Puttin' on the Dog
Meryle Evans
Posted: June 8, 2009
NEW YORK CITY—Instead of "Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack," baseball fans may be singing about Belgian frites with romesco sauce, 'shroom burgers, and seared wild striped bass with snow peas, jicama, and spiced carrot sauce this season at Citi Field, the New York Mets' brand-new 42,000-seat stadium in Flushing, Queens.
Food and baseball have had a symbiotic relationship since the early days of the diamond, and while hot dogs (aka Dodger Dogs, Fenway Franks, Rocky Dogs, Skyline Chili cheese dogs, Coney Dogs, etc.) remain the quintessential ballpark staple, culinary options are expanding at stadiums across the country.
At Citi Field, Danny Meyer, consummate restaurateur, CEO of the Union Square Hospitality Group (see Drink Arts, page 30), and lifetime baseball aficionado, is partnering with foodservice operator Aramark to provide both casual and high-end dining choices for The Amazin's, as the team is affectionately known.
For grab-a-bite grazers USHG clustered four concessions to the right of center field. Now that Meyer has cloned two of his wildly successful Manhattan originals, 'cue lovers can head to Blue Smoke for ribs and pulled pork sandwiches or Shake Shack for the Bird Dog (a smoked chicken and apple bratwurst) and vegetarian portobello burgers as well as traditional all-beef burgers and hot dogs. Meyer and his team also checked out other ballparks for inspiration and came up with two new takes on fan favorites: French fries and tacos. At the USHG's catering arm, Hudson Yards, executive chef Robb Garceau immersed himself in fries, testing for months to achieve "the same quality in a stadium that we have in our operations in the city." The end result Garceau describes as a "crispy and creamy" box of Belgian-style frites, made with Idaho potatoes, fried in trans fat-free canola oil, and served in a square box lined with parchment paper with a removable top. Garceau also concocted a rotating array of sauces, some seasonal, sold separately in two ounce containers, among them chipotle ketchup, aïoli, and ramp and basil vinaigrette. Now he's looking forward to a friendly fries competition with David Pasternack, Esca chef/partner, whose chowder and fish sandwich concession at the stadium also features fries sprinkled with sea salt.
Floyd Cardoz, executive chef at Meyer's Indian/American Tabla, charged with creating an authentic Mexican-style taqueria, headed to California with USHG execs David Swinghammer, president of Growth Business, and Hudson Yards managing director Ron Parker for a whirlwind taco tour. Back in New York City, Cardoz located a vendor who could supply an endless quantity of top-notch corn tortillas for a variety of fillings ranging from goat to chicken mole that he's contemplating, along with salsas to match the fillings. "As I was doing my research," Cardoz recalls, "I was thinking, my God, this is just like India-there you have curries, in Mexico it's moles; the roti and tortilla are similar, and both cuisines use chiles as a flavoring level rather than for pure heat." As to the logistics, the tacos will be assembled at the stadium, where, according to Cardoz, his "amazing" facilities include "a big kitchen, two stoves, and a grill."
A separate kitchen services Meyer's premium dining operations at field level behind home plate in the Delta Sky360 Club, with seating for 1,600. USHG chief of culinary development Michael Romano has been guiding menu selections for a bases-loaded lineup of restaurants including a casual Wheelhouse Market cafe, a beer and wine bar, and a reservations-required dining room pitching the likes of crispy crab cakes with green mango/red pepper salad.
Across the field it's train vs. plane at the reservation only Amtrak Acela Club, a fine dining restaurant with two seatings for 350 guests, where Drew Nieporent's Myriad Restaurant Group is offering a prix fix $48 "market table" menu: porchetta with sauerkraut and home made potato pierogi, and grilled swordfish with braised artichokes and tomatillo salsa. Myriad corporate chef Stephen Lewandowski, who has been working on a double header schedule shuttling between Manhattan and Citi Field, sends fans off with orange and blue macaroons if they don't have time for dessert.
Meanwhile, inaugurating their stadium in the Bronx, the rival Yankees are planning equally diverse culinary concepts designed by their newborn Legends Hospitality Management, headed by former Pizza Hut CEO Mike Rawlings.
Promising a lineup of the "freshest and hottest possible food" at 25 concessions and 112 portable stands, the varied fare includes Lobel's hand-sliced steak sandwiches, Melissa's fresh fruit and vegetable mini market, and a range of ethnic options from Cuban sandwiches to an Asian-inspired noodle bowl. For premium seat holders, hot-ticket chefs like Morimoto and April Bloomfield of The Spotted Pig are planning guest appearances at open cooking stations in the Legends Suite Club.
Both New York concessionaires hope to hit home runs with significant changes in their food operations, following in the dust of such competitor successes as barbecue and crab cakes at Baltimore's Camden Yards, one of the first parks to focus on distinctive fare, the Seattle Mariners' sushi, salmon, and Kobe beef burgers, bison burgers at Turner Field in Atlanta, conch fritters in Miami, and fried calamari at the San Francisco Giants Pacific Bell Park. At Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Levy Restaurants' blandishments range from the Healthy Plate cart's grilled veggie wraps, yogurt parfait, pear and walnut salad, and low calorie/low carb beer, to rolling dessert carts laden with Levy's signature six layer carrot cake and taffy apples coated in M&M's or peanuts.
It was the Dodgers' longtime manager, Tommy Lasorda, who famously embodied the baseball food provider's dream sports fan: "When we lose, I eat. When we win, I eat. I also eat when we're rained out."
