jlawrence01 wrote:

titus wong wrote:If I don't opt to bring food in, I invariably find myself cursing the various encased meats offered at the ballpark and the S. Rosen rolls which have all the structural integrity of Kleenex. You're usually left with a sodden mess of bread, watery beef, boiled green peppers, and a solid indigestible tube of pork flesh that must be speared with a fork. Ick. Not what the ancient Chicagoans had in mind when they invented the italian sausage combo.

Are you even allowed to bring in outside food into the ball park? I do not want to buy food just to have it confiscated at the gate as has happened at a number of sports venues.

From Whitesox.com
Carry-in Items
What kinds of items can I bring into the park?
Guests are welcome to:
• Carry in food in a small, clear (see-through) plastic bag.
• Enter with small, soft-sided bags (no larger than 16" x 16" x 8") that will be searched prior to entering the park.
• Carry in one sealed plastic bottle of water, one liter or less in size, but no other beverages of any kind.

PreFlopRaise13 wrote:I too always had a problem with the buns from the grill stations. Always, without fail, the bun falls apart around the second bite. If they would have the buns in a steamer I believe the problem would be solved.

Huzzah! I've been to about 12 games this year and, finally, at Saturday's Crosstown I noticed a change in the buns, they actually hold up now! I asked at about it at Guest Services and the gal told me that the Sox had received so many complaints regarding the buns this season that they looked into it. Apparently, their bun supplier (Gonella) had been sending them the wrong product this season. The problem has been rectified and they are now receiving the the correct buns.

It may be a small thing, but I certainly enjoy my dogs more when they don't fall apart on me.

jlawrence01 wrote:Head out to some of the baseball parks across the country, especially the West Coast operations, and you'll quickly see that the two Chicago park rank close to the bottom.

Based on visits to three ballparks within the past month, two here and one on the West Coast, I'll partially disagree.

At Wrigley, the food options are extremely limited - yeah, dogs and beer and soft drinks, but not a lot of choices. Of course, the surrounding neighborhood has a wealth of offerings to offset that. But based on what's for sale inside the ballpark, I'd give it low marks.

That New York Times article (see link above) noted that there are some great offerings (e.g. deli sandwiches) at Dodger Stadium. However, they are only available if you're seated in the ground-level boxes. I was in the loge level at Dodger Stadium, just above the ground-level boxes. The food offerings at that level and above were as limited as the offerings at Wrigley. And that's not all. The concession stands have a choice of the well-known "Dodger dog" for $5.00, and the "Super Dodger dog (All beef)" for $5.75. Early in the game, I asked for a Super Dodger dog, and was told they were sold out. Huh? So again, based on what's for sale inside the ballpark on the upper levels, I'd give it low marks, too. (Fortunately, I had chowed down mid-afternoon in nearby Boyle Heights, at a wonderful Oaxacan restaurant specializing in moles.)

I was pleasantly surprised - even amazed - at the variety offered at the Cell. Not that anything is exactly gourmet cuisine, but between the food stands and the roving vendors, they offer 3-4 times as many food items as the other two ballparks, including some more unusual items like the corn, funnel cakes, etc. (I had a funnel cake, and it was freshly made!) And the roving vendors don't just sell beer and dogs, but also lots more, everything from soft drinks and margaritas to a bunch of frozen treats (lemon chill, Haagen Dazs bars, dippin dots) etc. So based on concessions, the Sox are in first place of those three, by far.

As it happens, though, I brought food with me to Sox Park. I took the el to the Mart and walked a couple of blocks to Steve's Deli for carry-out sandwiches and knishes. (The other option I offered to the friends I was meeting would have been to get off the el at Cermak/Chinatown to get carry-out from Lao Sze Chuan or Double Li.)

Bringing in carry-out also allows you to avoid the exorbitant prices at the ballpark. Granted, you'll still have to pay those prices for beverages (e.g. $4 for a 20-oz bottled soft drink), but not for food. (The Cell only allows sealed plastic bottles of water to be brought in from outside; some parks allow sealed bottles of other non-alcoholic beverages as well.)

I think that the hot dogs are much better this year, I understand that there is a new hot dog vender this year. I do love the brats with sour kraut. I was in the stadium club and really enjoyed the corn beef sandwich, though my buddy got the kid's hot dog. What a deal. A hotdog (better than what you get in the concessions) with fries (which were amazing) for less than a dog downstairs. I also went to Ed's potsticker house before a game...it was good, not great. What should I have gotten there to have made it great.

I had a very good turkey burger at Commisk-ular last night - moist, well seasoned, lightly packed, fresh bun. I was really surprised by how good it was.

Smoque has an outpost in the 300 level (around section 324). Slightly restricted access, but obviously worth the risk if you don't have seats up there. They are serving a reduced menu......at least they were a month ago.......pulled pork and the brisket, cole slaw and Blue Moon beer. Barry overseeing it in his awesomely understated, but very cool self. My wife and I were going to eat in the stuffy and less than impressive Stadium Club until we stumbled onto this new to the park gem. Baseball never tasted so good.

Zarlengo's, excellent italian ices and gelatos from Chicago Heights, is now selling their products at U.S. Cell for all home games. Well worth a try, we go there a minimum of three times a week during the summer season.

Suzy

I'll echo the comments about the wide variety at the Cell. I remember even seeing egg rolls at one stand in the upper deck. There seem to be several seemingly average counter concessions that have an item or two that cannot be found at another one. I still haven't made it to that burrito stand. Their beer selection isn't as terrible as you'd expect with the right field "Beers of the World" stand. That Smoque addition was something I had not heard of and is pretty awesome. This thread reminds me that I need to make it out to a game soon.

edit: What were the prices at the Smoque stand?

Tonight, during the blackout at the park (the power went down in the area for 15 minutes), I enjoyed another satisfying dog - grilled onions and mustard - at Comiskey. It's the perfect ballpark food.



I've been negligent in taking photos this summer, but have been overall pleased with the new offerings. I'll be at one last game this summer and will try to get some pics of the new offerings (Tex-Mex and Wow-Bao), but tonight - and throughout the winter, I suspect - I'll dream of this dog and the smell of grilled onions...oh, and Paulie Konerko hitting grand slams too.

*Edited to make sure picture actually displayed

Great looking dog there.

I have come to like the brats with sour kraut. My lady likes the turkey burger with everything. The carver sandwiches are good too.

There's a Cuban Comet Sandwiches stand set up along the LF/3B line part of the lower deck concourse that I've tried twice now, and have concluded is one of the best offerings at the stadium. Hope to see a few more of these scattered around next season.

$7.50 gets you a pretty solid approximation of a Cuban sandwich- ham, pork (albeit shredded pork with more Mexican spicing- they're using the same product they do for the burrito/nacho stands), swiss cheese, mustard, pickles, & mojo sauce on pressed bread. It's filling enough that the price actually seems fair.

Going to the game Saturday afternoon. Any new recommendations? I'm trying to squeeze in a Chinatown dim sum stop before the game. Thanks in advance.

Dave148 wrote:Going to the game Saturday afternoon. Any new recommendations? I'm trying to squeeze in a Chinatown dim sum stop before the game. Thanks in advance.

Phil Vettel takes a look at new options at the ballparks this summer:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/ ... 890.column

I have yet to get to a game this season, but I look forward to trying Wow Bao, the nachos in the helmet; and maybe even stopping by Bacardi at the Park [not Bacardi Cafe, as the article says] before or after a game.

Thanks for the link. By a coincidence, my seats appear to be very close to Wao Bao. However, if I manage to squeeze in Dim Sum before the game, I might not be in a Bao mood.

Dave148 wrote:Going to the game Saturday afternoon. Any new recommendations? I'm trying to squeeze in a Chinatown dim sum stop before the game. Thanks in advance.

Hey Dave, I've been to 5 games so far this year (Sox are 4-1 with me in attendance, yay!), so I've had a chance to explore some of the new stuff. I have to apologize for the horrible picture quality, but during Opening Week, at least, I'm way more focused on the game than anything else.

Bacardi at the Park

I'm really surprised at how *decent* the food is here as I honestly wasn't expecting much from it other than a nice place to meet friends or watch a game in bad weather. The food is very reasonably priced and the pulled pork was actually...good. Heck, even the fries were enjoyable, they put salt and pepper on them and they were crisp and hot - I was honestly pleasantly surprised at the quality of their offerings. The Brisket Nachos were, well, nachos, but the brisket was good and they didn't use squeeze cheese! At $8.00, this was enough for 3 adults. Also, free refills on sodas, yay! BTW, if you have kids, this is like the rest of the park and is a very kid friendly environment. IIRC, the most expensive thing on the menu is $12.00 or so and they have a pretty good selection of beer and liquor as well, including Blue Moon, Half Acre and Guinness on tap. I actually find myself looking forward to returning.

Bacardi at the Park Menu



Pulled Pork Sandwich



Brisket Nachos



New to the park this year is a tamale/flauta vendor, which I've sampled a few times. This is, hands down, my favorite addition to the stadium in years. I seriously dig the chicken flautas, damn good, and the staff is really very nice. The flautas are from a local restaurant called Sol Mar Y Tierra, who appear to be the people running the stand. If you try nothing else new at Comiskey this year, try this stand. The tamales (YES, tamales at the ballgame!) come from another local supplier, Isidros Tamales. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Isidros-T ... 2212943801 and are awfully good. The tamales, btw, are pretty hefty. The husband and I have realized that we should get a tamale OR a hot dog, as between two of us we can't even split one of these and finish it if we've eaten anything else.

Flautas are $4.00 each for either potato or chicken, tamales are $3.25 for pork or chicken. The flautas are a bit pricey, but they do cook them right there at the stand and offer a generous array of toppings, including a spicy pico de gallo.

Section 122ish



Pork Tamale


Flautas



They have also added a truly terrifying novelty food at the TexMex stand, nachos in a helmet. I'm afraid to try these, but they are selling like hotcakes:



Finally, they have replaced "Beers of the World" with "Midwest Craft Beers."



Decent selection and they tell me that they will be adding new beers all the time. The people at the stand were particularly intrigued by a gluten free beer they serve, Bards. Some of the beers I spotted included Bar Fly IPA, Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold, and Bells Oberon, along with a few international beers, Guinness, Becks, Pilsner Urquel. I am hoping that they get together with 3 Floyds...



Hot dogs remain a solid choice, particularly with grilled onions. The Cubanos are back again this year and are still a messy treat (although not traditional Cubanos at all). Cheese curds are serviceable with a beer, but really need salt and/or Cholula. Hey, the kids love 'em, though!

Cubano Stand





Cubano



Fried Cheese Curds



I have yet to go to the Stadium Club or Wow Bao this year, where I understand they have some new offerings, and the Smoque outpost appears to be gone , but you can still get a decent bite at the park in 2011 if you don't have the energy to carry food in. As much as I do enjoy the variety of offerings at the park, and my all-time favorite comfort food, a dog with grilled onions, nothing beats showing up with a pound of smoked shrimp from Calumet Fisheries and watching a ballgame with a cold beer on a hot day. Go Sox!

Thanks for the update. As a matter of full disclosure - I'm a Cubs fan. I'm going to Saturday's Sox game on someone else's dime. At this point, I'm just hoping for halfway decent weather.

That all looks good. Eager to see a comprehensive comparison between the Captain Morgan Club and Bacardi at the Park. Are rum-sponsored ballpark eateries a thing around the MLB now?

Thanks for the great post, Ursiform! Glad the Cuban Comet sandwich is back, and will definitely be trying the tamales & flautas when I get lower deck tix.

Any idea about the oz in the 'small' and 'large' drafts at Bacardi at the Park?

JeffB wrote:That all looks good. Eager to see a comprehensive comparison between the Captain Morgan Club and Bacardi at the Park. Are rum-sponsored ballpark eateries a thing around the MLB now?

It seems that as certain companies are scaling back their sponsorship (Jim Beam), others are spending more (Bacardi/Captain Morgan). My understanding is that Jim Beam dialed back on a lot of sponsorships this year. I'm curious about the club at Wrigley too, but it's unlikely I'll ever make it. Bacardi is run by the Gibson group as opposed to Harry Cary's at Wrigley, so I'd be interested to hear from someone who has made it to both.

clogoodie wrote:Any idea about the oz in the 'small' and 'large' drafts at Bacardi at the Park?

I'll be at the game tonight and again on Sunday, I'll check and see for sure. I got lucky and have Stadium Club passes tonight, so I'm definitely going to try the "Cheeto Mac n Cheese" that I've been hearing so much about this year. I'm a little skeerered, but will take one for the team here.

Happy Jackie Robinson day, baseball fans!

Re: sponsorships -- I sat in the Gold Coast Tickets Club (fka Jim Beam Club) on opening day and there was little to no discernable difference in the food selection (i.e., same carving stations, terrible pizza, hot dogs, various hot plates and a pretty extensive antipasti selection), although there was a "fixins bar" for bloody marys which I do not remember from the Beam Club days. The actual seats are still excellent, and if you're entertaining for work it's a good option instead of toting around a bunch of cash/repeatedly paying for things. Incidentally, even though it was opening day, becuase it was pretty cold, many folks were watching the Masters - another benefit if your group includes people that are less interested in baseball and/or there is something interesting like the Masters or a Bulls/Hawks playoff game on. I believe the cost of the tickets went down from $265 to $185, but that could have been game specific pricing.

I generally hit Nuevo, Chinatown or Bertucci's prior to games because the food is so bad (and I am a season ticket holder, so I go a lot) at the Cell, but the cuban and flautas/tamales described upthread have me moderately interested.

Not sure I'll ever have occasion to hit the Bacardi place, but I find that list of the prices for various numbers of beers at $7 and $7.50 a pop hilarious. It's a real amateur-looking menu in general, with effed up spacing and questionable descriptions ("Pilsner"?).

Santos please.

Ahmad Shareef wrote:Re: sponsorships -- I sat in the Gold Coast Tickets Club (fka Jim Beam Club) on opening day and there was little to no discernable difference in the food selection (i.e., same carving stations, terrible pizza, hot dogs, various hot plates and a pretty extensive antipasti selection), although there was a "fixins bar" for bloody marys which I do not remember from the Beam Club days. The actual seats are still excellent, and if you're entertaining for work it's a good option instead of toting around a bunch of cash/repeatedly paying for things. Incidentally, even though it was opening day, becuase it was pretty cold, many folks were watching the Masters - another benefit if your group includes people that are less interested in baseball and/or there is something interesting like the Masters or a Bulls/Hawks playoff game on. I believe the cost of the tickets went down from $265 to $185, but that could have been game specific pricing.

I generally hit Nuevo, Chinatown or Bertucci's prior to games because the food is so bad (and I am a season ticket holder, so I go a lot) at the Cell, but the cuban and flautas/tamales described upthread have me moderately interested.

Not sure I'll ever have occasion to hit the Bacardi place, but I find that list of the prices for various numbers of beers at $7 and $7.50 a pop hilarious. It's a real amateur-looking menu in general, with effed up spacing and questionable descriptions ("Pilsner"?).

Santos please.

That $7 and $7.50 isn't the Bacardi place, that's the Midwest Craft Beer stand and not a menu per se (looks like something made for the employees?), so they're not using full beer names, but shortened versions -- "Pilsner" no doubt is Pilsner Urquell.

Ah yes, I should have paid a little more attention before being critical - looks like a cheat sheet for the EEs rather than a menu. Not a bad selection for the ballpark, either.

Ursiform wrote:[
They have also added a truly terrifying novelty food at the TexMex stand, nachos in a helmet. I'm afraid to try these, but they are selling like hotcakes:

Probably popular as a way to keep the head warm during those colder early season games.

They've changed pizza vendors this year, dumping the local Connie's (although the product sold at the park was horrid compared to the pies baked and sold in their restaurants) in favor of DiGiorno. The reports I have so far from fellow Sox fans are generally positive, although it's debatable whether their opinion is worth much in these parts, given how they have fawned and drooled over the nacho helmet. I will grant that the nacho helmet uses actual shredded cheese and not the radioactive orange goo, so that must count for something.

Here's a better pic of the helmet:
Note that the goo sauce is available on the side for a buck extra.

Wao Bao has added mongolian beef.

There's also a new Irish-themed stand near the fan deck. One of their offerings is "Irish Nachos" - think fries loaded up with baked potato toppings.

But I'm all for bringing food in. Even ballpark eats - I would rather carry in hot dogs George's on 34th and Halsted, or 35th St Red Hots, than pay for overpriced dogs on stale buns that crumble.

I am hoping that they get together with 3 Floyds...

3 Floyds can barely keep up production to rarely make an appearance in Binny's these days, US Cell would be a tall order. My beer rep and I refer to Gumballhed as crack, the only difference is that crack is easier to get.

Vinny wrote:Note that the goo sauce is available on the side for a buck extra.

Just for clarification - does that mean that one pays $1 more for them to NOT put the goo sauce on the nachos (which would seem akin to food blackmail)?

Kman wrote:

Vinny wrote:Note that the goo sauce is available on the side for a buck extra.

Just for clarification - does that mean that one pays $1 more for them to NOT put the goo sauce on the nachos (which would seem akin to food blackmail)?

Sorry about that. It doesn't come with goo sauce. BUT, if you want that added experience, you can pay $1 for a container of sauce. And I think that the price for the nacho helmet is $12 or so.

Sigh. Had some truly dismal food at the Stadium Club last week. That being said, it could have been due to the fact that it was raining, so the Stadium Club was packed and the kitchen was ridiculously slammed. I don't recall the food being so abysmal in the past, so probably an off night.

The "Cheeto Mac and Cheese" was just godawful. I had envisioned the Cheetos being used sort of like breadcrumbs on the top, but nope. Just Cheetos dumped on top of some really insipid and oily standard mac. Our waitress - who was terrific, as the staff at the Club always are - took it off our bill when she noticed I barely touched it, which was very nice and totally unexpected.



We also shared some chili cheese fries. Fries were limp and undercooked, chili was bland and flavorless. I asked for some hot sauce to try and perk it up a bit and got a fairly toothless batch from last year. My own fault, I have thus far neglected to put a bottle of Cholula in my game day bag.





I had some pictures of the new Artisan Beer Bar in the Stadium Club, but they seem to have vanished. Still, a pretty good selection, we enjoyed some Magic Hat no 9 and Oberon drafts while waiting for the game to start up again. IIRC, we paid $8.00 a pint, so about the same price as the standard beers. During weather delays, I would definitely spend more time there, the bar was quite comfortable and was tucked away in a fairly quiet corner so conversation is possible.

Holy moses. Worst looking mac&chs & chili cheese fries I have EVER seen, seriously!