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Mets Add More Food Options to Citi Field

There are some tasty new options at Citi Field this season.  The winner to me was the Buffalo Dog available at Box Frites.  It’s an all beef grilled hot dog topped with Buffalo blue cheese sauce, pickled carrot, and celery.  The veggies provides some nice crunch and cooled down the spice in the buffalo sauce.

Another tasty treat was the 7-1-Ate Special that’s in the Promenade Club.  Despite the lame name, it was pretty tasty.  The only thing I’d say is there was just too many different things on it.  It has hot or sweet Premio sausage, split and grilled, topped with a hash brown, fried egg, slaw and pepper hash on ciabatta.

For dessert I had a fried apple crumb with caramel sauce, also from Box Frites.  This one is pretty self-explanatory: It takes like a delicious apple crumb pie with caramel sauce.

From Box Frites at Citi Field. - Ceetar

There were some other delicious things out there too, and I have no idea if anything will be removed from the menus, though I suspect there will be.  Keith’s Mex burger will still be around, as will the Pastrami.  Check out some of the other blogs (On the Black, Daily Stache, Tedquarters, Metspolice, Faith and Fear in Flush, Mets Today, Metsmerized Online..and probably a handful of others I’m forgetting that were there)  for different writes up, or head to Citi Field and explore for yourself.  My full gallery is here.  Opening Day is only 9 days away!

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Eating With Bloggers: A Citi Field Food Tour

Monday night I, and many of your other favorite bloggers, was invited out to Citi Field for a Mets game, and a pre-game tour of Mets concessions and clubs with Scott Kleckner, Resident District Manager, Sports & Entertainment for Aramark.  It did not disappoint.  We ate.  A lot.

 

Obviously the Keith’s Burger that I wrote about earlier in the season was included.  We learned that it’s doing very well, and will likely become a permanent fixture in the future much like the Pastrami sandwich (which we also sampled) was tested last year.   I love that the Mets and Aramark are trying out new things and never satisfied with the status quo.  At Shea the most exciting change you could look forward to was if they changed burger suppliers.

 

Here’s a shot of the bloggers enjoying a slice of Margherita style pizza at Cascarino’s.

Cascarino’s was chosen in part because it’s local.  It’s right there on College Point Blvd and so local that if you could get pizza delivered to Citi Field, Cascarino’s is close enough to do so.

 

Speaking of local fare, I brought up the departed Brooklyn Brewery beers.  Without getting anything explicitly confirmed, it was made pretty clear that Budweiser can exert a ton of pressure financially over what beers are available.  It was also suggested that Brooklyn Brewery may not be gone forever. (besides the cans of lager that remain) Right now the only true local beer available to the masses is Blue Point Toasted Lager at Catch of the Day.  There’s also a tap of Sixpoint Sweet Action (and some Ommegang. Honestly, given it’s Cooperstown affiliation, EVERY ballpark should have some of it) in the Delta Sky Club, but that’s obviously a limited access area.

 

Perhaps the best thing we ate all night: An eggplant parmigiana sandwich.  It was delicious: perfectly breaded with tasty sauce and excellent bread.  I highly recommend it if you have a chance to be in the Delta Sky Club, or if they end up offering it elsewhere.

 

We also sampled the new fried chicken sandwich from Blue Smoke, which was my second favorite taste of the day.  I’m not a big seafood eater, so I passed on the Po’Boy and Flounder at Catch of the Day, but everyone else liked it.  I did have a handful of popcorn shrimp, which were definitely tasty but I’ll second Rob Castellano of Amazin’ Avenue in wishing there was some dipping sauces with them.  The final thing we tasted was a new appetizer in the Delta Sky Club.  It was some hot dog bites, basically a small hot dog dipped in panko breading.  It was good, but nothing to really write home about.

 

Check out some of these other write ups while you’re at it, and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter.

http://www.ontheblack.com/2011/05/17/video-diary-citi-field-food-beverage-operations/

http://www.amazinavenue.com/2011/5/17/2174894/citi-field-food-mets-eat

http://www.kranepoolsociety.com/2011/05/17/a-great-night-of-food-tasting-at-citi-field-and-a-seat-in-the-press-box-for-desert/

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Keith’s Grill And Custom Made Burgers

Keith’s grill, which I wrote about earlier this month, was featured on SNY the other night.

There are two different types of burgers that Keith Hernandez helped create, and both come with kettle chips and a Tootsie Roll pop.  You get whichever is the next flavor to come out of the box, although I’m sure the cashier wouldn’t be _too_ annoyed if you asked for a different one.

Right now they’re only set up to do one burger at a time, but they said they’re hoping to have both available for the next homestand.

 

The Mex Burger

On Wednesday I had the Mex Burger, and while I’d still give the edge to Shake Shack, it was a pretty tasty burger.  I look forward to trying the Gold Glove Burger when I get a chance.

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What’s New At Citi Field? Keith’s Grill and More!

Unfortunately, the worst part of Opening Day was the play on the field.  Hopefully that doesn’t continue.   There are a handful of changes at Citi Field to note.

 

The bad first.  There are no longer Brooklyn Beers on tap at the Taste of NY center field concourse.  No Shackmeister Ale, no Blanche de Brooklyn, no Blue Smoke Ale and no Sabroso Ale.  Not even a Brooklyn Summer Ale.  You can still get the Brooklyn Lager around the park, but the loss of these specialty brews is disappointing.  I haven’t even seen Brooklyn’s Pennant Ale anywhere, which you think would be a given for a ballpark, never mind a team with Brooklyn roots.  I’m going to try to keep a full list of the Mets beer selections at Citi Field, and hopefully one day will add the stuff that’s hidden behind club doors this season.  If you know a blogger and beer lover that roots for a different team, I’d love to talk with him or her about creating a beer list for other stadiums.

 

The highlight of the changes to me was a new concession stand on the field level in the left fielder corner called Keith’s Grill.  It features a Gold Glove burger which is described as having been created by Keith Hernandez.

“Exactly how Keith eats his burger; A 6 oz. Brooklyn Burger on a toasted sesame bun, w/ cheddar cheese, topped w/ lettuce, tomato, two dill pickles, raw onions mayo & extra ketchup on top, mustard spread on the bottom bun.  Burger served with house made kettle chips & Keith’s favorite candy; a Tootsie Roll Pop”

I didn’t try it; the line was too long and I figured I’d go back on a less crowded occasion, but it sounds yummy.  I heard that their was a new Pastrami on Rye sandwich somewhere, but I think I remember seeing that at the Kosher cart last year.

 

There was two new beers from Hometown Brewery.  A New York Lager and a light.  the NY Lager wasn’t bad, but didn’t seem like anything special.  They were available from a couple of different carts around the park. It seems like it might be contract-brewed by the Lion Brewery in Wilkes-Barre, PA.  Which is where the Yankees AAA team plays and is in Pennsylvania, so don’t be too excited by the NY name.

 

Two new menu items at Blue Smoke.  Chipotle wings are back after a 2010 absence (I learned in 2009 that eating wings in cold weather when your hands are chapped is a bad idea) and also a fried chicken sandwich.

 

There’s an organic dark chocolate frozen yogurt bar at the Burgers and Fries concession from Stonyfield, and also a chipwich at the same place.

 

Box Frites has a sauce, rosemary ranch, which I think is a new choice.

 

There appears to be knishes available at more locations this year.

 

There are probably a couple of other changes that I missed, so be on the lookout!

 

As usual, plenty of advertising  turnover.