Taking the Beef Out of the Ballpark

Baseball and hot dogs are pretty much synonymous.  I am willing to bet that the vast majority of your childhood ballpark memories include at least one, if not two hot dogs consumed with gusto and washed down with a Coke.  As ballparks became more sophisticated so did their attendees.  No longer were they satisfied with the simple ballpark frank and beer; now, along with a win, fans demand a culinary experience to go along with their field box seats. This new era experience must now include options for the traditionalists as well as those new wave health nuts.  Leading a healthy lifestyle creates quite a dilemma at most sporting events.  Those foods not covered in batter and fried to a crisp are few and far between.  During my visits to PetCo park I faced the ultimate question - should I give in to the mouthwatering aroma emanating from the chicken finger kiosk or should I battle on in search of something slightly less artery clogging.  Ultimately, what I found satisfied both my need for traditional ballpark fare as well as my need not to experience heart burn on the ride home.

With a few exceptions my previous ballpark experiences were either at the old Veteran's Stadium in Philly or Fenway Park in Boston.  The old Veteran's Stadium offered up typical ball park fare: hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza and pretzels.  The Phillies new stadium, Citizen's Bank Park, got more sophisticated offering the Philly Cheesesteak and the Italian Sausage, as well as the French Dip Sandwich or for the truly adventurous Eggplant Fries.  Fenway was and remains a traditional style ballpark food wise - hot dogs, burgers, chicken tenders and pizza.  Outside you could get a sausage and peppers sub but aside from that there really weren't too many other food options.  Of course when we lived in Boston we were less concerned with what was healthy than what could be consumed while stuffed into those tiny Fenway Park seats.  By the time we arrived in San Diego our mind set had shifted slightly and given California's healthy lifestyle reputation I was curious to see what type of food options awaited us at PetCo Park.  

PetCo Park was built in 2004 steps from the Gaslamp Quarter.  Unlike most baseball stadiums the exterior of PetCo is Indian sandstone and stucco; its exposed steel is painted white and the seats are dark blue. The design is meant to evoke the sandy color of San Diego cliffs and beaches, the blue of the ocean, and the white sails of boats on the nearby bay.  On our first visit to PetCo we did several laps around the concourse taking in the various tempting options.  There was Anthony's Fish Grotto where we could get fish and chips, New England Clam Chowder or a Shrimp and Avocado salad.  Club 19 had Bacon Popcorn and Homestyle Meatloaf (not sure how great it would be to eat meatloaf in stadium seating, but for those adventurous folks out there, have at it.)  Friar Fit had the healthiest food options - Glutton Free Hamburger, Hummus and Vegetables, California Roll Sushi.  We continued on, curious about what other options laid ahead.  At the other end of the spectrum, Randy Jone's BBQ had a smoked, chopped brisket sandwich as well as a pulled pork sandwich.  And for those with fancier tastes, The Pier had, amongst other menu items, a duck taco as well as ahi poke (though personally I don't think I would do the raw fish thing at a baseball game, but that is just me.)  Clearly this ain't your granddad's ballpark.

Here is where I make my confession, on our first visit to PetCo. I gave into my old demons and got the chicken tenders with fries...oh the shame.  But dang were they good!  Having failed the chicken tender will power test our first visit, I was determined to do better on our second.  This time I opted for the veggieburger.  I took mine with BBQ sauce.  It was pretty much what you would expect a veggieburger from a baseball park to be.  I missed my avocado.  Happily there was a soft pretzel in my future, so the meal was not a total loss.  But this experience did beg the question, taste wise, are you better off putting your diet on hold for this one evening and embracing the full ballpark experience.  Or, once again, was I just being too picky, wanting my veggieburger to taste as good as when my husband grills one up for me.

Never one to give up easily, I came back for round three.  This time I had tacos on the brain.  I had read on the Pet Co. website that there was a taco place call Baja Bistro and they were serving up a wide variety of tacos.  So we set out to find me a fish taco with some yogurt sauce on the side.  After an exhaustive search and harassing several park employees we came to find out that Baja Bistro had been replaced by Hodad's several months ago.  Dejected I nearly gave in and got a fish sandwich - deep fried (when I fall I fall hard).  As fate would have it, the line was extremely long and slow giving my husband plenty of time to pop into an adjacent line and get himself a veggie dog.  I must point out at this juncture that my experiences with the veggie dog have not been positive, which is why I was loath to give them another whirl.  But, when prompted to try a bite, I was pleasantly rewarded with the taste of a real(ish) hot dog.  Shocked, a stood stunned for a moment before heading to get one of my own.  This veggie dog was the closest thing to a real hot dog I have ever tasted, without it being an actual real hot dog.  You could even eat it plain!  I know - it sounds unbelievable but it is true.  I augmented mine with some BBQ sauce, but that is just a personal preference, not a requirement.  I will go so far as to say that we even questioned whether these were actually veggie dogs.  But after contemplating the texture we were reassured - there was a "smoothness" to the interior portion of the veggie dog that is not typically present in a standard dog.  Amazed at our discovery I happily consumed my veggie dog and restrained myself from getting another - I swear, they were that good.

Visit three to PetCo. park taught me some important lesson in dining.  First, never give up, if you want to eat healthy, do it.  There is almost always a healthy option available.  Second, not all healthy options are made equal.  I love veggie burgers, but did not like the one I had at PetCo.  Conversely, I didn't think I liked veggie dogs, until I had a good one.  Going the healthy route at a ballgame is not easy but if you can manage to find something under 1,000 calories per serving, that leaves room for that beer that you know you want.  After all, what's a ballgame without a dog and a brew?  Play Ball!

Design-Your Yogurt

Getting Over My Yogurt Aversion

When I was a kid I ate nothing but 100% pure ice cream (well I am sure it was not pure, but it was definitely 100% ice cream).  Frozen Yogurt was this strange concoction that could be found at TCBY or your local ice cream parlor (though usually only in two or three flavors).  Given its somewhat healthy reputation I was not all that interested in it as a kid.  Not to mention, as previously stated, the flavor options were few and far between.  Though frozen yogurt gained in popularity during the 1980s, for me there was nothing better than a scoop of Breyers Strawberry Ice Cream.  I studiously avoided the healthy alternative to ice cream until I moved within walking distance to a J.P. Licks.  For those of you not in the know, J.P. Licks is the ice cream mecca of Boston, the first store located in Jamaica Plain, MA - a convenient 4 blocks away from my home.  J.P. Licks was my first introduction to "designer" yogurt.  J.P. Licks brought homey favorites such as Oatmeal Cookie and Peanut Butter Chip to the yogurt world.  This was not your mom and dad's tart vanilla yogurt.  This was new frontier yogurt and from that point on I was hooked.  But the best was yet to come.  It was only when I moved out to the west coast that I made the greatest yogurt discovery since chocolate chip cookie dough flavor.

It was a typical Sunday afternoon in Southern California.  After hitting the beach for a few hours, we needed a snack.  It is, after all, very hard work laying out on a towel and watching the ocean sweep in and out while simultaneously keeping an eye on the various surfers riding the swells.  After stowing our gear we set off to find a munchie.  Our first choice was a juice bar, oh us healthy Californians, but it was closed.  Dejected we started our trek back to the car, when out of the corner of my eye I spotted a small store front - Yummy Yogurt.  Sounds good to me I thought, so we went in.  I was immediately confused.  There was no counter top to place my order.  There was only a friendly employee standing behind her cash register and 5 self-serve yogurt machines.  Not wanting to look like a yogurt novice I quietly whispered to my husband "what do we do?  Do we just grab a cup and have at it or do we need to let her know what yogurt we are getting and how much?"  The fear of looking silly in this chic yogurt shop was paralyzing.  But then I spied the friendly how-to guide for self-serve yogurt:

1. Grab cup - Simple enough
2. Choose your flavor(s) - Ohh a mix and match option, I like it
1. You can either choose one flavor on its own or by using the middle lever get a combination of both flavors that are in that particular dispenser.
3. Pull down lever and dispense as much yogurt as you like
4. Choose your toppings - Over 50 options - mind-boggling
5. Bring you cup to the register for weighing
6. Pay and Consume

And so we commenced our self-serve yogurt journey.  It was awesome, the ability to choose as many or as few flavors and toppings as you like was great.  You could get a shot of mint chocolate chip, a shot of oreo cookie dough and a shot of chocolate, all topped with sprinkles, graham cracker crumbs and melted caramel.  It was yogurt, done completely your way.  Once my eyes were opened at Yummy Yogurt I started to notice many self-serve yogurt shops all around San Diego, the most prevalent being Yogurtland.

Yogurtland is a Yummy Yogurt gone made.  With no less than 30 flavors to choose from, if you can't find what you want here, it probably doesn't exist.  Our local Yogurtland is bright and colorful with huge floor to ceiling windows and neon green seats.  Choosing your flavors here is no easy decision but they do help you out by providing taster cups which, with proper dispensing, can turn into a second helping of yogurt goodness.  My favorites, in no particular order, are Nilla Wafer, Red Velvet, Devil's Food Cupcake Batter and Birthday Cake but their Dulce de Leche is also not to be ignored.  As for toppings, they range from fruit to crumbed girl scout cookies but my usual must haves are the brownie bites, cookie dough bites, some crumbed oreo cookie all held together with a squirt of hot fudge, caramel, and white chocolate.  To make the atmosphere even more festive - as if a serve yourself yogurt place with flavors like New York Cheesecake was not festive enough, their spoons are bright pink and bright green and hard plastic, so you can take them home with you (I do - don't judge, they are great for brown bag lunches).

During my latest visit I had Fresh Strawberry, Double Cookies and Cream, Birthday Cake, and a combination of Peanut Peanut Butter and New York Cheesecake.  Now, lest you think me a total glutton, I only take small samplings of each.  I topped my yogurt with my customary choices: brownie bites, cookie dough bites, crumbled oreos, fudge, caramel, and white chocolate.  I got the pink spoon.  Because I like to get the variety pack of yogurt flavors the trick is always to get a taste of each before they melt together and you lose track of what you are eating.  It is important to keep this in mind when choosing your flavors because inevitably they will end up jumbled together, so you will want to choose complimentary yogurt tastes.  Typically though it works out fine even if you choose randomly - it is yogurt after all.  As you can tell from the above list I took the random route this visit.

The strawberry yogurt was sweet and a bit tart, just like any good strawberry yogurt should be, though I must confess that I do miss the chunks of frozen strawberry that came in my Breyer's ice cream.  The Double Cookies N' Cream is like a double stuff oreo blended to perfection in your food processor.  Strawberries and chocolate, so far so good on the melting together front.  The Birthday Cake flavor is a personal choice; I like it but some people only want to taste birthday cake in cake form.  But that is not me, I will take cake flavor in any form.  Plus, strawberry, chocolate and cake - this just keeps getting better and better.  Now the wild card, a combination of Peanut Peanut butter and New York Cheesecake.  I must admit that this was a last minute decision.  My usual go to flavor of Red Velvet had been retired and I was at a loss for my forth flavor and on a whim chose this one.  The Peanut Peanut Butter flavor definitely overwhelmed the New York Cheesecake and was definitely the dominate flavor in my yogurt bowl.  While I do love peanut butter I think next time I will opt for something a bit less potent - like Nilla Wafer and leave the peanut butter in the jar.

The best thing about self-serve yogurt is the ability to make it your own.  There are no judgments with self serve yogurt.  You don't need to explain to anyone why you want caramel syrup on your strawberry yogurt and you are not limited by the number of scoops that you want to consume.  If you want to try all 16 flavors you can and you won't end up with a tower of yogurt taller than you.  Self serve yogurt gives you the freedom to have a new yogurt experience every time you visit, even if all you do is switch up your toppings.  So go ahead and create your own personal yogurt paradise and don't forget the graham cracker crumbs for the top!  Eat on my Fro Yo friends!