your nominations for BEST BALLPARK FOOD in America: Major League and Minor League

[MarkG]

let's range from the obvious-- dogs-- to west coast exotic and crab cakes and barbecue and keep it coming. what stadium gets the BEST of CHOW honors for '06??

[Davwud]

Boog's BBQ Pit at Camden Yard. It was fantastic.

I also loved the braut's at old County Stadium in Milwaukee. Don't know if they have them at the new park.

DT

[cincodemayo1]

Big fan of the garlic fries at Dodger stadium.

The arepas outside of any Miami stadium are killer too...who could resist 2 sweet corn patties cooked on a buttered grill with a gooey slice of mozzarella in the middle?

[gourmaniac]

The hot dog carts outside of the Blue Jays Stadium. The Toronto hot dog carts are unbelievably good and inexpensive at $2.00 for a great grilled dog or $3 for a polish sausage. I'm not sure why anyone would buy a lukewarm steamed dog inside for $5.00.

[susancinsf]

Good point: If you include ball park food outside the Ball Park, the hot dogs from the Let's Be Frank cart, right outside of the Giants Ball Park in SF, are the best! This being SF and not Toronto, they are $5 (but dogs inside are even more); made with all grass fed beef, and delicious. Look for them next to the Acme outdoor bar (you can sit at the bar on the side where food is not served, have a Sierra Nevada for less than beer in the park, and one of the dogs. Yumm!)

[susanlll]

Barbecue nachos at AutoZone Park in Memphis.

[Beans]

Garlic fries at San Francisco's AT&T Park, hands down.

[beer786]

man garlic fries are just the tops. with a lot of heniz ketchup

[MollyGee]

Have you had the ones at the Oakland Coliseum? They're terrible: the garlic makes the fries very soggy and it's just a greasy mess.

[susancinsf]

The garlic fries have gone seriously, seriously downhill the past year or so....however, the Cha-Cha bowl is still the best thing at the Park on Willie Mays Plaza...

[The Blissful Glutton]

I totally agree. I even copy them at home :)

[Gary Soup]

The Gateway Grizzlies, a minor league team in St. Louis, serves a bacon cheeseburger that uses a Krispy Kreme donut for a bun.

NOT good?

http://www.cbsnews.com/images/2006/06/03/image1680066g.jpg

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/0...

[hummingbird]

That is gag city for sure!

[Belly DuJour]

I know Andrew Zimmern did a one hour special for the Travel Channel entitled, Ball Park Food, and although i can;t remember who "won," i think it still airs on Travel Channel periodically.

[MVNYC]

I dont know if there really is "good" ballpark food that i have tried. There is nothing that i would consider chow worthy, but there are thigns i consider edible. I usually like to bring things in. Nothing better than an italian hero from Cold cut City in the bronx before a Yankee game.

[eLizard]

well, i know one of the vendors, and it's not the sausages that make that smell....it's the garlic water concoction they spray on the grill to entice you to buy them. the sausages INSIDE fenway are pretty rank. you gotta go to the carts outside.

[steinpilz]

Sausage with peppers at Fenway.

[LindaWhit]

I know there are aficionados of the sausage cart outside of Fenway, but just the smell of this stuff makes me gag walking past it on Lansdowne Street.

[missykins]

What's to gag about? The smell of sausage? Peppers? Drunken Sox fans? I don't know if it qualifies as good food, but since the topic is "Ballpark Food" I think a Fenway Frank qualifies along with a Sausage Guy sausage & peppers.

[LindaWhit]

Hey -I don't like the smell of whatever's on the sausage carts. Simple as that. And the one Fenway Frank I've eaten wasn't anything to shake a stick at either. But that was taste only, as there was little to no smell of them. But the sausage carts - I just don't like the greasy smell - makes my stomach turn.

[missykins]

LOL - I hear ya! The drunk Sox fans do the stomach turn thing for me!

[LindaWhit]

To missykins - yeah, that just goes without saying re: the drunken Sox fans and turning stomachs. I've avoided the bleacher seats since the first time I sat there....their prevalence in that area is overwhelming. :-)

[steinpilz]

I guess I'll have to go try those sausages again, I was thinking sentimentally. Pittsburgh had some good bratwurst and microbrew about 10 years ago.

[AnneM]

I agree! The smell of that grease makes my stomach churn.
I love a good Fenway frank but not from the vendors inside who throw them up to where you're seated. Squish! Go to a vendor that is actually making them fresh and you have a choice of toppings. Remember when all you could get on your dog was mustard, relish or ketchup? Eddy Andelman protested and used to bring his own chopped onions in a baggie. That's not necessary anymore.

[Davwud]

Do they still have that lemonade guy outside Fenway?? We went to there two straight summers in the early 90's and I'll always remember the lemonade from the cart there.

DT