The Stadium formerly known as Shea

What is long, skinny, padded by buns, and one of America's favorite past-times?  A hot dog at a baseball game of course.  Now, in the past, a hot dog at a baseball game did not cost $6.00.  Said hot dog was also reliably delicious and for some reason tasted better at the Stadium than anywhere else.  My how things have changed.  If you have been to Citi Field then you are aware of the excessive amount of Nathan's concession stands.  Our mistake was choosing convenience over waiting in extremely long lines.  This mistake resulted in an order from Nathan's consisting of one regular hot dog, one vegetarian hot dog, and an order of french fries.  Having not ate the hot dog, I asked for a description.  I was told that it was "okay" and "just a hot dog" - what a depressing day for baseball stadiums across America to have any hot dog described this way, Nathan's or not.  Now my "vegetarian hot dog" I would describe as a sort of "mystery non-meat" - which, when loaded with toppings disguised both the strange taste and smell wafting from the hot diggity non-dog.  Even the fries could use some work!  They were crinkle fries, typically delicious when actually crisped to perfection.  Unfortunately, these particular crinkle fries were soggy and room temperature.  In the past, I have tried other concession stands and enjoyed what I ordered a lot more.  One that comes to mind is the french fries at Box Frites, along with their cool variety of dipping sauces.  In retrospect, rather than order from Nathan's, I should have waited on a different concession stand line the extra ten or so minutes to eat something a bit more...edible.

The good news - Citi Field has some great beer selections.  Virtually every concession stand has beer and many of them have different types of beers.  This is putting aside the drink selections in the various "clubs" at Citi Field.  There is a "Beers of the World" stand as well, which has a bunch of different bottled beers.  The price of beer is what you would expect at any Stadium, definitely overpriced, but not a surprise.  Typically, I enjoy trying different types of beers and did do that, but also had a few Bud Lights from a neat stand that fills your beer from the bottom up.  Basically, you have a cup that has an opening on the bottom of it and the cup is then placed on a button which fills the cup from the bottom up.  Once filled, the cup is then sealed with some type of magnetic disc.  This type of pour decreases foam and increases flavor.  I know Bud Light is Bud Light, but these Bud Lights I have to say were especially delicious.  Thumbs-up to Citi Field for investing in this type of genius.

Putting aside the food and the drinks, Citi Field is a great stadium with tons of super food and drink options to choose from.  Also, having sat in a variety of seats at a bunch of games, there do not seem to be too many "bad" seats in the Stadium.  Overall, my biggest gripe with the Stadium would be the dirty feeling that comes over me each time I write, say, or think of the new Stadium name that came along as a sort of package deal with the new Stadium.