Baseball fans craving a hot lobster roll from Fenway Park, a pulled pork pierogi hoagie from PNC Park, or a beer-can chicken sandwich from Wrigley Field won’t have to leave the Big Apple to get them next month. Ballpark food has become a culinary genre all its own, and every year there are new offerings that captivate the taste buds of MLB fans.
The best ballpark foods from around Major League Baseball will be on display and ready to eat at the MLB FoodFest presented by Budweiser, to take place Sept. 21-22 on Fifth Avenue near Bryant Park in New York City. The event will be the second MLB FoodFest installment in 2019, with the first having taken place in Los Angeles earlier this year. All 30 MLB clubs have designated one concession item to represent their team and community at the baseball-themed food festival.
The menu will largely consist of brand-new items, like the Mets’ Bases Loaded Dog and the Yankees’ Shrimp Po’Boy, though there will be some crowd favorites from past events there as well, including the Cincinnati Reds’ Bulgogi Beef Egg Rolls; the Los Angeles Angels’ Kung Pao Chicken Drumsticks; the Houston Astros’ Frito Pie Corndog; the Oakland Athletics’ Brisket Nachos; the Baltimore Orioles’ Stuggy’s Crab Mac N Cheese Dog; the San Diego Padres’ Mahi Mahi Tacos; the Yankees’ Shrimp Po’ Boy; and the Mets’ Bases Loaded Dog.
More daring attendees can try the Colorado Rockies’ Rocky Mountain Oysters — served with breaded “cowboy caviar,” fries and cocktail sauce — or the Seattle Mariners’ Toasted Grasshoppers, which are seasoned with chili lime salt.
Those who prefer dessert can opt for an Arizona Diamondbacks’ Churro Dog — featuring a churro, cinnamon sugar, a Long John donut, vanilla yogurt, chocolate, caramel and whipped cream — or the Toronto Blue Jays’ Jane Dough Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.
In many ways the event serves as an all-star game for food service contractors. The event offers the opportunity for Aramark (Phillies, Red Sox, Mets), Legends (Yankees), and Levy (Pirates, White Sox, Cubs) to display their take on ballpark cuisine. In addition, MLB will collaborate with their foodservice partners to have food remaining distributed by City Harvest to those need.
Along with the delectable dishes, there will be access to new virtual reality experiences, including Home Run Derby Virtual Reality, a game in which fans can put on a VR headset and swing a VR bat controller that makes it feel as though they’re swinging a real bat and launching homers over the fence.
There will be a new merchandise and collectibles shop, as well as a Budweiser Brewmaster and custom beer bar on-site. This won’t be the final FoodFest of 2019; a third installment will be held in London in October to coincide with the opening of the postseason.
