As many of you know, Baseball isn’t just a game; there’s a whole experience which goes along with watching it, and a significant part of that experience is the food.
I don’t about you, but I try to do some research before I go to a stadium for the first time to find out about the food options and what’s the best to try out.
MLB visits London in just a month’s time for the historic clash between the Chicago Cubs and St Louis Cardinals. We can now plan what delicacies we will chow down in the London Olympic Stadium on 24 and 25 June.
The chefs at Delaware North’s London Stadium team have been out to states once again to come up with sublime recipes for us all to enjoy.
The Returnees
Attendees of 2019’s event will be glad to hear that the London Series Boomstick Hot Dog and Boomstick Chilli Nachos are returning. According to the chefs, they made over 3,000 of the Boomstick Hot Dogs at the last London Series.
- London Series Boomstick Hot Dog: A two-foot-long hot dog smothered in braised beef and chilli and topped with jalapeno peppers, nacho cheese and sour cream. Intended to feed up to four guests.
- London Series Boomstick Chilli Nachos: A two-foot-long bed of tortilla chips smothered in nacho cheese and braised beef and topped with bean chilli, jalapeno peppers, sour cream, spring onions and tomatoes. Also intended to feed up to four guests.
Yes, they do suggest that these mouth-watering mammoths serve four, but there are members of the Bat Flips and Nerds crew who devoured them solo last time around.
From Chicago
- Chicago Dog: Dino Hot Dog topped with a pickle wedge, tomatoes, onions, gherkin relish and beer mustard. Served on a poppy seed bun.
- Cubs Dog: Large brioche sub roll with giant chilli cheese beef dog topped with Chicago sweet relish and mustard.
- Chicago Cheesy Brisket Sandwich: Smoked brisket pulled and layered with American cheese, caramelised onion and dill pickle.
From St Louis
- St. Louis Dog: Italian sausage topped with relish, grilled onions, grilled peppers, secret sauce, ketchup and mustard. Served on a traditional hot dog bun.
- Cardinals Dog: Soft sub roll with XXL smoked bacon stuffed pork Frankfurter topped with spiced beans, pico de gallo, onion and bacon crunch.
- St. Louis Donut Burger: Glazed doughnut bun stacked with two 4oz burgers, topped with a bacon crumble, cheese, bacon, dill pickle salad and bacon mayonnaise.
There are other options with a Mac n Cheese topped with brisket and others which have yet to be announced. Also, I will note for vegetarians all of the ‘Dogs’ should be available as a veggie version for you.
Russell’s Verdict
I was lucky enough to sample some of these, and it is always simple to say they were all delicious, but honestly, they were. The Cardinals Dogs was my favourite of the new ‘dogs’ that were on offer, but my overall favourites had to be the brisket sandwich and donut burger… which were phenomenal, all be it extremely messy.
The chefs explained to us that they’ve had to be slightly original and create variants of some more traditional ballpark food options at Wrigley and Busch due to the lack of some ingredients over here, but personally, I think they’ve done a fantastic job.
Gary Foakes, executive head chef, and Bruce Deacon, head chef, as well as the rest of the team, have done a fantastic job giving us this selection of ballpark food. Trust me, you will come out of the weekend remembering the food as well as the baseball.
I leave you with this video of Tom and John doing their Boomstick challenge. One of them gets it down in under 10 minutes.
2023 food images provided by ‘RB Create’
The London Series 2023 will feature the first-ever NL games in Europe when the Chicago Cubs take on the St Louis Cardinals on Saturday 24 June and Sunday 25 June. Check out the Ticketmaster website with tickets starting from £59.00 – make sure you are following @Batflips_nerds for all your London Series content.
Russell, who once shook Shohei Othani’s hand, is Bat Flips and Nerds’ resident analytical genius, and arguably Europe’s finest sabermetrician. If you’re not following Russell on Twitter @REassom then you’re doing baseball wrong.