Also see: The Strangest Foods at MLB Stadia (Pt. 1)
For this installment of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, or rather, Kevin Beane, we'll be looking at the AL West and NL East.
Angel Stadium of Anaheim — Nothing too weird here, but two things that had me scrambling for Google: monkey bread, which is that sweet, sticky bread that you pick at, and onion cranks, which I was unable to determine anything about.
Minute Maid Park — I don't know what "chopped BBQ potatoes" are (although they can be guessed at easily enough), but damn, they sound good, and I demand to know why they aren't more of a thing. The Five Seven Grill features some of "Craig (Biggio) and Jeff's (Bagwell) favorites," without saying what those favorites are. What if they're fish eyes?
O.co Coliseum — The A's seem to be content to let the Raiders website handle all the stadium stuff, and they don't do a very good job. But man, apparently they have 14 varieties of hot dogs scattered throughout the stadium, including a chicken parmesan dog, and a linguica dog, so all is forgiven.
Rangers Ballpark in Arlington — Had to find food information from third party sources, but there's some very cool stuff here, and again, they are mostly hot-dog related. There is "the boomstick," which is a two-foot-long hot dog (and it's only $26!), the "waffle dog," which is exactly what it sounds like, and the Yu Dog, available only when Yu Darvish pitches, which is a dog wrapped in a fried wanton and topped with beef teriyaki, wasabi mayo, seaweed, and sesame seeds.
Safeco Field — Well, of course there is sushi, it's Seattle. Other items I'm not seeing in other ballparks include paninis, bagels (didn't see these at Yankee Stadium), four different types of tortas, a salmon hoagie, and both sweet and savory crepes.
Citi Field — Citi seems to be trying to carving out a niche as the international food capital of the ballparks, as they have not only a Mexican section with options far, far beyond tacos and nachos (Chicken Mole Pipian, anyone?) But an entire section called the "World's Fare Market," with Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Italian stands.
Citizens Bank Park — I was expecting every other stand to offer a Philly Cheesesteak, but they don't. They do have mac and cheese, pierogis, eggplant fries (eww), and the "Schmitter Sandwich," which is the worst name for a food in the history of mankind. It's sort of like a cheesesteak, but in sandwich form with higher quality beef (allegedly), salami, and secret sauce. That's right, secret Schnitter sauce. I don't want to know.
Marlins Park — Not much going on here. Unsurprisingly lots of Cuban fare, also churros, which I haven't seen elsewhere. Here's my favorite blurb from the concessions section of their website: "Burger 305 – Section 13, 19, 40 (burgers, hot dogs, chicken tenders, French fries, chicken sandwich). In addition, Burger 305 at Section 19 would also offer signature food items representing the visiting team."
OH WOULD THEY? "Would" is such a lovely word to use there. "Hi, I'd like to know what you have special with Milwaukee here in town?" "Nuthin'." "But it says you would offer foods representing the visiting team." "Yeah, we WOULD, but we don't. Ever."
Nationals Park — Oh, hell yes! Ben's Chili Bowl has a presence at Nationals Park. That is a DC institution famous for their "half-smoke," which is a big spicy sort of sausage. I've been there ... so good. So, so good. Also, "frito macs" (I assume that's mac and cheese with fritos), W-shaped pretzels (another idea that seems obvious for all ballparks), and falafel.
Turner Field — The "755 Club" offers something called "Backdoor Sliders," which I am guessing is a food that John Rocker pointedly never tried. You can also get boiled peanuts (which are delicious), deep-fried Oreos, and not much else. Did not find any peach pie offerings, which surprised me.
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