First Look at the New Yankee Stadium Food

Posted by Erin Zimmer, April 15, 2009 at 6:35 PM

All photographs by Robyn Lee

At first, the new Yankee Stadium food sounded like a middle school cafeteria ("Carvel Ice Cream, French's Mustard, Hebrew National, Famous Famiglia Pizza, Poland Spring Water, Utz Potato Chips!" the press release advertised). Not to mention, it lacks the superstar restaurateurs—Danny Meyer, Dave Pasternack, and Drew Nieporent—over at Citi Field. Even if bottled water will set you back $5, and other foods keep up with the yikes-expensive ballpark food stereotype, there's some tastiness to be had at the new Bronx ball field.

Photo tour, after the jump.

Johnny Rockets

It's no Shake Shack, the burger counterpart at Citi Field, but Johnny Rockets gets the job done. Single ($9) and double burgers ($12) are available. Milkshakes ($7)—both vanilla and chocolate—should not be served with a straw. So thick, this is spoon territory.

Brother Jimmy's BBQ

Clockwise from top: Frickles, hush puppies, and pulled chicken sandwich.

One word: frickles ($8). Deep-fried pickle coins. Aw, yeahh. They also have brisket, pulled pork, and chicken sandwiches ($10), which, be aware, can range from 470 to 700 calories. Maybe specify that you want the 700 calorie one? Hush puppies ($8) available too.

Lobel's of New York

Hopefully you've gotten this far because this is really the magic of Yankee concession land. Lobel's, the institutional New York butcher shop, has a carving station with rotating meat sandwiches ($15). Today it was USDA prime strip steak, but they'll also have filet mignon and prime rib at future games. It came slathered with an olive spread—so much yes—on a warm, doughy bun.

Carl's Philly Cheese Steak

Beef or chicken ($10.75), with your choice of cheese: Whiz or white American.

Garlic Fries

They get their own section! You'll want to brush your teeth after a few, so mission accomplished. Small is $5, and large is $8. This seems to be a little nod to the Gilroy Garlic Fries at AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants.

Moe's Southwest Grill

Clockwise from top left: Burrito, burrito fillings, cuban sandwich, and Billy Barou nachos.

Part of the "Latin-themed area" behind right field. Originally, a few vendors were involved (like La Esquina, which is still on the sign) but now it's just Moe's. Burritos ($9) can be filled with anything you see on the assembly line (beans, rice, guac, sour cream, salsa, cheese), and they have two nacho variations: Billy Barou ($9; the crazy one with all that junk piled) and just queso ($6). Cuban sandwiches ($9.75) aren't from Moe's but sold at the same stand—meh, tasted like airline food.

Hot Dogs

Nathan's and Hebrew National hot dogs.

Both Nathan's ($6.75) and Hebrew National ($5.50) are available. The Nathan's dogs—longer and thinner—are only at Nathan's-branded stands. The Hebrew Nats are at the special suites, a few "Stadium Favorites" stands, and in-seat service vendors will be hawking them.

Farmers' Market

There's another section of the stand to the right of the cart.

Fruit stands and baseball go hand-in-hand like, eh, peanut butter and tuna. The little cart is stocked with pears, apples, bananas and cups of baby carrots and watermelon from something called "Melissa's farmers' market." They didn't provide much background info on who Melissa is or where her produce is grown. This seems like a punishment for kids who are goofing off during the game and lose ice cream privileges.

Mike's Deli

Clockwise from top left: Mike's Deli stand, eggplant parmigiana samples, sandwich samples, zeppoles.

Locavores, you'll really like this. The true Bronx local food: cold cuts and eggplant parmigiana sandwiches ($10 to $10.75)—the recipe that beat Bobby Flay on a Throwdown episode!—from the nearby Mike's Deli on Arthur Avenue. "Bobby did his with thick eggplant, the skin still on, very Irish, and four kinds of cheese that didn't need to be there." Mike's version is cut real thin and better, they'll remind you.

Maybe so, but his zeppoles, fried wads of sugared dough, are too dry. Not worth the 500 cals-per-ball (six pieces for $6).

Carvel Ice Cream

Vanilla and chocolate soft serve in little keepable Yankee cap cups ($6.50). Rainbow sprinkles! Such a sucker for overpriced frozen desserts when sprinkles are involved.

Sushi and Noodle Bar

Looks pretty, if you're into the whole raw fish at a baseball game thing.

Waste Management

Trash bins come in threes—plastic, trash, and compost. Hopefully fans will know what to do with the compost. They ma
ke it pretty easy since all food containers are compost-friendly (the plastic ones are sugar-based) except the special souvenir cups.....