and bacon.
Beyond that, Park added a lobster roll ($20), upscaled his Sultan of Sandwiches ($13 each) stand with plenty of fresh, local meats sliced on site and added a new barbecue stand. Along with their own Holy Smoke BBQ stand featuring longbone beef ribs ($18.50) smoked for 16 hours, which uses Jack’s BBQ mopping sauce, Jack’s also has its own new stand opening in Safeco.
To add to the ribs, Park said they will serve classic mac and cheese as well as in-stadium baked biscuits and sausage gravy, an item meant to appeal to the day game crowd.
Every year chefs bring in new items, trading out ones that weren’t selling well. And with an 81-game season and a grazing clientele, Dominguez said, they need to view the offerings in light of what is already available. “We see ourselves as a 47,500-seat restaurant,” he said. “We have got to be sensitive to a $4 hot dog and a $20 lobster roll to capture everybody trying to have that same great experience.”
Around the League
Whether Levy, Aramark, Delaware North or others, local food trends and the effort to create crave-centric flavors drive new items.
“Food has become a major player in the fan experience and that increased role is a motivating factor for us to continue to enhance our menu offerings each season,” said Carl Mittleman, Aramark’s Sports and Entertainment division president. “Ballpark food has come a long way. In addition to doing the classics well, we’re focusing on driving quality, increasing healthy options, making it convenient and providing personalization for our guests.”
• Globe Life Park and Delaware North debut the Dilly Dog with a Best Maid dill pickle cored and stuffed with an angus beef jumbo dog and then battered and fried. With one of the largest offerings of new items, also expect a bacon, brisket and bologna roll; iced cinnamon roll; a Lays Home Plate Chicken Sandwich with a full-size chicken breast split and crusted in Lays Original chips; a Rold Gold Waffle Cone; vegan nachos; ham cut into sticks, battered and fried until crisp; fried pickle spears; and a hot dog wrapped in bacon, covered with Cheetos cheese sauce and topped with spicy jalapenos and crunchy Cheetos.
• The Spec-Tater comes to Sun Trust Park, Atlanta. This jumbo potato from Delaware North gets stuffed with jalapeno cheddar sauce and wrapped in bacon.
• Comerica Park, Detroit, will roll out deep-fried apple pie filled with won ton wraps. Delaware North will also offer up a similar item with Nutella. A new Ode to Detroit Dog features brisket chili and habanero queso cheese sauce.
• Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati, offers up the Queen City Fried Garlic Bologna along with a pulled pork Smokehouse Bowl with mac & cheese atop a fried tortilla shell. The Delaware North venue also features a waffle cone wrapped in cotton candy.
• Miller Park, Milwaukee, and Delaware North roll out pierogis with polish sausage.
• Get ready for a staple in St. Louis since 1918 to hit Busch Stadium. The Gioia’s Hot Salami Sandwich, a James Beard Award-winning eat, comes into the Delaware North venue.
• Target Field, Minneapolis, and Delaware North offer up a Za’tar Spiced Chicken Skewer at Andrew Zimmern’s Canteen.
• Guaranteed Rate Field, Chicago, brings out a Cuban burger, via Delaware North.
• Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, explores a smoked barbecue brisket taco ($12). On the sandwich side, expect the Aramark building to offer up a grilled chicken Philly and jalapeno and cheddar kielbasa.
• Coors Field, Denver, and Aramark show off a chicken taco topped with salsa verde and purple slaw. Expect to also find a Rocky Mountain Po’boy with Rocky Mountain oysters, a Taco Club sandwich and an extreme hot dog topped with Carolina-style pulled pork, crumbled bacon bits and purple slaw. The Rockies Fritters dessert features fried purple berry fritters with a sweet rum glaze.
• PNC Park, Pittsburgh, and Aramark have created a Pulled Pork Pierogi Hoagie ($9), a new breaded Nashville hot chicken taco, a Greens and Grains salad and a chick pea salad.
• The Texas Cheese Steak ($11) at Minute Maid Park, Houston, has Aramark slow-smoking pork and smothering it with queso atop a pretzel roll. Chefs will also pull pork topped with pineapple for a new taco. The new Jane Dough Cookie Dough shows up, too.
• Rogers Centre, Toronto, has Korean beef tacos, a new smoked beef brisket sandwich with blood orange barbecue sauce, a Log Cabin Waffle Sandwich ($15) stuffed with pulled pork, cheese curds and maple baked beans on rosemary waffles and vegan nachos. The Aramark venue also will feature Jane Dough Cookie Dough ($5-$9).
• Fenway Park, Boston, has added a housemade pastry cream and chocolate ganache with Vermont maple syrup and Fenway Farm’s strawberry sauce over French Toast ($15). Also expect Aramark to offer a seasoned pulled chicken taco.
• Citizens Bank Park, Cleveland, and Aramark have a new fried chicken sandwich on a brioche bun to go with house smoked brisket for a new taco. A vegan roasted cauliflower cheesesteak includes peppers, onions, vegan cheese sauce and a vegan roll. Jane Dough Cookie Dough comes to Cleveland.
• Citi Field, New York, and Aramark brings Maine lobster topped with sharp jack cheese, avocado salsa, citrus slaw and queso for its new South Bay Lobster Tacos ($19). A new plant-based vegetarian burger will get made to order. The sweets take center stage at Citi Field with a Hong Kong-style egg waffle served as a cone with ice cream.
• Chicago’s Wrigley Field will introduce fully renovated concession stands and new cocktail and wine bars throughout the spring as Levy creates an entirely new slate of offerings. Wrigley Field will now have an in-house smoker and is making condiments, toppings and more in-house for everything from Smoked Bone-In Short Ribs to a shaved-beef sandwich, pork shoulder, pickle-brined chicken sandwich and loaded fries and hot dogs. Wrigley will also welcome seven local chefs and restaurants into the ballpark, including Pork & Mindy’s, Garrett Popcorn, Hot Doug’s, Giordano’s, Vienna Beef and Buona Beef.
• Chase Field, Phoenix, has a Steak and Ale Tots dish with crispy tots topped with Four Peaks Kilt Lifter cheese sauce and ribeye steak. The Levy building also features a new 18-inch Asada Dog, a barbecue pulled pork and white cheddar cheese curd burger and Fried Chicken Banh Mi.
• Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, and Levy go with a chili cheese corn dog, a new signature cheddar burger, a Reuben Cuban hot dog and house-fried blue corn tortilla chips in the Sunburst Nachos.
• Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, and Levy embrace Cheetos with the roasted sweet corn rubbed with chipotle lime mayo, dusted with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Also expect an Orange Chicken Bowl, a Build-Your-Own Torta stand, a Pretzel Chicken Croissant and a Spicy Chicken Sandwich.
• Seattle’s Safeco Field includes On Deck Donuts ($8), Sound Seafood with the new lobster roll and the longbone beef ribs at the Centerplate Holy Smoke BBQ stand in two locations. With the Mariners resigning Ichiro, that means Hiroshi will again have the IchiRoll sushi available in the park. And the grasshoppers. Don’t forget Safeco’s grasshoppers.