KANSAS CITY — At American baseball stadiums this season, fans can feast on Korean cuisine, plant-based burgers, elote-topped tater tots and a salad made with 32 ingredients.
Food service providers such as Aramark and Delaware North are decking baseball diamonds out with a deluge of new concessions to appeal to consumers ranging from the health conscious to the adventurous.
“Our chefs spent the off-season developing new recipes and innovative concepts to further enhance the game day dining experience for fans,” said Carl Mittleman, president of Aramark’s sports and entertainment division. “With a focus on quality, health, convenience and personalization, the new menu items we are introducing offer something for everyone and are sure to be a hit with fans.”
Flavors from far away
Global cuisine is allowing game-goers to travel with their taste buds from the comfort of their favorite team’s stadium.
Kauffman Stadium, home of the Kansas City Royals, is serving Korean cuisine with its Korean BBQ offering. The dish features smoked pork kielbasa, barbecue sauce and daikon kimchi slaw.
Also offering Korean fare is the Great American Ball Park, home of the Cincinnati Reds. The park’s Bulgogi Beef Egg Rolls are made with bulgogi beef, carrots, onions and rice and are served with gochujang sauce.
The Colorado Rockies’ Coors Field is offering the tastes of Thailand with its Shishito Peppers, featuring crispy shishito peppers, Thai chili vinaigrette, green chili and chorizo queso.
Indian flavors are incorporated in the Tandoori Chicken Wings from Citizens Bank Park, where the Philadelphia Phillies play. Yogurt marinated chicken wings are served with Kashmiri chili pepper, tamarind and scallions.
Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros, is offering Greek cuisine with its Lamb Gyro, featuring pita bread, lamb, beef, lettuce, tomato, red onion and tzatziki sauce.
The Polish Platter from Guaranteed Rate Field, home of the Chicago White Sox, provides patrons with a taste of Poland. The platter includes a ½-lb Vienna Beef Polish Kielbasa sausage with a choice of three loaded baked potato or onion pierogis, piled on top of sauerkraut, caramelized onions and served with a mustard sauce.
Offering a Vietnamese version of a traditional game day food, the Detroit Tigers’ Comerica Park is serving the Bahn Mi Dog. It features a thick slab of bacon topped with Asian slaw and sriracha aioli.
Meat-mimicking mainstays
Putting a plant-based spin on such stadium staples as burgers, brats and hot dogs, Beyond Meat’s products are trending in better-for-you baseball fare.
At Kauffman Stadium, fans can feast on the Beyond Sausage from Beyond Meat. The 100% plant-based sausage — made with a blend of pea, fava bean and rice protein with trace amounts of beet for color, coconut oil for juiciness and an algae-based casing — is served with sauerkraut and is both vegan and gluten-free.
Minute Maid Park is serving Beyond Meat’s Beyond Burger, a vegan and soy-free burger made with pea protein isolates and yeast. The plant-based patty is offered Caribbean-style with black beans, avocado pineapple relish and sriracha aioli.
Marty’s V Burger is a dedicated vegan vendor at Citi Field, where the New York Mets play. The stand is serving an Original Beyond Burger, which has Beyond Meat’s plant-based patty topped with a melted cheddar-style cheese substitute, pickles, lettuce and a special sauce. Also on the Marty’s menu is the Beyond Bratwurst, Beyond Meat’s plant-based bratwurst.
Potatoes piled high
Loaded fries and topped tots are on tap at stadiums across the country in 2019.
From Guaranteed Rate Field comes a range of Covered & Smothered Fries from Delaware North. Varieties include buffalo chicken, made with shredded chicken, blue cheese, buffalo sauce and ranch; chili and cheese; Greek fries, featuring sliced gyro meat, feat cheese, tomatoes and tzatziki sauce; Irish fries, including nacho cheese, bacon, sour cream and chives; and dessert sweet potato fries, topped with powdered sugar, chopped pecans, whipped cream, chocolate sauce and Nutella.
Miller Park, where the Milwaukee Brewers play, is offering the Wisconsin Ultimate Cheese Fry. The dairy-decked dish includes a mix of curly fries and fried Sargento cheese curds topped with Sargento cheese sauce and bacon.
The Cleveland Indians’ Progressive Field is selling Short Rib Poutine, featuring braised short ribs, diced cheese curds and gravy on a bed of wedge fries.
Buffalo sauce spices up topped tater tots from Citi Field and Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. The Loaded Buffalo Topped Tots at Citi Field include blue cheese, celery, carrots and buffalo sauce, while the Buffalo Chicken Topped Tots at Fenway feature buffalo chicken, blue cheese and chives.
Coors Field is serving Elote Topped Tots. In this offering, tater tots are loaded with street corn, zesty mayo, cotija cheese, cilantro, cayenne pepper and green chili queso.
Other topped tots options include Brisket Topped Tots at Kauffman Stadium, Cheesy Bacon Topped Tots at Citizens Bank Park, Cinnamon Chipotle Topped Tots at the Pittsburgh Pirates’ PNC Park, Log Cabin Topped Tots at Rogers Centre and Smoked Burnt Ends Topped Tots at Minute Maid Park.
Super-premium salads
As stadiums seek to bolster their better-for-you options while still maintaining the craveable aspects of their concessions, salads with super-premium toppings are trending.
Leading the lineup of better-for-you options is Aramark’s new 32 Ingredient Salad at Rogers Centre, home of the Toronto Blue Jays. The salad includes 32 plant-based ingredients, including Brussels sprouts, kale, green cabbage, romaine lettuce, carrots, butternut squash, red cabbage, white and red quinoa, sunflower and pomegranate seeds, orange juice, honey, apple cider vinegar and garlic.
Also at Rogers Centre is the new Southwest Inspired Caesar Bowl. The dish contains romaine lettuce, black beans, salsa, quinoa, chickpeas, roasted squash, guacamole, cotija cheese, fried tortilla strips and poblano dressing.
At PNC Park, Aramark is offering the Quinoa Blueberry Salad. It consists of red quinoa, blueberries, chopped hearts of palm, spinach, cucumbers, carrots, sunflower seeds and balsamic dressing.