A-Rod Mocked for Calling Cheesesteak A "Cheese Sandwich"

I always loathe the pandering of national sports broadcasts, but ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball took it to new lows the other night during the Phillies/Braves game.

In an attempt to show some love for the Phightin' Phils – who haven't exactly been a fixture on the network's marquee baseball broadcast in recent seasons – somebody had the bright idea to have the (ugh) Phillie Phanatic deliver cheesesteaks to the broadcast booth.

What followed was an ill-advised and uninformed attempt to embrace Philly while sampling some of the iconic sandwich, with Jessica Mendoza wondering why there was red sauce on one and Matt Vasgersian inventing something called "wiz wit sauce".

Why not bring some attention to Questlove's vegan cheesesteak, available at the ballpark and drawing rave reviews from Friends of THG, via a blind taste test?

But, fittingly, the most mockery was reserved for walking suntan bed A-Rod who gushed "this is the greatest cheese sandwich I've ever had – it's amazing" and smelled the inside of Bryce Harper's cleats. – Dan Taylor

Dan Taylor is a lifelong Phillies fan and the editor of The Hungover Gourmet. He is looking forward to visiting Citizens Bank Park, sampling a Questlove "cheesesteak" and jeering Johnny Haircut, er, rooting for Bryce Harper. Sorry. It's going to take some getting used to.

Wilmington Blue Rocks Team with Krispy Kreme for Extreme Ballpark Grub

I'm not a huge baseball fan but I do enjoy taking in a half dozen games or so during the season.

The ballparks have become better, teams try and interact with the fans more, and the food has certainly been taken up a notch – or twenty – since the days of eating soggy hot dogs and stale popcorn at Vet Stadium.

And give credit to the minor league teams that take the ballpark grub to another level in their attempts to pry fans away from the MLB stadiums nearby.

The Wilmington Blue Rocks – an affiliate of World Series runners-up the Kansas City Royals – have teamed up with Krispy Kreme to offer a heart-stopping concoction sure to get your heart racing and make your fingers a sticky mess.

The as-yet-unnamed "hot dog" (sure, let's call it that) features a dog, bacon and raspberry jelly stuffed inside a glazed Krispy Kreme donut.

You can even help name the dog by entering a contest at the team's website. The winner will receive tickets to opening night, the opportunity to throw out the first pitch, a stadium gift card and bragging rights forever thanks to a plaque commemorating the naming.

Get Awful Ballpark Beer Faster!

How many times have you stood in an endless concession line at a ballpark or stadium wondering how you could get that awful, watered-down, over-priced beer into your stomach faster?

Wonder no more my friend! Check out this new, magnet-based (f**king magnets – how do they work?!), bottoms-up beer concession system...



With a name like "Bottoms Up" they should really look into having Tinto Brass direct their commercials.

Update (1/25/11): The Wells Fargo Center (formerly the more appropriately named FU Center) in Philly becomes the first Delaware Valley arena to try out the Bottoms Up system when it debuts before tonight's Flyers/Habs game. (Thanks to Cheesewit for the tip!)

What Will Be the Next Foodie Hit at Camden Yards?

For all the fanfare about the stadium – and it is a great place to see a game – I've never been blown away by the food at Camden Yards, home of the Orioles. In fact, I've really only found it to be, well, adequate. Adequately stadium-like.

Yes, the idea of an open barbecue stand like Boog's BBQ is a nice touch and the aromas that waft across the air as you duck the home run balls offered up by the O's pitching staff are enticing, but I live down the road from Andy Nelson's so I don't need to go to the stadium for good BBQ.

What the stadium really needs is a signature dish, something that's uniquely Baltimore and only available at the stadium. New stadium concessionaire Delaware North Cos. Sportservice seems to realize this as well and execs from the company took a culinary tour of the area this week hoping for the inspiration for that dish.

What would you suggest as a signature "Baltimore" dish for Camden Yards in 2011?

Take Me Out to The Ballpark: Part 1

While getting my post-breakfast, pre-lunch coffee at Wawa this morning the cashier and I struck up a conversation about Citizens Bank Park (CBP), the new(ish) home of the Philadelphia Phillies. Prompted – I assume – by the Phils t-shirt I was wearing, the cashier informed me that despite his allegiance to Chicago's purveyors of the "national pastime" he loves CBP and suggested that when I get there on Wednesday evening I should seek out the pulled pork and grilled kielbasa at Bull's BBQ.

Ah yes, Wednesday evening. To say the date has been circled on my calendar well in advance is like saying a 7-year-old looks forward to Christmas.

Not only will the evening feature my first trip to a Philly ballpark since my wife and I bid a fond farewell to the Vet, but it also mark an equally long-overdue reunion of sorts with Chris, Scott (aka Koog) and Joe – a trio of pals I've known for, well, let's just leave it at many, many years. Hell, I'd venture that Chris has known me longer than anybody I'm not related to by blood.

Knowing that I was going to be descending upon the park whipped into a food frenzy of orgiastic proportions, I decided that I had to channel my inner culinary Boy Scout and be prepared. Chris and Scott were all-too-eager to help and have been filing reports from their various visits to the park over the course of the season.

Despite the welcome culinary advice from my chatty cashier pal, it seems that THG's trusted advance scouts might quibble with his recommendation. Here's a report the dynamic duo filed earlier this season...

After learning that the hot dog contest was over, we wandered around a bit to find some eats. The line at Tony Luke's was about 40 people deep and unless I haven't eaten in a week, I'm not standing in that kind of line for food, so a TL cheesesteak was out. We made our way to the Schmitter stand and watched them mass produce these overloaded piles of calories and fat. It really doesn't look particularly appealing so we took a pass and made our way to Bull's BBQ pit. Koog had the Bulldog and I opted for the Pulled Pork Sandwich. And yes I ate the bread. I'll allow Scott to provide his food commentary (see below). The pulled pork was adequate – smoked nicely and tender but over-sauced. It could use a little more subtlety a la less barbeque sauce drenching it. The cole slaw was awful – way too much mayo. The baked beans were not bad but they and the pork could have been a little hotter. Overall, I'd give it 2.5 stars out of 5. While better than the crap they served at the Vet, I have become spoiled. I want good food at the ballpark. The real find was the Leinenkugel Summer Shandy. Fortunately they sell it on tap at a stand near my seats. Nice wheat beer with a hint of lemon. A perfect adult beverage for a hot day in the sun. – Chris R.

I'd had my fill of barbecue on a southern trip just a week before, so I wasn't too particularly inclined to try the CBP version of BBQ. Anyway, I've had it before. However, long lines for what would likely be mediocre cheesesteaks didn't seem all that attractive, so we went for it. I opted for the Bulldog, more a sausage than a 'dog'. True to it's namesake, former Phillie slugger Greg "Bull" Luzinski, it looks big, menacing, and appears to be more than you can handle. [Ed. Note: No word on whether it swings at pitches in the dirt like a drunken or fields its position like a pregnant mule.] For all it appeared, this Bulldog was no more than a dachsund. All bark, no bite. While it looked luscious, and even appeared to have the ruddy complexion of spicy hot sausage, the bulldog was no more than a bland tube of meat. It didn't seem to know what it was. Spicy italian? No. Smoked Sausage? No smoke flavor either. Best I could figure was that it was a Kielbasa, but lacked the smoky, garlicky punch that I expect from the best polish meat-torpedoes.

I really want to like Bull's BBQ and will try it again. The restaurant, and CBP in general are a noble experiment in ballpark dining. The concept of actually giving fans a place to spread out, congregate and even choose from multiple dining options (as in a food court) only makes the ballpark experience better. The fact that a place as far north as Philly would devote so much space to a 'cue outlet in a ballpark is even that much better. I appreciate it, but it needs to come up a notch. CBP has been voted among the best in ballpark food every year since its opening. High standards must be set.

I second the vote on Summer Shandy. I was a bit skeptical of Leinenkugel beers after my first experience with their Sunset Wheat. Wheat beers are great by me; they're almost a meal in themselves. However, what I didn't expect with the Sunset Wheat is the over-the-top flavoring with coriander. I love coriander, mind you, in my food (particularly Asian dishes). Not in my beer. This brew tasted like my beer had a collision with the lady at the Chanel counter at Macy's. Summer Shandy, on the other hand, is also a wheat beer, flavored instead with lemonade and a touch of honey. It's definitely not sweet, but very refreshing. It really slaked the thirst – perhaps too well, on a hot spring day. Buy it while this seasonal brew still is on the shelves. – Scott W. aka Koog

Will the Bull get another chance on Wednesday night? Can I actually resist the siren song of The Schmitter – something named after one of my all-time favorite Phils? Will CBP security haul me out after stadium personnel tire of my demands for something called The Bowa Blast?

Stay tuned!

Can These Orioles Take the Heat?

We all know it takes skill, determination, drive and even a little bit of luck to make it as a major league baseball player. But how well do those skills translate to the real hot stove league, the kitchen?

We'll find out on July 28th when three members of the Baltimore Orioles – pitcher Jeremy Guthrie, second baseman Brian Roberts and catcher Gregg Zaun – battle in the ESPN Zone's kitchen stadium for a chance to see their signature dish on the restaurant's menu.

The inaugural Oriole Cook-Off will take place at the ESPN Zone in the Inner Harbor on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 starting at 11:30 AM (doors open at 11). The contestants will have 30 minutes to put together their signature dish and have it judged by a panel that includes the players' wives. Dishes will be judged on taste, presentation, and creativity and the winner will receive a prize package and his signature dish will be added to ESPN Zone’s menu.

Fans interested in attending the Orioles Cook-Off can purchase tickets by calling 410-685-3776 ext. 223 or by emailing comments@espnzone.com. Tickets cost $50 for adults and $30 for kids 12 and under. Admission includes a lunch buffet, an ESPN Zone game card and autographed giveaways. Fans will also have the opportunity to ask the players questions and win assorted prizes, including the aprons off the players’ backs.

Proceeds from this event will benefit the Maryland Food Bank. Guests are also encouraged to bring canned food to donate.

Look for THG's full report on the festivities later this month.

There Had Better Be Beer

Say what you want about my brethren up in the City of Brotherly Shove, but when it comes down to tonight's Game 5-ish, the fans have got their priorities straight.

Free Taco at Taco Bell? It All Depends...

Don't know if you're watching the World Series or not. I am, largely because I'm a lifelong Phillies (and Philly sports) fan. The last time I got to celebrate a championship I was in high school. I just realized that my 17-month-old daughter is closer to graduating from high school than I am to that last Philly victory. That makes me sad.

Another thing that makes me sad? When big corporations promise something and don't deliver. Taco Bell recently held a promotion offering a free taco for everybody in America if there was a stolen base during the World Series. There was, but apparently some Taco Bell outlets didn't feel they needed to participate.

For shame...

Go Phightin Phils!

I'm not the baseball fan I once was. Those days died when the Phillies team I grew up with – Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Bob Boone, Greg Luzinski, Garry Maddox, Bake McBride and, most importantly, Larry Bowa – was dismantled after the team won the 1980 World Series.

By the time the Phils reached the Series again in 1983 – where they lost to my current hometown hopefuls, the Baltimore Orioles – the team featured aging ex-Reds in place of my beloved Phils and things were never really the same.

I've casually followed baseball since then, largely due to the influence of my Dad, a lifelong baseball fan and Phillie fanatic. I was born when Dad was nearly 50 so we didn't see eye-to-eye on lots of things. But sports, especially the national pastime, was something we could always bond over. Even when our relationship in other areas was at its nadir.

Times have changed. Dad's gone. And baseball is even further removed from the game I grew up watching, playing and loving. But a new season officially starts today and when 3 PM rolls around I'll grab my daughter, pop on her Phils hat and we'll settle in to watch the Phils battle the Washington Nationals.

It has been nearly 25 years since a major Philadelphia sports team has won a championship. Twenty-five years. Do I think the Phils can reverse that trend, defy the odds, repeat their success of last year and maybe even win a World Series? Not really. But that's the beauty of sports, especially one with a grinding season like baseball. On March 31, the possibilities are endless.

Unless, of course, you're an Orioles fan.

Grizzlies Suffer First Loss of the Season

As regular readers of this blog know, we've adopted the Gateway Grizzlies of the Frontier League as the Official Minor League Team of The Hungover Gourmet. Why? Well, any ballpark that serves up Deep Fried White Castles is the kind of team we (and when I say "we" I mean "I") want to be associated with!

The Grizzlies started off the season strong, winning their first three games (hear that Phillies?) and jumped to the top of the standings in the Western Division. Last night, though, the Grizzlies were dealt their first loss of the season at the hands of the previously winless Southern Illinois Miners.

The team has a chance to rebound tonight as they start a four game home and home series against River City (currently nipping at their heels with a 2-2 overall record).

This Place Makes Me Want to Boo: A Final Visit to Philadelphia's Vet Stadium

This article originally appeared in the pages of THG #8 (still available from our store). While catching up on my Philly sports news this morning I read in the blog The 700 Level that yesterday was the third anniversary of the demolition of the late, great Veterans Stadium. A couple weeks after we got married Chris and I came up from Baltimore to catch the penultimate game at the stadium and cheer the announcement of the All Vet Stadium Team.

Players and coaches that called it home often referred to it as a "dump" (or worse) and it was regularly voted one of the worst stadiums in sports.

Its unforgiving turf felt like cement and had derailed more than one career. (In 1993, Chicago Bears receiver Wendell Davis blew out both knees simply running down the field during a game.)

The concrete bowl at Broad and Pattison had a notorious reputation for attracting vile fans and a court/jail was installed after the Eagle faithful fired flare guns in the stands during a nationally televised 'Monday Night Football' game.

It sat in a South Philly "sports complex" where it rubbed elbows with one-story warehouses and other nondescript business establishments.

Yet for all these shortcomings and personality defects, I found myself getting misty as I made my final trip to Philadelphia's much-maligned Veterans Stadium.

To me, The Vet was something special. It was where I'd seen my first pro baseball and football games. I spent many summer nights in its hard plastic seats watching the Phillies battle for one of two things: superiority or mediocrity. Usually the latter.

It was where we'd go to catch a twi-night doubleheader, munching greasy Roy Rogers Fried Chicken as the fans rained boos down upon Von Hayes, Juan Samuel and future Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt. Unable to afford the NFL's rapidly-escalating ticket prices, we welcomed the Philadelphia Stars of the short-lived USFL with open arms.

I still follow the Phils, thanks to the 2001 hiring of Larry Bowa – my all-time favorite baseball player – as manager. [Ed. Note: Bowa was fired as manager back in 2004 after guiding the team back to their winning ways but not the post-season. He now coaches for, sigh, the New York Yankees.]

But professional baseball wasn't the game I remembered. Players switched teams with alarming frequency and interleague play was no longer reserved for the All-Star Game and World Series.

As my wife and I drove north from our home outside Baltimore – where I, like the Stars, had relocated – memories of The Vet came flooding back. The concrete walkways, the prison-like turnstiles, the watered-down beers, chewy pretzels and soggy hot dogs. Good times, good times.

With dark clouds overhead, we wondered if they'd get the game in. The Phils had wilted in the late-summer drive for a wild card playoff spot (another greed-driven abomination), and this game's outcome was meaningless. But, as we approached and saw people cavorting atop statues and posing for pictures in front of the stadium, we knew it still meant something to the fans.

Thanks to the final series hype, the best tickets we could get were $10 seats in the 700-level. It didn't matter where we sat – I was just pleased the was team treating their soon-to-be-former-home with a little respect. Not like the Eagles, who belittled the stadium for years, never realizing that – in the words of Eagles great Bill Bergey:

"It's a dump, it's a toilet and the field is horrible, but it was our field, our dump and our toilet."

With our penulatimate game booty in hand – a bobblehead featuring 1970s Revolutionary War-themed mascots Phil and Phillis – we made our way up the concrete ramps. As the 95% humidity drenched us, we passed Lincoln Financial Field (the Eagles' new home) and the under-construction Citizens Bank Park, the new, baseball-only home of the Phightin' Phils.

Crowds gathered around the railings to gaze at the new ballfield and a fellow fan remarked, "It's not finished and it already looks better than The Vet." Nothing like a little Philly pride.

Finding our section, we made our way to the concession stand for $5.50 beers and $3.00 hot dogs. As we wandered back to our seats, the tissue-paper food carrier buckled under the weight of our snacks, and watery beer cascaded onto my shirt and pants. A group of Philly cops laughed as I wrestled the dogs and brews back into the holder, (expensive) cheap beer spilling everywhere.

"You know, you can get arrested for that," one cop cracked as his buddies in blue snickered. Remembering the days when Philly cops cracked skulls for kicks, I laughed and kept walking. Frank Rizzo may be dead, but old habits die hard – like thumping the melon of some wise-ass.

We returned to our seats in time for the first thunderstorm to dump buckets of late-summer raindrops upon us. We scurried into the tunnel and waited for the storm to pass. Minutes after returning to our seats another storm drenched us as The All Vet Stadium Team was announced.

The game finally started and it wasn't much different than the last month of the season – first baseman Jim Thome delivered all the offense he could muster while the rest of the team stood and watched. With one eye on the game and another on the approaching storms we listened as people around us shared their memories of The Vet with friends and strangers.

It was a bittersweet moment, sitting in The Vet one last time with my wife of two weeks next to me. It'd been a busy month: we were wed during a monsoon and our honeymoon was shortened by Hurricane Isabel, so today's rains seemed fitting.

As more clouds moved in overhead and threatened to dump another deluge, a six-year-old boy sitting behind us turned to his father and quietly said: "Dad? This place makes me want to boo."

I laughed and felt more drops of rain.

Maybe the kid was on to something. Perhaps there was more to The Vet than just a physical presence. Maybe its weird aura would live on, even after the seats were ripped out and the concrete columns imploded into so much dust and rubble.

THG Loves the Gateway Grizzlies

When it comes to baseball I've always had one allegiance – The Philadelphia Phillies. Which means that I've come to accept a season filled with agonizingly slow starts, tantalizing streaks, and finishes that generally come up just a bit short. In my lifetime the Phightin' Phils have won a World Series (1980) and lost two (1983 and 1993), while at the same time setting the standard for futility among professional sports franchises.

With that in mind I have decided that I need to adopt an additional baseball team to follow in order to lessen the blow of a franchise set to lose its 10,000th game later this season. And what better way to select a tean to follow than to find the one with the best ballpark food?

I don't mean "best" as in the stadiums on the West Coast that serve sushi or even here in Baltimore where the restaurants at Camden Yards offer up some mean BBQ. No, I'm talking the king of grub somebody called The Hungover Gourmet would clearly embrace.

I'm talking about the Gateway Grizzlies of the Independent League. Last year, the team's stadium in Sauget, Illinois offered a burger topped with cheese and two slices of bacon, nestled between a Krispy Kreme doughnut sliced in half. They didn't call it Baseball's Best Burger for nothing.

Now, the team has raised the bar to new and exciting levels. For $4, lucky patrons can try Baseball's Best Sliders... two deep-fried White Castle hamburgers. Yep, you read that right: Deep fried. White Castle. Hamburgers.

I'm literally drooling into my coffee cup as I type this. The Grizzlies start their season on May 23rd when they kick off a four game homestand against the Southern Illinois Miners.

UPDATE! While surfing around during the NCAA tourney I stumbled upon this article featuring George Durant from the Food Network. I think it goes without saying that I'll be trying his batter and White Castle recipe.