SI Writers Pick Their Favorite Ballpark Eats

Who knows stadium food better than sports writers? After all, they spend almost as much time in the park as the athletes do. We asked the experts at Sports Illustrated to share their favorite dishes from venues around the nation. As it turns out, there’s way more to munch on than peanuts and Cracker Jack.

Shake Shack has “the best ballpark burger you’ll find anywhere,” says Albert Chen. The New York Mets have really upped the game in terms of ballpark food, he adds. The stadium’s food court, called “Taste of the City” offers an all-star lineup of trendy concessions. Chen, a staff writer, is also fond of barbecue at Blue Smoke on the Road and Belgian-style fries from Box Frites.

“Phenomenal” is what Albert Chen has to say about these crispy San Francisco treats. As a staff writer, Chen doesn’t cover one team. That means he spends time in ballparks and stadiums across the country. He looks for a standout dish at each venue. “I try to get as much out of the experience as possible,” he says.

The Bronx Bombers opened a brand new park in 2009. With it came a refined take on stadium food. You can get anything from chicken and waffles to hand-carved steaks to turkey burgers. But SI Staff Writer Drew Lawrence gives the highest marks to a warm dish of soba noodles.

“Probably the best stadium food I’ve ever tasted. It was perfect -- warm, moist, salty, spicy.” That’s how Ben Reiter, a staff writer, describes the chicken and rice bowl from Café Habana. The New York City hot spot has a new location at this arena where the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets (and soon the NHL’s New York Islanders) play.

This mix of rice, beans, grilled chicken, and pineapple-zucchini salsa wins Senior Writer Phil Taylor’s vote. He gets it from Orlando’s Caribbean BBQ when he watches the San Francisco Giants play. “It’s great because it’s a meal unto itself -- filling enough that I’m not tempted to sample any junk food for the rest of the game.”

When she’s covering baseball games on the East Coast, Staff Writer Joan Niesen makes a beeline for -- what else -- chili at Ben’s Chili Bowl. If it's layered on a dog or slathered over fries, well, that's a bonus. The legendary joint, founded in 1958, has branches all over the nation's capital. It's been a fixture at the Washington, D.C., stadium that's home to the Nats since the gates opened in 2008. 

Sometimes you just gotta put the fancy stuff aside and go for classic ballpark food. “Light domestic beer, as watery as possible,” does the trick for Ben Reiter, a staff writer who shifts sports -- and stadiums -- to cover the NFL when baseball season ends. “Maybe a pretzel or box of Cracker Jack; and as a main course, a mustard-drenched hot dog.”