(What, did you think because it’s my blog-birthday, I wouldn’t post?! Silly people…)
The season is over in a few days, though for many Mets fans, the season’s been over for quite a while now. I wrote parts of this a while back, but hadn’t a chance to post it. With one last homestand this weekend, maybe it will help you decide what to eat as you mourn the passing of yet another season. Maybe not. I won’t be at this weekend’s games, but I will be back next year. See you around, Citi Field.
I will definitely be following up with a real overview of what I’ve eaten this season, what I recommend, and what I will be eating next season.
As David Wright continues to be on the DL, this is a snap of Angel Pagan’s 2nd at-bat of the game on August 23, 2009. (My posting schedule is about a month behind.) I accidentally took the photo while the ball was still in the pitcher’s hand, but I can assure you that this pitch resulted in a home run; Angel’s second of the game – during his second at-bat. The first one was an inside-the-park home run, due in part because the centerfielder said the ball was stuck under the wall and didn’t try to pull it out.
This game ended, 9-7, with MLB’s 2nd ever game-ending unassisted triple play. We lost.
It was an excellent game in any case, with a lot of good hitting, amazing catches, disputed calls, a manager getting thrown for arguing a call, and two baseball feats I wouldn’t have thought I’d necessarily witness in my lifetime (the inside-the-park home run – if you’d told me I would witness one in person, I would have assumed it was Jose Reyes [on the DL since May] would be the perpetrator, and an unassisted triple play; shoot, I didn’t even know such a thing existed, I thought maybe I could witness a triple play in my lifetime, though).
Remember when I mentioned the KFC Steal-a-Deal – if the Mets steal 3 or more bases in a game, they give away KFC $5 coupons? Well, the Mets stole 3 bases, and so they did the ‘lottery’ drawing of a section. Section 542 was called, my section booed (actually, everytime a base was stolen, my section chanted “KFC! KFC! KFC!” because, well, when your team is having a spectacularly FAIL season, what else do you do but root for free chicken?), and then people in my section mused that we were behind home plate and there was no way the sections went up to 542. So I took a photo and zoomed in; the last section is actually 538.
How an imaginary section wiggled its way into the system is beyond me… but they distributed the coupons in section 538 instead (and announced the mistake later).
As for the food? The item I tried on this day? Chipotle smoked wings from Blue Smoke! $8 for six wings. Not cheap by any means, but y’know, pretty tasty. Saucy, slightly spicy, slightly smoky, and with blue cheese on the side for dipping (not shown). I enjoyed these except how messy they are, but they are pretty damn tasty. I would have preferred they be a little crisper underneath the sauce, but as they are probably pre-dressed (to make the line quicker), these did pretty well for wings.
Now I’ve tried everything on the Blue Smoke menu 🙂
recommended
The above photograph was taken on September 6th, 2009 – we played the Cubs and won. 🙂 A rare but exciting win for us!
What a season 09 has been, huh? At this writing, we are already eliminated completely, fully, mathematically. But there’s always food to be eaten… (What, did you think I was going to say “There’s always next year”??? That’s a given, baby!)
And food we did eat.
Also – I will be posting a recap and summary of what to eat and what to avoid at Citi Field following this, so stay tuned! It’s useless for this season, but will surely help for next season 🙂
Because we were playing the Chicago Cubs, and I’d been to Shake Shack quite often in recent months, when BF said he wanted a Shackburger, I decided to go against the norm and skip my beloved Shackburger and go for a Shack-ago dog. If they’d had the portobello burger, I’d have gotten that…
In any case, this was listed as a Chicago-style dog, ‘dragged through the garden’ and sounded fantastically delicious.
Isn’t it gorgeous? Yeah, it’s got a lot going on, but I’m okay with that… aren’t I?
Ummm, no. You see, those lil mini peppers – am I stupid? – were super spicy, which I didn’t realize. Or too spicy for my extremely sensitive at the time tongue (I’d recently been having some issues with my tongue, and the tastebuds were super sensitive, some burned off – not from hot food, but from spicy food… and just, not good), so I was crying for a good while before I could continue eating.
After my tongue calmed down a bit, I was able to enjoy the ‘dog (minus the lil peppers!) quite a bit. I think I’ll stick to the Shackburgers, but it was quite a tasty, pickly ‘dog. Yum!
I forgot to take a pic, but we also split a vanilla concrete. It’s unfortunate they only have the two flavors – vanilla and black&white – and even more unfortunate that my boyfriend announced, after I asked him what flavor he wanted, “Well, I’m a vanilla kind of guy! What do you want from me?” Hahahaha… no sweetie. Anyway, it was good, as is expected – I love Shake Shack’s frozen custard, and a milkshake-esque made from it has to be delicious.
I mentioned the fried dough before – which I had no interest in eating – but once I briefly said this was available at Citi Field, BF wanted it badly. So he got some – from the 2nd location of the stand on mezzanine reserved level – and patiently waited for me to take a picture before digging in. BTW – they added a sign underneath “FRIED DOUGH” so now it says underneath that “ZEPPOLES” – I guess some people didn’t realize zeppoles are fried dough???
In any case, the nice thing about the cart – aside from being able to add your own powdered sugar, as much as or as little as you like – is that they fry them fresh. They don’t fry them just when you order them, but because there’s hardly any line, when we walked up, the guy was frying some, without any ready to go, so BF had to wait a little bit for his to be done after he ordered. Fresh fried is always better than those that have been sitting around for a while – not sure how it is at the one on Field Level by World Market, though!
I tried a bite and wished it was crispier; only the very edges were crispy, while the center was fluffy dough with powdered sugar. Tasty… but not a zeppole in its greasy, lovely, delicious incarnation. However, BF was happy with it, tearing pieces off and scooping up powdered sugar into little bites. Yes, I’d say he was very happy with his choice. Though… $6.50 for this? I’m not sure I can get behind that on a regular basis…
A few weeks later, for our very last game at Citi Field (against the Nationals; we won, 6-2, and it should have been 6-0 but Stokes of course couldn’t close the deal, but great pitching by Maine, and great hitting by the whole team!). I questioned what to get as my “last meal of the season” at Citi Field, and after much debate, settled on a few items. I really wanted to get things that I can’t get during the off-season, which meant…
Box Frites fo’shizzle! I’m not sure I’ve mentioned this before, but BF and I always get a large and split it, every game we’ve been to, pretty much, few exceptions. It’s something both of us enjoy a lot, I like having an interesting dipping sauce, the fries are just perfectly crisp and delicious, and the line never takes that long, so usually one of us will go grab this while the other waits on line for something else at Taste of the City. I also wanted to try the new bacon sauce – I thought I wrote this somewhere, but I can’t find the reference; in the beginning of the season, the bacon sauce was reddish, very chunky, and actually, despite my huge love and loyalty for all things bacon, was too much. However, one of the times I’d gone to Box Frites recently, they’d accidentally handed me a sauce that didn’t look like what I was requesting, so I’d asked “That’s not the mayo, is it?” and they’d said, “Oops, no, this is bacon, hold on,” and I’d received my mayo. What struck me as weird was that it’s now white, with flecks of bacon speckling it.
So this time, I tried it, the sauce still thick, tasting largely of bacon and well seasoned, but… well, sometimes Box Frites leans on the salty side. I could see the bacon sauce working for unsalted or less salty frites, but today (maybe due to a mixup: do they give you less salty fries if you order the bacon sauce to start?), the fries were heavily salted, so I found myself eating most of the bacon sauce but having to stop after a bit. But, good stuff.
BF had wanted a Shackburger but impatience won out as we stood on line briefly. I said to him, “We can get Shackburgers elsewhere, another time,” and he agreed immediately. So I went next door to Blue Smoke – and while it’s true that I can get the wings at their restaurant in Manhattan (where I’ve yet to visit, actually), I just wanted the wings. Smothered in blue cheese (I even asked for an extra, which they obliged and didn’t charge me for, yay!)… yummm. And, looking at Blue Smoke’s menu just now to verify they are available at the restaurant, they are $8 for 6 at Citi Field and $9.95 for ? at Blue Smoke in Manhattan… hmmm… maybe there are more but as an appetizer it wouldn’t be that much more. Interesting. Anyway, the wings are meaty, a bit of a kick, and really quite delicious. I need to make a trip to Blue Smoke in the off season… mmm.
As for the BF, he got two slices of regular pizza (I ask him if he likes them or if they’re good, and he says they’re ok; I don’t think this will cease to amaze me that he continues to overpay – and KNOWS he’s overpaying! – for mediocre pizza at the ballpark), then finished off with a bit of fried dough, which apparently he likes very much. I took a bite but it was again only crispy around the edges so I took a corner and then left the rest for him, hehe. He really doused on the powder sugar, too, wow.
I had planned on stopping by the Nachos Grande stand, but when 3, then 3:30 rolled around and I was still very full, I decided to opt out. Next year, though… nachos with cheese & pico de gallo will be mine. 🙂
So long, Citi Field. See you in April.
Yvo says: Shake Shack another WIN (just be warned those lil peppers are spicier than I thought! but I’m a spice-wuss), fried dough WIN-ish… is any of this surprising to you? 😉 Box Frites, always a WIN, and chipotle wings… so delicious.
Shake Shack: Taste of the City, behind Center Field
Blue Smoke: Taste of the City, adjacent to Shake Shack
Box Frites: Taste of the City, facing Blue Smoke
Fried Dough, two locations; outside World Market on Field Level, and on Mezzanine Reserved behind Sec511
Jenn says
If I ever get to NYC and happen to go to Citi Field (so this is largely in the possibly never category), I can navigate that stadium with all this info you’ve given. Such vicarious fun!
Nicholas says
First off… I love the new design :D, secondly, I’m glad you finally did the fried dough, it was about damn time someone critiqued it!
Danny says
don’t really follow baseball, but the mets are always a tease in the spring. they look like they could do it but then injuries happen or a choke job happens. sad… those fries do look amazing though!
SkippyMom says
IMO overpaying is $8 for six wings – wow…then again I am cheap and two pieces of pizza is a heck of a lot more filling even if it is mediocre. It is ballpark food – nothing is going to be worth the price you pay, let’s be honest. 😀
As for Zeppole’s – I guess sum of us umedumacated southerners snuck our ways in to your alls ball park and didn’t realumize. Tell thems folks Thx for the signs. heehee.
Yvo says
I didn’t think I was getting a deal for the wings – I even said it wasn’t cheap – but they did fill me up and are definitely tasty. I also thought it was odd that they cost more at the restaurant in Manhattan, but the online menu doesn’t list portion size. As for the pizza, I don’t know, I think two slices comes out to over $9 which, for something that only tastes alright… but that’s also taking into consideration that eating 8 wings filled me right up 🙂
About the zeppoles – actually, those aren’t zeppoles, which makes the sign even more odd. *shrug*
And I have to disagree that nothing will be worth the price you pay at the park – there are a handful of items at Citi Field that I really feel are totally worth their price. But that’s going to be a whole new post 🙂