Finally experienced my
first evar Padres game last Saturday..(!)
I purchased the tickets online only a day after
my Comerica Park post. To add to the excitement was that coincidentally it happened to be Padres' 40th anniversary year and the particular game I would be going to would be
Jersey Night. Each visitor receives a special 1969 vintage designed Padres jersey!
Of course checking out the park's hot dogs were part of my mission too. I know, I'm a weirdo. But as if the stars would align even further, I read on the Linkery's
Casing the Joint blog (
via Masa Assasin) that
the park would be serving bacon wrapped franks this year. This was destiny. (
A history of Mexico's bacon wrapped hot dogs on The Masa Assassin.)
My free vintage style jersey.. Woo Hoo!!
There's a picnic hill and even a small kid's ball field. Fun for everyone.
The great view from my seat in the upper stands..
I arrived ridiculously early and I had also skipped lunch. So it was time for my first hot dog run. :)
I found the hot dogs at PETCO Park three-tiered. You first have your basic Grilled Hot Dog ($4) produced by
Wienerschnitzel.
This is your basic no frills. Was given to me pre-wrapped Costco style and despite its name was not really grilled. Perhaps I'm too platonic about my Franks..
But obviously the excitement and fact that you're at a ball game makes up for the (plump but otherwise) ordinary dog, and also as always does the generous use of free condiments. I am an
easy-ketchup but lots of relish, mustard and onions person.
Other food vendors I seen were Oggi's Pizza and a Ruby's where the garlic fries looked pretty good but didn't see any bacon wrapped dogs anywhere.. After a few innings I went for my second dog run..
The ones at the Tarantino Gourmet Sausage cart ($6.50) were close to what I had at the Tigers game last year.
Piled mountain high with grilled peppers and onions!
Wasn't quite as juicy as the ones at Comerica Park but still pretty darn good.
Nice and spicy sausage, and the amount of grilled vegetables were fantastic.
*munch munch*
Was a truly awesome day.
I repeat what I said in my Comerica Park post but it's so true that you don't need to be a fan to enjoy experiencing a ball game. Chances are you'll be surrounded by them like how I was - sandwiched between kids in full gear that knew the names of every ball player and another older SD native gentleman that shared with me stories of when he watched
the very first Padres game that cost him only 50 cents!
Later during my further exploration of the park for more photo ops, I did manage to find the bacon wrapped "Sonoran" dogs. They were on the restaurant floor of the Western Metal Supply Co. Building. The place was more like a large bar with slightly fancier food served kiosk style. I didn't know if I would be able to finish yet a third hot dog but at this point I wasn't going to leave without trying it.. :)
I typically like to keep my blog PG-13 but it truly is comical at times how connotatingly sexual certain foods can be. The red lights seemed to exaggerate this even further! Haha. *moody trumpet music playing..*
A sweet potato bun was cut out and placed in were beans, ketchup, mustard, mayo and some very spicy green salsa. The bacon wrapped frank was then tucked into the sweet bun like an REI sleeping bag. Since I had asked for everything, it was then finally topped with grilled vegetables and even more spicy green salsa on top of it. Seriously, oysters on a half shell have nothing on this Marilyn Monroe of hot dogs.
The PETCO Park Sonoran Dog ($11.50).
Ok, maybe more Anna Nicole Smith..
Admittedly pricey but was almost equivalent to two. (So technically I managed to eat close to four dogs today.) Took it upstairs to the rooftop of the Western Metal Supply Co. Building where I could escape the few obnoxious drunks. This actually turned out to be a wonderful idea.
Chilling on top of a cool brick building next to the scoreboard while having probably the most gourmet hot dog I ever had was great. The beans, the mayo, the spicy salsa.. all complemented the beefy frank with bacon and the sweet bun.
The only thing missing maybe was that piping hotness if actually purchased from a cart on the streets. My bigger problem though was that I was severely full by then.
A few more photos from the evening..
The $9 bleacher seats shown above were actually pretty neat. Complete with a sandbox for the kids.
I'll definitely be back, maybe next time closer to the end of the season. Randomly, an idea I thought that would be really great for MLB is to have
foods from the opposing team's park present at all games. Like this day was against the Pittsburgh Pirates, so wouldn't it be great to also have a chance to try out the traditional
Primanti Brothers sandwich?? I'm not huge into baseball but THAT would totally make me a regular visitor! :)
Top Ten Lavish Ballpark Foods on realclearsports.com (PETCO's Sonoran ranked 3rd).
