Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Food Adventure: Progressive Field

It's been about two months since my last post (yikes!), so I thought I'd change things up a bit:

The Cleveland Indians made some major changes to their food offerings this season at Progressive Field. Sure, the hot dogs, nachos and light beer are still available, but there is now a much wider array of options for fans heading to ballpark.

Three weeks ago, I received an e-mail from the local Yelp community manager (who rocks, by the way) about an opportunity to visit Progressive Field to see all the new food options. The invite also said I could stay for the Indians-Rays game afterward. There were 15 spaces available for Yelp elites (I am one) and I managed to claim a spot..

Full disclosure: I did not pay for parking, my ticket to the event or for any food and beverage.

Driving to Progressive Field was a breeze since it was a 12:05 p.m. game on a Thursday. The sun was shining and temperatures hit in the mid to high 70s. Wearing jeans was a bad idea.

Rob, the Indians PR guy (@tribetalk on Twitter), met and escorted us through the Terrace Club into the Champions Suite, the biggest suite in the entire stadium.

View from the Champions Suite


Entering the suite, there was a large spread of all the new beer offerings in the stadium. There were several local craft beers and other selections from the "Your Dad's Beer" stand. All of it was free for us to taste.

Some of the local beer offerings at Progressive Field this year. Obviously, I started tasting early.


I picked up my press kit and the tour began shortly after. We would be traveling to all the new and updated offerings in the stadium. It was a walking tour, so my jeans were a poor choice on this sunny, humid day. Luckily, I made friends with several other people from Yelp, so I was not going through this experience alone.

Our tour guide explained there would be more food variety in the upper deck seats (500 level). He emphasized the Indians wanted all fans to have the same, great experience. Personally, I loved this. All too often sports teams make upper deck fans trek to the lower level to get a decent variety of food and refreshments. This was a very nice change.

There weren't any food samples in the upper deck, so we made our way down to the lower level. Our first taste sample was a delicious sausage with peppers close to Section 114. The peppers weren't cooked to hell and back, so I actually got to taste their flavor. It was so good, I forgot to snap a picture. However, they did feature a huge, delicious hot dog (that's what she said).

Mmmmm


Also included nearby were the Your Dad's Beer and the Burgers Loaded stands. Your Dad's Beer is described as, "a new beer stand with the nostalgia of your Dad's den or basement." My dad did not have a den or basement, so that sentiment is lost on me. It's basically a fancy way of saying the stand sells PBR and other 'older' beer. The stand also features a 'snack of the month.' For April/May, it was stadium jerky. For June, pickled eggs (yuck).

The next stop was Major League Pizza and Spirits of Ohio near Section 152. Pizza and booze, what could be better? The pizza is made fresh inside the park, no shipped in frozen stuff here. Of course they have the standard cheese and pepperoni toppings, but each month a new specialty pizza will be featured. For April/May, the "Pizza of the Month" is the 'Ballpark Classic.' This pizza features stadium mustard, mozzarella cheese, sauerkraut and spicy smoked sausage. We got to taste pepperoni, cheese and the Ballpark Classic.

Let me just say, I hated the Ballpark Classic. I'm not a big fan of sauerkraut, but this unholy combination was just too much for me. However, there were other people on the tour who absolutely loved it and said it was a classic Cleveland flavor combination. I'll pass. The upcoming pizza for June is the Smucker's Peanut Butter and Jelly. I'll pass on that as well.

Booze!


Spirits of Ohio was close by. This is where you'll find the local craft beers and wine. I missed the samples they gave out here, so I can't really comment too much. Featured craft beers include Great Lakes, Thirsty Dog and Mt. Carmel.

The APPetizer Store was a short walk from Spirits of Ohio. Get it, App Store? I wouldn't call this place an appetizer stand as much as it is a fried food stand. Everything is fried. EVERYTHING. The 'App of the Month' for April/May was a fried oreo. A fried twinkee, or what tasted like one, was also an option. But what took the cake was chicken and waffles.

Not the first thing I think of when I want food at a baseball game.


Chicken and waffles is a classic Southern combination, but it was a little lost on me. The only meat I like my waffles with is sausage. Everyone I was with seemed to love it, but we all agreed trying one item here was more than enough. This fried food was very heavy.

Then we tried the Food Network stand. Before the tour started, everyone was talking about the Food Network stand. This was anticipated as being the big crescendo in the food tour.

The Food Network disappointed.


They had a signature steak sandwich (didn't get the chance to catch what was in it) and a 'Cleveland' steak sandwich. The Cleveland steak sandwich contained sauerkraut and stadium mustard (ugh).

Of course, I accidentally tried the Cleveland steak sandwich. Now, ignoring the stadium mustard and sauerkraut, the actual steak seemed to be cooked too long. It was fairly tough and a disappointment. Everyone in my immediate vicinity agreed this stand did not live up to the hype. At almost $11 per sandwich, I could not justify spending money at this stand.

But hey, I could have got the 'black sheep' of steak sandwiches that day.

The last new item we tasted was gluten free potato chips. I know many people who have gluten allergies, so this was an awesome addition. The chips weren't separated before we got to try them, so they were all sticking together like a giant chip ball. The taste was pretty good, but not your typical crunchy chip. These might not be a huge crowd pleaser, but those with gluten allergies will very much appreciate them.

Gluten-free, woohoo!


After the tour, we ended up back at the suite where we were treated to a full lunch of everything we got to try on our tour. Did I mention the free craft beer? Talk about a good time in the Champions Suite.

All in all, this was a great experience. Not because everything was free, but because of all the new ideas happening at Progressive Field. People often associate Cleveland with heartbreak and old curmudgeons stuck in their ways. This food tour showed the Indians are thinking outside of the box and want to make heading to the ballpark an experience. With the new Indians Social Suite, I'm really liking where this organization is going. It doesn't hurt that our team is doing pretty good as well (though we lost that Indians-Rays game pretty bad).

The next post will be on the press kit we received, since I'm a PR and marketing nerd.

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