So You Want to Eat Well at the Game… by Eno Sarris March 31, 2016 The garlic fries at Yankee Stadium are a can’t-miss food item. (via Dov Harrington & Howell Media Solutions) So you’re planning a trip, a baseball trip. And you’ve got your place to stay and your tickets to the game, and not a lot of bandwidth left for the specifics of where you will eat. That’s the small stuff, not worth sweating. That’s what you say now. Except! Good food is great. I submit it’s way, way better than bad food. Bad food is almost not worth eating. And when you’re hungry, and then you remember that you didn’t do any prep work to find that great food, that’s when you get hangry. On top of that, all good food is not created equally. You’re not about to sit down for a meal at Jean-Georges in Manhattan when you’re on the way to see the Mets in Queens. It doesn’t make sense, in a lot of different ways. What you’re looking for is baseball food. Well, not food made of baseballs. (although…) You’re looking for baseball-friendly food. And whom better to ask than a bunch of people that work in baseball for a living? That’s what we did here. We asked beat writers, radio people, team PR officials, bloggers, and even people in the front office where they like to eat most. Nearly 100 people responded to us, all told. Then, after heroic data-gathering work from FanGraphs interns Bailey Winston and Sam Bauman, plus myself, our visualizations guru Sean Dolinar whipped up this handy map tool. It allows you to see where these best affordable food options are on the map. At each specific restaurant, you’ll see quotes from the reviewer(s) attached, as well as handy links to find the places yourself — provided said links exist. Not every restaurant has their own website. Below the map, you’ll find the best in-stadium options. And if you press the reset button, you’ll zoom back out. So, the next time you’re in a major league city you don’t know so well, and you’re thinking about getting some food before or after the game, you’ll be covered. No matter what city you’re in. All of this is thanks to the generosity of the many folks listed below, with their Twitter handles for good measure. Thanks to them for helping us find the best food around the ballpark near you. And especially to Sean, who hit a home run with this custom map. Survey Respondents (Links are Twitter handles) Adam from Brewer Nation Adam Brown Alex Pavlovic Alex Remington Alex Speier Andrew Baggardly Anthony DiComo August Fagerstrom Brandon Warne Brendan Kennedy Brett Talley C. Trent Rosecrans Casey McLain Cee Angi Charlie Widdoes Cher Suchanick Chris Bauer Chris Stoner Couper Moorhead Dan Hayes Dave Brown David G. Temple Dean Thoss Derek Harvey Derek VanRiper Drew Silva Eireann Dolan Eric Chesterton Erik Hahmann Ethan Obstarczyk Evan Benn Evan Drellich Geoff Young Grant Brisbee Grant McAuley Greg Nagel Harry Pavlidis Ian Miller Jack Moore Jack Swiker Jacob Berg Jane Lee Jared Diamond Jay Jaffe Jeff Fletcher Jeff Fountain Jeff Moore Jeff Wiser Jerard Fagerberg Jessica Quiroli Jock Thompson Joe Schwarz John Bonnes John Czech Jonah Keri Jordan Bastian Josh Sadlock Kate Morrison Kevin McAlpin Lana Berry Luis Torres Mark Sheldon Matt Gelb Michael Lortz Mike Vorkunov Nathan Bishop Nathan Ryerson Nick Groke Nick Piecoro Niv Shah Pat Lackey Paul Johnson Paul Swydan Pedro Moura Phil Rogers Rhett Bollinger Rick Romero Robert Lavin Rodney Knox Ryan Divish Ryan Ford Sahadev Sharma Sean Dolinar Sean Roberts Stacey Gotsulias Stephen Nesbitt Stuart Wallace Tao of Stieb Tim Britton Tom Hart Trei Brundrett Trevor Strunk Tucker Blair Tyler Stafford Will Gordon Xian Choy Zack Meisel