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!

Mets Add New Craft Beer Options

have a beer at Citi FieldLast night was a preview event for the new food options at Citi Field for the 2012.  I’ll get to some of that in a different post, (Or you can check some of the other obvious places, such as the confluence of all Mets and Sandwich news, Tedquarters.  Spoiler alert: We both agree on what was the best new food option.)  First off, the beer changes!

 

The Citi Field Beer List lists Blue Point Lager and Blue Point Toasted.  Those are actually the same beers as far as I know.  It’s Blue Point Toasted Lager.  One has a star and one does not, so I think this means it’ll be available at both the craft beer stands and at some normal places. (Catch of the Day is where it’s been)  Another weird one is Goose Island Sum Blonde Ale.  I don’t think Goose Island makes a blonde.  They make Goose Island Summertime, which was occasionally available last year at Big Apple Brews due to it’s Anheuser-Busch/InBev distribution.

 

Yes, craft beer stands.  Located near sections 105 (That’s by the World’s Fare Market), section 127 (Near the other foul pole) and in section 413 (That’s the Promenade food court area) of the Promenade Level meaning we don’t have to go downstairs from the cheap seats to get good beer.

 

Real craft beers that weren’t on the list last year, or were only available in the Delta Sky 360 Club (The Ommegang may still only be there)  include Blue Point Summer, Blue Point White India Pale Ale (This one’s a new one, premiered March 29th, 2012), Ommegang Abbey Ale, Redhook Pilsner, Six Point Sweet Action, Sierra Nevada, Magic Hat #9, and Widmer Drifter Pale Ale.  Also new is the expanded line of Shock Top ales, the Lemon Shandy, the Raspberry Wheat, and the Wheat India Pale Ale.

 

I’m still going to do a full analysis of Citi Field on Opening Day to take in the options and confirm this list.  Having a craft beer stand is an excellent idea, and having three of them even better.  I’m happy with this expansion, but I also hope this is a first step and not a final idea.  The list has 12 stars on it representing the beers available at the craft beer stands in either cans or drafts.  I imagine some of the more seasonal ones will rotate out, like Blue Point Summer, but the others include Shock Top, Leinenkugel Summer Shandy and Blue Moon, which are macro brews.  Also included are Anheuser-Busch/InBev distributed Goose Island IPA, Kona Longboard Lager, and Widmer Drifter Pale Ale.    The real expansion is the Blue Point brews, and that’s great.  It’ll also be nice to be able to have Magic Hat #9, Sixpoint Sweet Action and Sierra Nevada outside the club areas.   Sixpoint has a large line of cans available these days, so hopefully more of those start showing up.

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/