Citi Field Concessions

This summer, I got to visit Citi Field.  Not to attend a Met's game, nor any of the regular other activities that happen there, but rather, for a special event for my office, with carnival games, mini golf, etc.  I was not particularly interested in that stuff, as you may have guessed, I was most interested in the food. For private events like ours, they don't do generic catering, but rather, do operate a number of the regular concession stands (albeit with reduced menus).  I got to try quite a few as I visited with like-minded co-workers who were happy to run around from stand to stand, trying a bunch of items together.

There were some surprise highlights (the soft serve from the BBQ joint!) and some lowlights (everything else from that BBQ joint), and a bunch of relatively mediocre bites along the way.

Lobster Shack

"Delicious Fresh Lobster Rolls served your favorite way!"

Lobster rolls, at the ballpark?  Yeah, why not.  After all, I've adored the SF version of this concept, e.g. the crab sandwich at Crazy Crab at AT&T Park, so this was my first stop.

Assembly Line.

They had an efficient assembly line setup, and each roll was stuffed to order.  I saw lemon wedges behind the counter, but no one got one in their baskets, which is a shame, I think it would have helped.

Chilled Fresh Maine Lobster Roll.

"Fresh Maine Lobster, Lemon & Parsley Aioli, on a split top bun served with Bayside Chips."

This was a fine lobster roll.  Was it amazing?  No.  Did the lobster taste super fresh, like, amazingly sweet and succulent?  No.  But was it stuffed pretty full of really large pieces of lobster, was it not over dressed, and was the quality reasonably high?  Yes.  I did find one chewy piece and one piece of shell, but, overall, it was absolutely fine. The simple non-toasted generic bun was a bit sad though.  3.5/5.

I've been on a real potato chip kick lately, as in, embarrassingly so, eating at least an (individual) bag a day, and I was excited for fresh chips, but these I did not care for at all.  They were too dark, too greasy, not salty enough, just ... not very good.  There were so many other good things to eat at the ballpark, after a few of these, I tossed them, which is something I rarely do.

Pig Beach BBQ

"From the award-winning pitmasters behind Pig Beach BBQ in Brooklyn and Queens, this chef-driven barbecue marries tried-and true technique with a dash of global influence for a fantastically delicious foray into the Smoked Meat Universe."

New York City has a lot of great food.  But I can't say I've ever heard people talk about NY as being a great place for BBQ.  Let alone at the stand at the ballpark.  This was at least run by a local restaurant, unlike most of the stands that were generic brands run by the ballpark concessions operators.

This was hands down the least well run stand I visited.  The line moved insanely slowly, and there seemed to be backups and bottlenecks everywhere.  There were no forks available.  They seemed to always be waiting on ... everything.  And in the idle time waiting for something from the kitchen, the staff didn't fetch drinks or anything, they just stood there waiting.  And then only once they had the item they were waiting for, would they do the other things like get drinks, cole slaw, etc ... that were all there ready for them to grab anytime.  It was all so painfully slow.  They did not take the next order until the previous was finished.  So. Slow.

I was also let down that the sauces they had were generic Ken's packets.  A BBQ join with Ken's BBQ sauce and honey mustard?  Booo.

Pig Beach Stand.

I was drawn in by the menu though, with heavy hitters like mac and cheese, pulled pork, loaded cornbread, and Dole Whip (which no other stand had).   They also had standard chicken fingers, hot dogs, popcorn, pretzels, peanuts, cracker jacks, etc.

Loaded Cornbread.

"Warm House Baked Cornbread, Cheddar Cheese Sauce, BBQ Sauce Topped With Pulled Pork."

I narrowed down my pick to the loaded cornbread, as I do love cornbread, and it sounded more unique than just great mac and cheese or bbq meats.

It sounded sooo good on paper, but I did find the toppings to be pretty meager (or maybe the massive two hunks of cornbread to be too much?). I also really felt like it needed slaw, or pickled onions, or something with acidity to balance it out.  It also had very very little, if any, bbq sauce, and those aforementioned packets of packaged Ken's in their condiment station weren't exactly inspiring.  And I wanted more cheese sauce.

The pulled pork also wasn't very good.  The one bigger piece I had was all fat, not rendered.  The shredded bits were dry and chewy.  And again, no real bbq sauce nor flavor.  Meh.

The cornbread itself was good, nice grit, moist, and it seemed like it was soaked in butter already, so that was of course delicious.

So, concept?  Great.  Execution?  Meh.  3.5/5 for the cornbread, 2/5 for everything else.

Purple Slaw.

"Smoked Jalapenos & Pineapple."

I did also get a side of slaw.  It was not good.  It was sour.  Barely any mayo.  Ratio of cabbage to carrot off.  And I didn't taste any of the pineapple or jalapenos.  I love nearly any slaw, but this was just not good. 1.5/5.

Vanilla Soft Serve.

The sleeper hit was the soft serve at the BBQ stand.  They had pineapple Dole Whip (random, and not something any other stand had), but also vanilla (or a twist).  It was branded Dole Whip as well on the menu, and came out of a Dole Whip branded machine, but it was not vegan, and I think it was just ice cream?  It was sooo much creamier and more premium tasting than Mister Softee that was elsewhere in the park. I have no idea what brand it was, but it was definitely higher fat content, better vanilla flavor, and just all around better ice cream.

I really enjoyed this, I just wish they had sprinkles too!  4/5.

Wok n' Roll

One of the stands I was most interested in was Wok N' Roll, known for their creative, and massive, egg rolls.

"Wok N’ Roll started with one goal: make bold, satisfying Asian food easy to enjoy wherever you are. Built for takeout and delivery, we serve fresh, flavorful favorites made to travel well—from quick lunches to family dinners at home.

Our egg rolls have become the talk of the town, earning a loyal following and even a spot at Citi Field. From our first order to every meal we serve today, we’ve stayed committed to quality ingredients, generous portions, fast service, and food that keeps people coming back."

They actually have a regular business not at the ballpark that serves egg rolls and stir frys, hence the business name.

Menu.

They always have a regular vegetarian egg roll, and the Verrazano (Breaded Chicken Cutlet, Mozzarella Cheese, Homemade Vodka Sauce) for savories, along with one more savory option that is in honor of the team being played (so, clam chowder for the Boston Red Socks, Philly cheesesteak for the Phillies, Cubano for the Miami Marlins, etc), but since we were there for a special event, they didn't have any of these, just the two standard options.  

I skipped the fun sounding one with breaded chicken cutlet/vodka sauce/mozzarella cheese as I don't care for chicken.  

Classic.

"Homemade Vegetable Egg roll Including Cabbage, & Carrots Tossed in a Soy & Ginger Sauce."

 

I wasn't inspired by the vegetarian offering, but, I was there, so I gave it a try.  It was fine, nicely crispy, and kinda fun to eat given how massive it was, but otherwise not special.  It was stuffed very full, so this was shocking filling.

It really needed a sauce, and they didn't have anything, so I was glad to have it at home later (air fried) with sweet and sour sauce and hot mustard, both of which worked well (as did basic soy sauce).

Novel due to size, and executed fine, but not particularly interesting.  3.5/5.

Cookies & Cream.

"Cookies & Cream Cake filling with Oreo Cookie Crumble."

I did also try the dessert one, which was supposed to be Rainbow Cookie but was Oreo instead - both fun options but as I don't really like Oreos, this was a letdown.  It was however crazy crispy outside and pretty unique. 

Inside though was ... cake.  I didn't have the description when I ordered it (as the menu said Rainbow Cookie), and that definitely isn't what I was expecting.  I thought it would have hunks of Oreo, maybe a creme filling, but instead it was soft cake.  Which just ate kinda weird.  Crispy exterior was great, but I really wanted a creamy filling, or crunchy filling, or something.  Cake just didn't quite work for me, texture-wise.  The taste was very generic cake mix taste, like, rather crappy cake made from grocery store box mix.  I didn't care for that either.

But I did really like the exterior, particularly when dunked in soft serve.  4/5 exterior, 2/5 inside.

Taste of Queens/Asian Jewels

The Taste of Queens stand is a unique one that brings in a local restaurant for a few weeks at a time.  When I visited, they had just switched over to offerings from Asian Jewels, a Cantonese restaurant nearby.  The stand had three options, all with e-fu noodles: chicken, short rib, or mushroom.  I opted for mushroom, which turned out to be ... just very, very boring noodles.

Braised E-Fu Noodles w. Chinese Black Mushroom.

"Silky E-Fu noodles braised with Chinese black mushrooms in a savory sauce."

The noodles were lukewarm at best.  They had basically no sauce or seasoning.  But they had a great chew.  I suspect if you got the version with the short rib or chicken stews on top, those hot toppings would warm them up, and obviously coat the noodles in sauce, but this was listed as a main menu item, not a side, and it was ... very lacking.  The mushrooms were fine, I got exactly two.  2/5.

Zeppole

The ballpark has a number of stands that sell basically one thing, and don't have any creative branding, e.g. "French Dip Sandwich" (literally just french dips), "Hot Pastrami on Rye" (yup, just pastrami sandwiches), Chiddy’s Cheesesteaks (just cheesesteaks), etc.  Another one of these single purpose stands was simply called, Zeppole.

Zeppole Stand.

They don't even bother have a menu, as they sell one thing.  A bag of zeppole.  No choices, no sizes, no toppings, that's it.

I was very excited for this, as growing up, the fried dough stand at the town fair or the beach boardwalk was always my favorite thing (and I say fried dough as the name of the item, not the general concept/category of things.  It was always just called "fried dough" and it was always a big dinner plate size plate of dough, a solid large oval shape.  It wasn't until much later in life that I realized this is not a common item, and every region has their own concept of a fried dough item, e.g. beignets in the south, funnel cakes on the west coast, beaver tails in Canada, and of course, all kinds of donuts and the like).  Anyway, Italian zeppole, while obviously yet another style, fresh out of the fryer, certainly drew me in.

Traditional Italian Fried Dough.

"Tossed in Powdered Sugar “Shake the Bag”".

The zeppole were glorious.  The staff were the friendliest of any stand I visited, the line moved fast, and the zeppole were piping hot and fresh out of the fryer.  They dumped in powdered sugar as they handed over the bag, and instruct you to shake it, so there is some whimsy too.

Glory.  Hot.  Fresh. Not too oily.  Great base flavor. Slightly crisp exterior, moist and doughy inside.  Just shockingly good.  The powdered sugar gave a nice sweetness, but I almost wished I could try them without (or with cinnamon sugar too).  They were great with soft serve too but it wasn't needed as they stood on their own quite well.  These were just perfectly executed.

My favorite item of the entire ballpark, and I'd gladly, gladly, gladly get them again.  4.5/5.

[ General Grill ]

One of the least interesting stands had burgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers, fries, and the basic lineup of popcorn/pretzels/peanuts.  I don't know if it even had a name, it might have been called "General Grill".  Think: generic concession.  It also had zero lines, and, still craving good fries after the mediocre Shake Shack ones, I swung by for some fries.

Cheeseburger + Fries.

I just wanted fries, but that wasn't actually an option.  Everything was a basket with fries.  I asked for just fries, and the staff member told me I needed to pick a hot dog, burger, or chicken fingers too.  So, uh, burger it was?

Anyway, the fries actually didn't really look very good, so dark, and boo, crinkle cut, but I did like them.  They were very greasy in a way I liked.  Great salt level.  Probably considerably more unhealthy than most fries even.  But, I liked them.  And yay for a skewer with which to stab them. 3.5/5.

Cheeseburger.

"Pat LaFrieda Ground Beef Patty, American Cheese."

The burger was ... eh.  No toppings (no lettuce/tomato/onion/pickles/etc), just a rather tough well done relatively thin patty and melted American cheese.  Soft enough potato bun.  But, yeah, not an interesting burger in any way.  The bun and cheese were the best part, and they weren't exactly interesting. 2/5.