Yankees Try to Out-Play Stadium Competition

by Sara Bonisteel, Posted Apr 2nd 2009 @ 5:30PM

Earlier this week, Slashfood got a sneak peek at the new Mets fare at Citi Field in Queens, N.Y. The Yankees rolled out their food offerings for Workout Day today and like everything the Bronx Bombers do, they did it big, expensive and fancy.

The new Yankee Stadium has steakhouse, a Hard Rock Cafe, the Legends Club, a Mohegan Sun Sports Bar and a slew of other high- and lowbrow dining experiences. There's even branded ketchup for the plebs who might revolt when they learn beer here is now $9 a bottle. (Let them drink $8-a-plastic-glass Yellowtail, Steinbrenner might say).

Slashfood literally bumped into Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon on the ascent to NYY Steak, the year-round steakhouse run by the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino (which explained the heavy presence of Seminole VIPs trying out the menu).

Find out about the food (and see pictures!) after the jump.

Upstairs, steakhouse diners get a view of the downtown 4 train at 161st Street and the old stadium. Big screen TVs line the walls between large photographs of past Yankees at play -- smoking cigars and generally celebrating being the best. A glass wall near the entrance is a bird's-eye view of the airy entrance to the stadium through Gate 6.

Executive Chef Jason P. Tilmann re-imagines a stadium staple -- the soft pretzel -- as a twisted bagel and serves it up with a cheddar-and-mustard butter.

Tilmann -- an Ann Arbor, Mich., native -- showed some Yankee swagger by dropping the names of the city's best steakhouses and saying of NYY: "It's going to be better than all of them."

The menu is a blend of steakhouse standards -- dry-aged meats and seafood -- with decadent desserts like a Yoo-hoo ice-cream shake and a "volcano" of vanilla ice cream covered in Heath bits, doused with rum and set ablaze.

Yankee Stadium(click thumbnails to view gallery)

Closer to the field, Yankee fans can eat creative. There are fan favorites like hot dogs, hamburgers, sliders and pizza amid stands hocking sushi, zeppole, "Big" (candied) apples, noodle bowls, Philly cheesesteaks (strange nod to the 2008 World Series champion?), barbecue and Cuban sandwiches.

The food is given an almost living-museum-like showcase. Glass panels let fans see Yankee-clad pizzamakers toss their dough and Lobel's butchers carve tomahawk steaks. Above the food court, Yanks can see photos of their legends slurping pasta (Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra), noshing a hot dog (Steinbrenner) and Mr. October packing down the Reggie!

And never fear, Cracker Jack is still on the menu. Take a deep breath, though, as you hand over your $20. You're only gonna get $13.50 back, minus another $5 if you buy a bottle of water.

With Jeter/Damon reporting by Sarah De Heer

Filed Under: Food News, Fast Food
Tags: baseball, featured, NYY Steak, NyySteak, openings, stadium food, StadiumFood, steakhouse, yankee stadium, yankees, YankeeStadium