Yankee Stadium Legends Suite Club Sliders - Third Time Is A Charm!

Yankee Stadium Legends Suite Club
http://mlb.mlb.com/nyy/ballpark/premium_seating/legends_suite.jsp
44 E 161st St
Bronx, NY 10451

THE STORY
How does the old saying go? "If at first you don't succeed, fry, fry again. " After 2 failed attempts at finding a good burger at Yankee Stadium (May 7, 2009/Sept. 12, 2009), I had written off the ball park as a burger destination. That aside, it's a great park, with lots of delicious food options and one kick ass of a team and I would happily go to game! So when my business partner Mark, asked not only if I wanted to join him and our friend's Rob and John G at a game but to also sit in the Legends Seats, you bet your freakin' ass I jumped at the chance!

What are Legend Seats you ask? Cushioned seats, located in the 25 sections closet to home plate. They come with access to 2 private lounge, in-seat wait service and as much food as you can stuff into your slop gullet in the 2 floor Legends Suite. This also includes free soda, water, juice and a couple of grab and go food items like candy, popcorn and peanuts. Bottom line, it's some high-priced, fancy-pants, big-pimpin' style fun. .

THE BURGER
I made my way around the buffet, scoping out all the food available, plotting and planning the order and quantity of which I planned to stuff myself with. Each night in the Legends Suite they switch around what is served in the Legends Suite and it just so happens that on this night in particular, they were hand-making gourmet sliders! I think someone told them I was coming. With an array of spices and sauces, things were looking good for Yankee Stadium. Then I found out that the big bowl on the end was filled with "bacon sauce" and my mouth started to water. With 2 sliders covered in "bacon sauce" and assortment of cheeses and a mixed greens salad with blueberry dressing, I made my way back to our table.

damn. Damn Damn. DAMN THESE ARE GOOD! Patience is truly a virtue and I finally found a tasty burger at Yankee Stadium!! The meat was juicy and flavorful but not greasy or too salty. The bun had a slightly sweet undertone and all of mixed well with the savory "bacon sauce," which I think was a mixture of bacon, onions, tomatoes and spices. They needed nothing else to augment the taste. These suckers were darn tootin! I wanted to eat a dozen more as I knew I wasn't going to get the opportunity to be in the Legends Suite any time again soon. My curiosity got the best of my burger cravings and I moved onto roasted potatoes, a chocolate chip cookie and some amazing sliced sirloin in cracked pepper and bacon. As I furiously crammed my face with food, Mark, looked at me and at 7:02 pm (3 mins before game time) said "Rev, don't get too full here. There is a lot more to eat." I love the way he thinks, but I finished the steak first ;-)


7 out of 10 ounces
-Rev




OTHER DIGESTIONS
Classic Roast Peanuts - 7 out of 10
Carl's Cheesesteak - 7 out of 10 (would normally get an 8 out of 10 but you can't custom order from the Legends Seats. It came with provolone and I am fan of extra Whiz.)
Veggie Burger - Ask Rob, he ate it!
Stadium Nachos - 6 out of 10 (so buttery!)
Buffalo Chicken Fingers and French Fries - 8 out of 10
Popcorn - 6 out of 10




Thanks to Mark for treating us to an awesome night of baseball and the ability to make a massive mess of our seats and stomachs.


There is no way you could sit in these seats and not be excited! Any closer and we would actually be in the dug out! As an added bonus, my favorite player from a baseball joke was right in front of us. as the Royals First Base Coach.

Q: What do the old Tigers and old ladies have in common?
A: Rusty Kuntz!

PNC Park - Hamburger Home Run

Atria's
http://www.atrias.com/
Primanti Brothers
http://www.primantibrothers.com/
115 Federal St.
Pittsburgh, PA 15212

THE STORY
I've been on a mission this summer to eat my way around the MLB ball parks in search of great food and especially a good burger. With only the Mets' Citifield living up to the challenge, I was beginning to think that one of America's Favorite Pastimes was not synonymous with one of America's Favorite Foods. That's not to say great food can not be found at America's ball parks just that I having trouble finding a great burger in any of them. That's no reason to stop the quest, so on a recent trip to Pittsburgh, I jumped at the opportunity to pay a visit to PNC Park, home to the Pirates. Rumors were abound that this was one of the best parks in the league and I couldn't wait to eat my way around it like I was Pac-Man.

When I booked the trip, I had no idea that the Pittsburgh G-20 Summit would be in town. I didn't care what the world's leaders had to discuss, I wanted to go to a game! Although the game wasn't cancelled, the city was definitely closed off. No entrance into the Three River city was open, it was as though the city had been quarantined due to an outbreak of the Umbrella virus, or perhaps Dr. Crane had succeeded in polluting Gotham's water supply with the hallucinogen. Regardless, nothing was going to keep me out of the park. I shared a taxi from hotel in Station Square with some like minded Dodgers fans who had driven into town from Columbus just to see the game. EFF the G-20...FEED ME!!

THE BURGER
While I waited for my friend Jason to fly in from New York, I popped myself into Atria's located on the Federal Street side of the stadium. Atria's was started in the 1930s, originally as a grocery store until after prohibition when their original location in Mt. Lebanon, PA turned into a restaurant. With a mix of pub fare, Italian and German (Oktoberfest) foods, it's become a Pittsburgh classic. A friend inside the Pirates organization had given Atria's a hefty recommendation and really, when do I turn down a good burger?

I popped in, grabbed a table near the bar and the windows and ordered up an "Award Winning Cheddar Burger" cooked medium rare. I sucked down a tasty Penn Gold beer while I waited to eat. Without taking a single bite I thought "this might finally be the burger that puts the MLB on the Burger Conquest map!" It was at least a quarter pound and it looked scrumptious. With exception of the unnecessary mustard (this coming from a huge mustard fan) the burger was awesome. Big, juicy, meaty, savory and bursting with flavor and served on a toasted sesame seed bun. Someone at Atria's put some serious love into this bad boy! I would eat this burger every time I came to a Pirates game.


8 out of 10 ounces
-Rev



Normally after such a big meal, I call it a night but not this night...

THE PITTS-BURGHER CHEESE STEAK #2 BEST SELLER
Around the same time as Atria's Beer Hall began to serve food, Joe Primanti opened his sandwich cart feeding truckers. Shortly there after he opened a store and on one fateful night, he fried up some potatoes, slapped them on a sandwich and thus was born the famous Primanti Sandwich. 70 years later, Primanti Brothers has 14 locations, including PNC Park. From eggs and cheese, knockwurst, bacon, capicola, turkey, fish, pastrami and more, every Primanti Brothers sandwich comes on fresh made, thick-cut white bread and topped with coleslaw, tomatoes and french fries. It's a true Pittsburgh institution and absolute must for foodies.

Each location has it's own menu with some places offering pizza, wings and burgers but the location at PNC Park only offers 3 sandwiches, one of which is the "Pitts-Burgher Cheese Steak #2 Best Seller." When Jason asked "what's the #1 best seller?" the lady working the counter smiled and pointed to the Iron City Beer tap. Even though we were warned A. not to get them at the stadium and B. don't ask for the sandwich without coleslaw as it's heavily frowned upon. We broke both rules, because that's how we roll, Bobby Brown style. The lady turned around and yelled out "one #2, no grass" and a few moments later, the behemoth sandwich was handed over.

The traditional cheese steak has either chopped or sliced steak and the Primanti Brothers cheese steak is more like a steak burger. After disposing of what looked like a very fresh tomato, we loosened our jaws and clamped down on this legendary eat. The bread was so soft and fresh including the still sturdy crust. The fries were greasy and bursting with salty flavor. The cheese provided a a juicy creamy middle man to the savory Pitts-Burgher patty. I don't doubt a Primanti Brothers sandwich at one of their actual locations is much better but throw this into a stadium menu and it stands above the rest. Admittedly, could've done with about 20-30% less fries to let the beef and cheese have more prominence but that might just be nit-picking.


7 out of 10 ounces
-Rev



SHOOT SOME HOT DOGS
Between the 3rd and 4th innings, a song begins to play in the stadium. "It's Time to Shoot Some Hot Dogs," over and over. At first I thought it was some kind of joke but then I looked up at the jumbo-tron and I saw the cartoon complete with bouncing ball for singing along purposes. Then the 2 team mascots, the Parrot and the Pirate take position a top either teams' dug out. Accompanied by a Pirates girl and a hand held cannon, they stuff a hot dog into the gun and begin to shoot them across the stadium. At first I couldn't believe it but then I watched excitement sweep the crowd. Everyone was leaping out of their seats and screaming at the top of their lungs. One might've thought they were launching stakes of $1000 bills but no, they were launching hot dogs right into people's faces. It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life!




We assumed these must be the most heavenly hot dogs on the planet, at least based on the reaction from the crowd. When we found out you could get one for only $1, regardless of how full we were from all the other tasty treats, we had to get one for ourselves. The dogs looked as though they were hardly cooked and after only 2 bites, we figured why they were so cheap and being shot from guns; they were terrible.

A bummer way to end and amazing streak of food but I will say this, PNC Park is one of the best baseball parks I have ever been too. It's beautiful, has great scenery with the city skyline peaking out from behind the back wall, it's not too big, in a decent neighborhood and filled with great food.

Oh .. and has some delicious burgers!!! As fro G-20, I think our presence helped them to work out a global cheese burger relief fund and a beer stimulus package.



OTHER DIGESTIONS
Quaker Steak and Lube Hot Wings - 8 out of 10
Bell's Oberon Ale - 9 out of 10
Penn Weizen Beer - 7 out of 10
Classic Roast Peanuts - 7 out of 10

Famoore's Family Restaurant - Grandma's Conquest

Famoore's Family Restaurant
http://www.insiderpages.com/b/3720516197
18 E. 1st St
Oil City, PA 16301

THE STORY
Oil City is historically significant for 2 things, A. it was one of the first places where Oil was discovered in America and became one of the original headquarters for Penzoil, Quaker State and Wolf's Oil and B. it's home town to my Grandma and birthplace of my father. Which in some sort of 5 degrees of Kevin Bacon type of way, Oil City is linked to the beginnings of Burger Conquest!

I was paying a visit to Grandma Dot when she asked, in her best Penn-accent, "you want to go out for a hamburg?" While driving around downtown, a local, "Dealin' Dave" suggested we hit Famoore's Family Restaurant. Dot then informed me, that is where she goes to eat after church on Sunday.

THE BURGER
Famoore's is an old school, small town luncheonette located in the small heart of Oil City. Open primarily for breakfast and lunch, Famoore's is a very popular spot on the weekends. Topping out the burger section is the Famoore's Famous. A burger served on a white bun with swiss, bacon, lettuce, onion and tomatoes. State and county regulations prevent ordering beef anyway but medium well to well done so my wishes of medium-rare were not possible. Grand Ma ordered a regular burger with only "cat-sup." When the server asked if she wanted fries, Dot simply replied "Nope. I'll just eat his."

A few moments later, our food arrived and without hesitation, my Grandma snagged off a couple of my curly fries. As I started to snap off pictures of our burgers Grandma asked me "what are you doing? Can't you just eat your burger?" After an attempt to explain Burger Conquest to my 89 year old Grandmother, I gave up and started to eat. The burger was ok. Nothing really special. The bacon was good but the burger was dry, over cooked and didn't have that fresh, juicy, salty flavor that makes a the right burger so great. But it was nice to have a burger with Dot and enjoy a little chat since I don't get to see her that often.

As we walked back to the car, Grandma leaned over to me and just under her breath proclaimed "that wasn't too good was it? Not juicy enough and I've had better." Good to know the the old burger doesn't fall far from the griddle!


5 out of 10 ounces
-Rev