Brewing Up Some Big League Food for Thought : FOOD: Playing Restaurant Rotisserie in Baseball Stadiums

For years, the three essential baseball nutrients--a dog, a brew and a bag of nuts--were enough to satisfy every fan’s appetite.

But the food game is changing. Most stadiums today offer a selection of dishes that rivals the buffet table at Bob’s Big Boy.

I found every food imaginable--from Buffalo-style chicken wings to beef burritos--during a recent tour of seven stadiums in the Midwest and East. There are so many choices at County Stadium in Milwaukee, for example, that the park posts a “Hungry Fan’s Map” listing about 50 items.

Nachos supreme and Louisiana red hots are sold at Yankee Stadium, onion rings and pizza rolls at Shea, burgers and fries at Tiger Stadium and corned beef and cotton candy at Comiskey Park.

The local teams helped set this new trend when the Angels began serving Chablis and the Dodgers introduced sushi in 1988. Fortunately for traditionalists, it took only one season for the Dodgers to realize that raw fish has no place at a baseball game, even in Los Angeles.

In baseball, there’s an old saying that a hot dog always tastes better at the ballpark. It has something to do with the surroundings and a cold brew to help wash it down. For these reasons, I stuck mostly with the basic fare of hot dogs and peanuts.

The wieners in Milwaukee and Yankee Stadium get high marks, while the ones at Wrigley Field and Shea tasted like cold rubber. In Boston, Fenway Franks come wrapped in a piece of white bread instead of a bun and are widely scorned by New Englanders for their lack of taste. But my 8-year-old son, Philip, insisted they were quite good.

I followed the advice of friends and sampled the Italian sausages with peppers and onions prepared outside Fenway by street vendors. The $4 price seemed a bit steep, but the sandwich was worth every penny.

Surprisingly, the best wiener was served up in our seats. At Tiger Stadium in Detroit, preparing a hot dog is a culinary work of art.

The vendors there lug a large steel box over their shoulders while making the rounds shouting, “Get your Ballpark Franks here! Get ‘em while they’re hot!” I raised my hand and put two fingers in the air to grab the attention of a young vendor, who headed straight for our seats.

After slamming the oven down on the aisle, the vendor opened one door, grabbed a soft bun with a two-pronged silver fork and placed the bread on a large napkin. He then lifted the other door, sending a blast of steam into the air that gave everyone around us a whiff of freshly cooked meat. Then he jabbed a juicy dog with the fork and gingerly put it inside the bun. Two squirts of mustard and the hot dog finally was ready to eat.

The steps were repeated in the same precise order for the second dog. At $1.65 apiece, they were far superior to the cold, skinny Dodger Dogs with soggy buns that sit wrapped in foil for several innings.

The worst dog? Shea Stadium gets the prize hands down, though mostly for extreme unsanitary conditions. If you go there, pack a tuna sandwich. Shea has a limited menu, the prices are odd ($2.60 for a hot dog, $2.10 for a Coke) and soft drinks, including iced tea, come without ice.

In the stands, we were aghast as we watched vendors wrap hot dogs in a tiny napkin and pass them along the aisle to their customers. This means that everyone seated in your row gets to squeeze your hot dog bun before you put it in your mouth. Yum.

The sanitary practices at Yankee Stadium were no better. When Philip decided to try a new dish at the Stadium Food Court, the waiter walked over to the deep fryer and grabbed chicken tenders and French fries with his bare hands and tossed them into a paper basket.

The Food Court was the only place where we found imported beer for sale (14 brands at a reasonable $3.75 apiece). Draft beer also was served in our seats at Yankee Stadium, Shea, Wrigley, Comiskey and County Stadium. Dodger and Angel owners please note: Ballclubs in other cities treat their patrons like responsible adults. They don’t make them stand in line for three innings for the privilege of ordering a beer.

For dessert at the ballpark, we had our choice of soft ice cream, frozen yogurt, chocolate bars, churros , licorice ropes, giant pretzels, snow cones and Icees. The specialty at Comiskey is the elephant ear--a deep-fried flour tortilla sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

Philip awarded four stars to the ice milk served at Tiger Stadium. He ranks as somewhat of a connoisseur since he managed to eat a frozen malt at nearly every ballpark.

During the Tigers game, Philip remarked in a voice loud enough to alert our entire section, “Dad, get out your notebook and write down that the malts here are good. This is the best one I ever had in my life!”