Best Food Item at Every MLB Stadium

It isn’t just hamburgers and hot dogs at the ballpark anymore. But those are still pretty great.

Best Food Selection at Every MLB Stadium

Donut burger, MLB stadium food at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia

The New York Yankees offer sushi as a dining option at Yankee Stadium. Think about that for a second. The most storied franchise in all of Major League Baseball, the one so tied to tradition that players can’t even have facial hair, is serving sushi as part of its new-wave cuisine at the ballpark. Sushi. And we haven’t even talked about the Yankee Stadium Avocado Bites yet.

But that’s Major League Baseball today. While the game remains the same, the ever-changing tastes of its customers needed to be addressed — from the decadent to gluten-free to the eclectic.

These are the best food items offered at every MLB ballpark.

30. Smothered French Fries — Guaranteed Rate Field

Team: Chicago White Sox

Cost: N/A

Year created: 2019

Inventor: Delaware North

Main ingredients: French fries, gyro meat, feta cheese, bacon, shredded chicken and way, way more.

Note: We focused on traditional walk-up concession stands/grab-and-go style food, not upscale items and sit-down restaurants at stadiums.

Bottom Line: Smothered French Fries — Guaranteed Rate Field

Gyro fries, a great baseball game food selection

Near Section 110 lies the Sweet & Savory food stand with five different covered and smothered fries. They include:

Dessert Sweet Potato Fries, topped with powdered sugar, chopped pecans, whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce and Nutella.

Greek Fries, with gyro meat, tomatoes, crumbled feta and tzatziki sauce.

Irish Fries, covered with bacon, sour cream, chives and nacho cheese.

Buffalo Chicken Fries, with shredded chicken, hot Buffalo sauce, ranch dressing and crumbled bleu cheese.

And Dusted French Fries, with a choice of Caribbean jerk topping, Delaware Bay, garlic and parmesan, or salt and pepper with Sriracha ketchup.

29. BBQ Burger — Kauffman Stadium

Team: Kansas City Royals

Cost: $12 for a single, $14.25 for a double

Year created: 2019

Inventor: Aramark

Main ingredients: Kansas City steakburger, cheese, pulled pork, onion rings, BBQ Sauce.

Bottom Line: BBQ Burger — Kauffman Stadium

The ironic thing here is that Kansas City is one of the best, if not the best, barbecue towns in the country. And while it does serve other barbecue such as a BBQ chicken sandwich and even Korean BBQ kielbasa, there’s not a plethora of it.

The burger, with its smoked pulled pork, two patties (might as well go big), onion rings, and melted cheese, is topped off with what is arguably the best BBQ sauce ever — Sweet Baby Rays.

Find it in Sections 221, 234, 251 and 422.

28. Chinese Food — Oracle Park

Edsel Ford Fong combo with broccoli beef and orange chicken

Team: San Francisco Giants

Cost: Varies. $9.75 combo (one entree, fried rice, noodles, egg roll), $12.50 combo (two entrees, fried rice, noodles, egg roll)

Year created: N/A

Inventor: Mashi’s

Main ingredients: Varies. Standard Chinese food menu with noodles, rice, vegetables, beef, chicken.

Bottom Line: Chinese Food — Oracle Park

We went with the umbrella selection here, the only team we chose to do this for. And with good reason. The Giants are one of the few clubs with a thriving Asian fan base (the Dodgers and Mariners also come to mind) and have numerous Asian food items for all to enjoy.

That’s especially true at Edsel Ford Fong’s, a concession stand whimsically named for the famous (infamous?) waiter of the same name at Sam Wo’s restaurant who was notoriously rude and verbally abusive. In a loving way, of course.

Dishes include beef and broccoli, orange chicken, Chinese chicken salad, egg rolls, and sushi boxes.

27. Big A Burger — Angel Stadium

Big A Burger, a tasty baseball game food selection

Team: Los Angeles Angels

Cost: $12

Year created/first sold: 2019

Inventor: Legends Hospitality, executive chef Robert Biebrich

Main ingredients: Beef. Lots of beef. Cheese. Lots of cheese.

Bottom Line: Big A Burger — Angel Stadium

Hot dogs are usually the staple at ballparks with burgers running a close second in the food category. But this is no ordinary burger.

This thing is monstrous — two patties, lettuce, tomato, perfectly melted cheese, secret sauce and a nice soft potato bun. Some have compared it to an In-N-Out burger, and you can’t go wrong there.

All that said, if going to the ballpark and not having a hot dog is sacrilege, check out Crafty Dawg. Get this — one option is they give you the dog, you build the rest.

26. Donut Burger — Citizens Bank Park

Team: Philadelphia Phillies

Cost: $14

Year created: 2019

Inventor: Aramark

Main ingredients: Burger patty, glazed donut, cherry pepper jam, American cheese, bacon.

Bottom Line: Donut Burger — Citizens Bank Park

Donut Burger, a delicious baseball game food selection

Let’s pass on sharing with your doctor that you ordered this, shall we?

Burgers have been put between a lot of things — buns, bread, bagels, English muffins, tortilla — but decadence takes on a whole new meaning with the Donut Burger. It’s a little bit savory, a little bit sweet, and a little bit spicy with the jam.

This menu item is part of the new "Boardwalk Eats" section of the ballpark, giving a little taste of the nearby Jersey Shore.

25. Slider Dog — Progressive Field

Team: Cleveland Indians

Cost: $11

Year created: 2016

Inventor: Happy Dog

Main ingredients: Beef hot dog, pimento macaroni and cheese, bacon, Froot Loops.

Bottom Line: Slider Dog — Progressive Field

No, we didn’t just go off the rails, nor did we just decide to pick food items out of a hat to add to our hot dog.

The Slider Dog debuted in 2016, and for some reason, the fans love the outlandish, quirky combination of a fifth-of-a-pound hot dog, topped with pimento mac and cheese, bacon and, yes, breakfast favorite Froot Loops.

Why they didn’t go with Fruity Pebbles is beyond us, but nonetheless, this dog remains the only frankfurter in America topped with cereal.

24. Skyline Chili — Great American Ball Park

Team: Cincinnati Reds

Cost: $5.50-$11.50

Year created: 1949

Inventor: Lambrinides family

Main ingredients: Secret-recipe chili, onions, beans, shredded cheese.

Bottom Line: Skyline Chili — Great American Ball Park

With the exception of ingredients like onions, beans and shredded cheese, nobody knows what the secret family recipe is to the actual famous chili. But it’s ridiculously delicious.

You can have it in a bowl, on a Coney Dog, or with its famous 3-Way, 4-Way and 5-Way.

A 3-Way is a bowl of steaming spaghetti covered with Skyline’s original secret-recipe chili and topped with a mound of shredded cheddar cheese. Add diced onions or beans for a 4-Way. Add onions and beans for a 5-Way.

23. Cuban Sandwich — Tropicana Field

Team: Tampa Bay Rays

Cost: N/A

Year created: 1999

Inventor: Levy

Main ingredients: Ham, pork, salami, Swiss cheese, mustard, and pickles on toasted Cuban bread.

Bottom Line: Cuban Sandwich — Tropicana Field

The Tampa-St. Petersburg area has one of the most vibrant Cuban communities around in Ybot City, maybe second only to Miami’s Calle Ocho.

And by all accounts, the Cuban sandwich served at Tropicana Field is a delicious, authentic sandwich and not some knockoff.

Just remember, if you want one — or anything else at the Trop — bring your plastic and not your paper. The venue became the first Major League Ballpark to go cashless earlier this year.

22. The Mega Slice — Busch Stadium

Team: St. Louis Cardinals

Cost: $8

Year created: 2019

Inventor: Delaware North

Main ingredients: Dough, sauce, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni.

Bottom Line: The Mega Slice — Busch Stadium

So let’s try to give you some context and perspective on the Mega Slice. The Meg is 16 inches long. Most large pizzas at your local pizza joint are 16 inches in diameter. Yep, that’s how big.

It comes in its own triangle-shaped, single-serving box, which is a big help if you’re trying to pick this thing up with two hands and set it back down.

21. Party Pops — Oakland-Alameda Coliseum

Team: Oakland Athletics

Cost: N/A

Year created: 2019

Inventor: Aramark

Main ingredients: Popsicle molds. Alcohol.

Bottom line: Oakland-Alameda Coliseum has never been known as a facility that offers game-changing food and beverage, but things have picked up since Aramark was brought on board to start the 2019 season.

And this is something new — Party Pops. Known among the locals as "Boozy Popsicles," these adult refreshments are popsicles infused with alcohol.

The pops are available in the concourse on an oversized tricycle. They’re trying them out in Oakland, and starting to turn them around.

Bottom Line: Party Pops — Oakland-Alameda Coliseum

Oakland-Alameda Coliseum has never been known as a facility that offers game-changing food and beverage, but things have picked up since Aramark was brought on board to start the 2019 season.

And this is something new — Party Pops. Known among the locals as "Boozy Popsicles," these adult refreshments are popsicles infused with alcohol.

The pops are available in the concourse on an oversized tricycle. They’re trying them out in Oakland.

20. Sushi — Marlins Park

Team: Miami Marlins

Cost: $10

Year created: 2019

Inventor: Suviche’s restaurant

Main ingredients: Shrimp, cream cheese, avocado, spicy mayo, drizzled with eel sauce.

Bottom Line: Sushi — Marlins Park

Those are the ingredients for the Marlins Roll, one of several new sushi selections and one of several new overall additions to the menu at Marlins Park in the 2019 season.

This has been one of the most moribund franchises in Major League Baseball.

Food alone won’t bring in the crowds, but at least the Marlins are trying.

19. Coney Dog Egg Roll — Comerica Park

Team: Detroit Tigers

Cost: $6.50

Year created: 2019

Inventor: Delaware North food vendor

Main ingredients: Hot dogs, chili, mustard and onions.

Bottom Line: Coney Dog Egg Roll — Comerica Park

Not exactly a patrician selection, right? Well, this is what you have to know: the Coney Dog is absolutely revered in Detroit. It’s like a cult in the city. For real.

The rivalry between the American Coney Island and Lafayette Coney Island restaurants is like the rivalry between Pat’s and Geno’s cheesesteaks in Philadelphia.

The Coney Dog is a variation on the classic chili dog we all know and love, and the Coney Dog Egg Roll is a variation on that, except the dog and chili are deep-fried in an eggroll, drizzled with mustard and topped with onion.

18. Prime Rib Sandwich — Minute Maid Park

Team: Houston Astros

Cost: $20

Year created: 2019

Inventor: Houston Astros Hospitality Group

Main ingredients: Prime rib. Caramelized onions. Horseradish sauce.

Bottom Line: Prime Rib Sandwich — Minute Maid Park

The Prime Rib Sandwich was part of a rollout of new food items on the menu at Minute Maid Park in 2019 that includes a lamb gyro, a calabrese shrimp sandwich and Kahlua tiramisu that is out of this world.

The prime rib sandwich already has become a big hit. Sure, it’s pricey. But it’s mammoth, which is par for the course since everything they do in Texas is big, right?

17. Rocky Mountain Oyster Po'Boy — Coors Field

Team: Colorado Rockies

Cost: $10

Year created: 2018

Inventor: Aramark

Main ingredients: Rocky Mountain oysters, garlic coleslaw, guacamole, green chili ranch, pico de gallo and cotija cheese.

Bottom Line: Rocky Mountain Oyster Po'Boy — Coors Field

OK, let’s get this out of the way immediately. If you’re not in on the joke, you’re about to be — there are no Rocky Mountain Oysters, per se. That’s a fancy name in Colorado for meat balls. Literally.

Rocky Mountain Oysters are bull testicles that are skinned, coated in flour, pepper and salt, and deep-fried.

It’s a delicacy, to be sure, but it’s one of the most popular items on the Coors Field menu.

16. Fried Dough Sundae — Fenway Park

Team: Boston Red Sox

Cost: $7.75

Year created: 2016

Inventor: Aramark

Main ingredients: Fried dough, ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate sauce.

Bottom Line: Fried Dough Sundae — Fenway Park

So, fried dough is a staple in New England and much of the Northeast, no matter what name it goes by. Funnel cake. Elephant ears. Pizza fritte.

Normally, it comes with a tasty dusting of confectionary sugar, but this concoction takes the sweet tooth to a whole other level.

Fenway tops it with Hood ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate sauce anbd whatever toppings you want. With the ice cream melting from the warm fried dough, it’s a piece of heaven.

15. Wisconsin Ultimate Cheese Fry – Miller Park

Team: Milwaukee Brewers

Cost: N/A

Year created: 2019

Inventor: Delaware North

Main ingredients: Fries, cheese curds, bacon, cheese sauce.

Bottom Line: Wisconsin Ultimate Cheese Fry – Miller Park

When you think Wisconsin, you think cheese. (If you said football’s Packers or baseball’s Brewers, you’re still thinking cheese because of the Cheeseheads. So there.). This menu item is described as a snack, but it’s so over the top it could be a meal.

Crispy craft beer-battered twister fries topped with Sargento Cheddar cheese sauce, chopped applewood smoked bacon and fried Sargento cheese curds.

And it has a sister, the Twister Cheese Fry, which is the same thing less the bacon and curds.

14. Blooper Burger – SunTrust Park

Team: Atlanta Braves

Cost: $26

Year created: 2019

Inventor: Delaware North

Main ingredients: Beef, cheese, hot dog, chicken tenders, jalapenos and cheese sauce.

Bottom Line: Blooper Burger – SunTrust Park

Can any burger be worth $26? Well, we presume that with four beef patties, a foot-long hot dog, tenders and Texas toast, the Blooper Burger could pay off with an investment by multiple parties.

The big question is whether three likeable menu items (cheeseburger, hot dog, chicken tenders) can co-exist as one taste.

13. Pittsburgh Cone — PNC Park

Team: Pittsburgh Pirates

Cost: N/A

Year created: 2019

Inventor: Aramark

Main ingredients: Kielbasa, pierogi, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, Russian dressing, waffle cone.

Bottom Line: Pittsburgh Cone — PNC Park

Pittsburgh is a hard-working, blue-collar town. You won’t see too many folks ordering a waffle cone with ice cream and watch it melt all over them, but you will see them order this waffle cone.

"It’s pretty much a deconstructed kielbasa sandwich in a waffle cone," Aramark’s Keith Petrie said in March. "We are very proud to have this eccentric item for this season."

12. Tres Leches Milkshake — Yankee Stadium

Team: New York Yankees

Cost: $14.99

Year created: 2019

Inventor: Yankee Stadium (in-house catering)

Main ingredients: Milk, vanilla ice cream, cake pieces, churro pieces.

Bottom Line: Tres Leches Milkshake — Yankee Stadium

Pretty sure this might be the most expensive milkshake. Well, at a ballpark, anyway. You could cross the bridge to Manhattan and get a $100 milkshake at Serendipity, but that’s another story.

The Tres Leches Milkshake is one of four new shakes introduced by the team this year, including the Pinstripe Shake, featuring cotton candy, Cracker Jack, caramel drizzle, and churro pieces; the Celebration Shake, with birthday cake frosting and funfetti vanilla cupcakes; and the Chocolate All-Star Shake, with chocolate chip cookie, fudge brownie, M&Ms and crushed Oreos.

For $14.99, you do get to keep the souvenir cup. But no free refills.

11. Bone-In Smoked Beef Short Ribs – Nationals Park

Team: Washington Nationals

Cost: $18

Year created: 2019

Inventor: Levy Restaurants

Main ingredients: Meat. Lots of meat.

Bottom Line: Bone-In Smoked Beef Short Ribs – Nationals Park

Perhaps this is a meal best served at a Renaissance fair. It’s served at a stand, the Old Hickey BBQ stand, to be exact, so it’s not a sit-down meal. So this has the potential to be something spectacular given its deliciousness.

Or it has the potential to be very — what’s the word we’re looking for? — primal.

Maybe even a little bit of both.

10. 18-Inch Hot Dog — Chase Field

Team: Arizona Diamondbacks

Cost: $30

Year created: 2019

Inventor: Levy executive chef Stephen Tilder

Main ingredients: All-beef hot dog, bratwurst and a variety of toppings.

Bottom Line: 18-Inch Hot Dog — Chase Field

This is the King Daddy of dogs, even beating out the 16.5-inch hot dog served at Chavez Ravine by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Diamondbacks are offering three different types of the foot-and-a-half dogs:

The All-Day Breakfast Dog with hash browns, country gravy, cheddar cheese, bacon, fried eggs, hot sauce and green onion.

The Reuben Some Dirt On It Dog, with reuben macaroni-and-cheese, fried pickles, green onion and secret sauce

And the SI Cover Dog, made in collaboration with Sports Illustrated magazine for a special story, with a bratwurst topped with jalapeño-apple coleslaw, fried mac and cheese, barbecue aioli, house-cured beer pickles and green onion.

9. Crab Cakes — Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Team: Baltimore Orioles

Cost: $11

Year created: 1994

Inventor: Old Bay

Main ingredients: Jumbo lump crab, Old Bay seasoning.

Bottom Line: Crab Cakes — Oriole Park at Camden Yards

What’s that great line from the touch football scene in the film "Wedding Crashers?" Oh yeah. "Crab cakes and football! That’s what Maryland does!"

Well, this is baseball — and not very good baseball in Baltimore — but crab cakes remain a staple at Camden Yards thanks to the Old Bay stand. Crab cakes, crab cake sandwiches, even waffle fries with crab dip. You name it, it’s here.

And it’s in very few other ballparks. Because that’s what Maryland does.

8. Peanut Butter and Bacon Sandwich — Target Field

Team: Minnesota Twins

Cost: $10

Year created: 2019

Inventor: Delaware North

Main ingredients: Peanut butter, bacon, strawberry jelly, sourdough bread.

Bottom Line: Peanut Butter and Bacon Sandwich — Target Field

This is kind of like an Elvis Presley thing, no? Bacon on peanut butter? Doesn’t sound right, but it works.

It’s not incredibly complicated. In the end, it’s still a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. But the introduction of the candied bacon gives it an even sweeter taste.

Oh, and the grilled sourdough bread also really brings a new dimension to the sandwich.

7. Esquite — Dodger Stadium

Team: Los Angeles Dodgers

Cost: $9

Year created: 2018

Inventor: Levy executive chef Ryan Evans

Main ingredients: Street corn, mayonnaise, cheese, spicy aioli.

Bottom Line: Esquite — Dodger Stadium

Introduced during the 2018 postseason, the corn item was so popular that Ryan Evans decided to bring it back for the 2019 regular season.

This version of esquite is served in a mini-helmet, much like an ice cream sundae would be. If that seems rather pedestrian, well, there’s a method to the madness.

"We’re just trying to do simple food great," Evans told the L.A. Daily News. "And we wanted to pay attention to what we’re not offering at Dodger Stadium right now."

6. The Fowl Pole — Globe Life Park

Team: Texas Rangers

Cost: $27.50

Year created: 2019

Inventor: Delaware North

Main ingredients: Chicken.

Bottom Line: The Fowl Pole — Globe Life Park

Nobody has a chicken tender like this. Not McDonald’s, not KFC, not Popeye’s, not even Chick-Fil-A.

The Fowl Pole is a two-pound chicken tender, battered and friend, and presented over waffle fries and your choice of two dressings from a selection of barbecue, honey mustard and ranch.

It’s pricey, for sure, but there are reasons for that. First, well, uh, it’s two freakin' pounds. Second, because of its size and the time it takes to produce, The Fowl Pole comes in limited quantities.

So if you’re coming home to roost for one of these things, you better get there early.

5. Wowfulls — Citi Field

Team: New York Mets

Cost: $8

Year created: 2015

Inventor: Wowfull

Main ingredients: Waffle cone, ice cream, and any treat you can possibly imagine.

Bottom Line: Wowfulls — Citi Field

Wowfulls might be the most aptly named treat/dessert in history. These guys went from a food truck to a brick-and-mortar store on Manhattan’s Lower East Side to a concession stand at Citi Field.

Any concoction you can think of, they can make it. The ice cream ranges from traditional like vanilla and chocolate to cake batter and more.

And the whipped cream and toppings run the gamut, from sprinkles to chocolate chips to Fruity Pebbles cereal.

4. 32 Ingredient Salad — Rogers Centre

Team: Toronto Blue Jays

Cost: N/A

Year created: 2019

Inventor: Aramark

Main ingredients: Lettuce. And 31 other plant-based ingredients.

Bottom Line: 32 Ingredient Salad — Rogers Centre

3. Triple Threat Pork Sandwich — Petco Park

Team: San Diego Padres

Cost: N/A

Year created: 2019

Inventor: Carnitas Snack Shack

Main ingredients: Pulled pork, bacon, pork loin schnitzel, pepperoncini relish, Shack aioli, brioche bun.

Bottom Line: Triple Threat Pork Sandwich — Petco Park

This beauty can be found at Carnitas Snack Shack in Sections 128 and 228 at Petco, along with other Mexican dishes.

The Snack Shack also has an original location downtown. Also try the Carnitas Tacos, topped with guacamole, pico de gallo and lime.

The Triple Threat, a longtime favorite in San Diego, is the best pulled-pork introduction to the Show in 2019.

2. Toasted Grasshoppers — T-Mobile Park

Team: Seattle Mariners

Cost: $5

Year created: 2017

Inventor: Centerplate

Main ingredients: Grasshoppers.

Bottom Line: Toasted Grasshoppers — T-Mobile Park

You might be thinking this item belongs more on a list of unusual ballpark foods. Think again.

T-Mobile Park sold 1.6 million of these little buggers in 2017, 1.2 million in 2018, and Steve Dominguez, general manager for Centerplate, told Forbes magazine that the dish remains an "authentic Oaxacan experience," referring to the Mexican state where the grasshoppers are harvested and where they are a popular source of protein.

You get roughly 40 bugs for your four ounces. "It just took off," Dominguez said. "We couldn’t keep them on our shelves."

1. Bao To The Pork — Wrigley Field

Team: Chicago Cubs

Cost: N/A

Year created: 2017

Inventor: Jeff Mauro, executive chef at Pork & Mindy’s

Main ingredients: Pulled Pork, bao bun, pickled daikon and carrot, cucumbers, and jalapeño relish.

Bottom Line: Bao To The Pork — Wrigley Field

The sandwich from Pork and Mindy's debuted at Wrigley in 2017 and has been a fan favorite ever since.

Jeff Mauro, who's also a star on the Food Network, reached out to the Cubs about adding the hickory-smoked pork on the steamed bun to its lineup. The team sure is happy he did.

The sandwich remains one of the most talked-about menu items. We have a feeling it will get a long-term contract.