About Our Rainy Sunday In The Bronx

We knew going in that yesterday's game was likely to be postponed, but we had access to the highly regarded Audi Yankees Club waiting at the Will Call windows, and wanted to snag them up for use at the rescheduled game. The lovely girlfriend was on hand, meaning we had the pleasure of her company and also the opportunity to chronicle what we saw with some photos. We'll be a bit less wordy today and let the photos tell the story, if you

Since we had access to the Audi Club, we got to enter through the fancy Gate 2, otherwise known as the home of the silver George Steinbrenner statue. Unfortunately the girlfriend was having no part of us posing for lewd photographs, denigrating the statue. Disappointing. An uppity elevator ride later and we were at the entrance of the uppity Audi Yankees club. Welcoming us at the door was this lovely menu:



For dinner with a couple of big eaters it might be worth it. For a guy and his light-weight girlfriend, it just doesn't seem like a worthwhile investment, especially for lunch. Since we weren't eating, we were banished from any part of the "club" that had a view of the field. Essentially we were in an upscale bar, and and a cramped one at that.







If you decide to look on the bright side, the club also offers $140 tickets which include all you can eat food and actually have a great view of the field. Definitely not for those on a tight budget, but if you want some guaranteed value out of your tickets, go with these. Plenty of good seats are still available:



Five minutes shuffling around the "club" uncomfortably was enough for us, so we headed out to see what else the rainy stadium had in store for us.

The public areas were cramped, as would be expected with everyone scrambling for cover from the rain. The Nathan's was especially crowded:



So was the Carl's Cheesesteaks (what else is new):



But if you wanted a cold one from the [plopped in the middle of nowhere] "Beers Of The World" stand, there was no need to wait:



Taking a peek at this sign gives you an idea why people aren't lining up:



$11 for a 16 oz. Blue Moon on tap? PASS.

Many others made the same choice regarding Famiglia's $5 slices of cardboard covered with cheese and sauce:



It was great to see the Yankees infuse some life into an area that we had previously deemed "concrete-jungly," and so boring that we had stopped the live stream - even if the tables and chairs were a bit of an odd couple:



Once in the upper deck, it was apparent that we should have brought our galoshes. Apparently $1.6 billion doesn't buy you drainage in the upper deck:



Try as they might, sweeping water around without a drain nearby just won't cut it:



Even though we knew that the game wasn't going to start, we were sick of dodging puddles, and we didn't want to head home yet. So like those around us with covered seats, we decided to sit down:



Good thing the Yankees were making use of the huge hi-def monitor that probably accounted for a large chunk of the $1.6 billion dollar stadium:



How else would we have known what was going on? The tarp on the field and the water pouring from the sky might have been a bit too subtle for some.

Right around 2 PM, the Yankees put us all out of our misery and postponed the game. Just before the announcement was made, they actually did make use of the huge video board. A five minute video featuring a chef from the NYY Steak restaurant took center stage, showing off some delicious-looking lobster mac 'n cheese (this is the second time we have been tempted by this) and the creation of some creme brule (we're too lazy to figure out how to put the accents in over the e's). As tempting as the offerings were, we continued to resist the urge to spend our hard-earned money on the Yankees' new and exciting food options - at least on this rainy Sunday.

Some more skeptical folks might accuse the Yankees of taking advantage of their loyal fans and allowing them to spend money on concessions while knowing all the while that the game would not be played. We'd like to think that even with a forecast as bleak as today's was, the Yankees were simply doing all they could to squeeze the game in. After all, the Angels won't be coming back to town. At the very worst, the Yankees knew that many people were likely making their first trip to the new stadium and wanted to give them a chance to check out the new place, even if the game was going to be canceled.

As of now, the makeup date for this rainout is not scheduled. With an exciting start like today, we can't wait to resume our adventure. Hopefully the makeup game isn't played in Anaheim!
Read the full post, after the jump

Reviewing An Exciting Trip To The New Yankee Stadium

On Friday night, we headed up to the new Yankee Stadium for only the second time during the regular season. Because of all the day games during the first home stand, and because we only have the 41 game plan, we haven't been to the stadium as much as we would have liked. Last night's thriller made up for any of the games we missed. Although we misjudged the potential rain impact (drank one beer too many at home thinking the start would be delayed), we eventually arrived during the bottom of the first inning, and were rewarded with an extremely exciting game. The good, the bad, the strange, and what we ate await if you

The Good

We had the pleasure of meeting our very helpful Yankee ticket account representative. The ticket office gets a pretty bad rap, but those people work hard, and work long hours. Before ripping them a new one regarding issues you are having, think about the fact that they are human beings and that being rational and friendly will likely get you a long way. For ages, we believed that the ticket office workers were a bunch of people who were mad at the world, but if you take the time to get to know them, they are just people doing a pretty tough job. An interesting item of note - the 1-800 ticket office number is controlled by an outside ticket agency, while the 718 ticket office number is the folks housed within the stadium. This is important to understand because the people at the outside agency are disconnected from the stadium and don't know the ins and outs of the new place like the people working in the stadium do. There should be better communication between the two offices, but there isn't. Often times tickets that are obviously obstructed, or have other issues are repeatedly sold by the outside agency, and then the people at the 718 number are forced to correct their error. Once again, this is an obvious breakdown involving systems and upper management - it is not the fault of the people who you are yelling at on the phone.

We also got to meet Stan and Mark Lobel, of Lobel's Steak. They were very appreciative of the review that we wrote about the prime rib sandwich. Even though they feature the review prominently on the press kit page of their website, they didn't offer a complimentary NY Strip Streak sandwich last night. No hard feelings, we purchased one anyway. More about that in the "what we ate" section. An interesting note from our conversation, with the Lobels is that they feel the Audi Yankees Club is actually one of the better values in the new Yankee Stadium. We're not sure how $140 for seats in left field could ever be a value, but they made sure to point out that the restaurant serves all Lobel's meat, and all you can eat. They also said the view is nice from out there, so perhaps big eaters can make it worth the price of admission. We hope to have a firsthand account of the Audi Yankees Club posted to the blog this week.

The seats in section 428, row 10 are completely covered by the frieze, so when the rain started pouring down in the middle innings, we were completely covered. It was awesome seeing all of the people in the expensive seats scramble for cover while we just watched the game completely dry.

The crowd, while sparse (weather?) was into the game from start to finish. From what we hear, it doesn't come across well on TV, but the Yankee fans in our section were loud and boisterious, even when the Yankees were down 9-4. The only downside was that when the Yankees won, there wasn't the "hugging strangers" emotion that typically accompanies an epic come from behind win. We'll chalk that up to the crowd being so spread out due to the formerly lopsided score and poor weather.

All of the concession lines were extremely manageable. Lobel's was the longest one we came across, but it was being run extremely efficiently. The bathrooms also were very easy to get into and out of. It seems that everyone is getting into the flow of things, and everything is running as we imagined it would in a brand new stadium.

The shrill-voiced Tina woman who went around interviewing fans between innings on the high-def video screen seems to be gone. We didn't notice her at all. Good riddance.

The Bad

The Mohegan Sun Sports Bar is a terrible place to watch a baseball game, contrary to an interesting review on River Ave Blues last week. A friend gave us a one day pass to the bar, and we spent one inning there. It would be great if it was just a sports bar that happened to have a peek into Yankee Stadium. Unfortunately, a peak is all you get, along with a total disconnect from the game and overpriced drinks. We were happy to head out of there to our seats in the nosebleeds.

Yankee fans are really starting to take booing their own to an extreme. They booed 3 or 4 relievers and had some special hate reserved for Mark Teixeira. All of the parties being booed have had their struggles this year and as paying fans it is their right to boo. We always wonder, however, what does it accomplish? Does anyone really think that Mark Teixeira wanted to strike out looking or that Mark Melancon wanted to allow 3 inherited runners to score with his first pitch thrown? They're probably more frustrated than anyone, since it is their livelyhood. Do Yankee fans think they don't try hard because they are getting paid a lot of money? We actually heard someone yelling at Teixeira, and calling him "Teixei-Rod" (clearly a jab at Tex's struggles in the clutch so far this year, even though his OBP with RISP is nearly .500). Further, after the unlikely comeback, Yankee fans on the exit ramps decided to display an inferiority complex and start "Boston Sucks" chants. Last time I checked, that was a thing that Red Sox fans did. As Yankee fans, we used to know that our franchise was better, and we didn't need to resort to chanting about the Red Sox sucking, especially when they don't, or when they aren't even playing the Red Sox. It was really an embarrassing time to be a Yankee fan.

The Yankees seem to have dumped Cotton Eye Joey. Call us crazy, but we always enjoyed that break in the 8th inning even more than the 7th inning stretch. In a stadium that kept the "tradition" of the YMCA grounds crew routine, and the played-out God Bless America, getting rid of the goofy scoreboard operator dancing around seems arbitrary. Hopefully it was a one night thing.

We still didn't see any foul balls hit into the upper deck (Terrace or Grandstand). It sucks going to a game and feeling so removed from the game that you know a ball won't come anywhere near you.

Empty seats, and we're not just talking about the now-famous ones in the Legends sections. As pictured below, there was a random section of empy seats in the main level. Our feeling at the time was that section was the last section before a price break, and according to the Yankee seating chart, our assumption was correct. It looks like section 215 was nearly empty, while the section right next door, section 214B was completely full. Gameday face value of 215 is $150, gameday face value of 214B is $95. Looks like anything over $100 is a tough sell for the Yankees. Front office, we have a problem.


(click to enlarge)

Perhaps this is nitpicky, but the ramps to exit the stadium on the third base side of the upper deck are poorly designed. The decline is so gradual that any time one would save exiting the stadium because of wider concourses is lost due to the seemingly endless ramps. They could have made the ramps a little steeper and it would make for a quicker exit. Once again, we are aware this is nitpicky, but it annoyed the hell out of us.

The Strange

At times between innings, if you closed your eyes and just listened to the voice reading the fan greetings on the scoreboard, or the organ music, you felt like you were in the old Yankee Stadium. Then, you opened your eyes and were bombarded with all that is the new Yankee Stadium. At one point during the Yankee rally in the 8th inning, they were trying to encourage the fans to "make noise" and all of the video screens were flashing the message. As we posted on Twitter, it was sensory overload, and it was pretty overwhelming. Maybe it was just us who noticed this.

Also between innings - the Yankees played a video tribute/montage to former Yankee Ruben Sierra, with "I Like The Way You Move" by Outkast playing in the background. For those not in the know, Ruben used to come up to bat to that song during his second stint with the team. It showed some of Ruben's "great" moments with the team, including a walkoff home run to dead center against the Blue Jays. It was pretty bizarre seeing that tribute. We're just waiting for the Miguel Cairo montage.

Jerry Springer Sighting. The only "celebrity" shown on the huge high-def screen in center field was Jerry Spring, and he was wearing one of those cheap Yankee rain ponchos. The Yankees are really scraping the bottom of the barrel with celebrities these days. We're just waiting for a Judge Judy sighting.

What we ate

As we mentioned previously, we tried the Lobel's NY Strip Steak sandwich during this trip. The roll was the same as last time, which was fine by us - whatever type of bread they use is perfect for sopping up the juices of the meat without it getting soggy. NY Strip steak is not as naturally tender as prime rib, so instead of carving the beef and plopping it down onto the roll, they were slicing it and placing it in some meat juices to tenderize it. It definitely worked, but it also took away some of the natural flavor of the steak, and gave it more of a generic au jus flavor. We also made the mistake of getting more au jus poured on top, so the meat was overwhelmed with the generic meat sauce flavor. Don't get us wrong, it was still a great ballpark meal, and the portion size was generous. That being said, if we get the NY Strip steak sandwich from Lobel's again. we will skip the au jus - that type of sauce just isn't meant for NY Strip steak!

Even after drinking a couple of beers at home, and one with the huge steak sandwich, we drowned our sorrows with more food when the Yankees went down 9-4 late in the game. A milkshake and onion rings from the Johnny Rockets in the upper deck seemed like the perfect comfort food at the time, even though we weren't especially hungry. Although the milkshake couldn't be drank through a straw, it was still tasty - probably a slight upgrade from the Carvel helmet cup soft ice cream, and obviously it didn't have the awesome rainbow sprinkles. We paid $7, and unless it is a 95 degree night and we are craving a black and white milkshake, we don't do it again. The onion rings ($6), like the frickles from our first trip, were over-fried in heavy batter. This was good for Bobby (formerly fake IPK) since he hates onions. It went well with the milkshake, that much is for sure. However, we couldn't help but feel bad for our slowly clogging arteries.
Read the full post, after the jump

New Yankee Stadium Food Options Announced By Legends Hospitality Management

As we mentioned early last week, Legends Hospitality Management promised a press release to announce all of the food and drink options at the New Yankee Stadium. Today, they made good on that promise and the press release was posted on the Yankees' website. Sadly, it does not include prices, but it does list all of the specific brands and concessions that will be a part of the new Yankee Stadium experience. It looks like garlic fries are being touted as one of the major new additions, and we can't wait to try them.

Stadium Debuts:

• Boar's Head made-to-order deli sandwich stand, including soups and salads
• Brother Jimmy's BBQ
• Dunkin' Donuts Coffee
• Highlanders traditional ballpark food with a New York flair, including hot dogs with sauerkraut and "pushcart" onions
• Johnny Rockets
• Lobel's of New York
• Moe's Southwest Grill
• Otis Spunkmeyer
• Pepsi Cola Products, including Lipton Iced Tea, Tropicana Lemonade and Gatorade
• Tommy Bahama's Bar serving mixed drinks
• Turkey Hill Ice Cream

New Cuisine:

• Garlic Fries stand, a staple of West Coast ballparks
• Latin Corner, serving hot-pressed Cuban sandwiches, nachos and burritos
• Noodle Bowls stand with other Asian-inspired items
• Soy Kitchen sushi and salads
• Triple Play Grill, offering beef and chicken sliders, and Lobel's steak sandwiches

Healthy Alternatives and Specialty Items:

• Melissa's, a traditional farmers market, carrying fresh fruits and vegetables
• Various Glatt Kosher options

Child-Friendly Options

• The Big Apple stand, offering candy, caramel and chocolate-dipped apples
• Dale and Thomas popcorn stand
• Kids Cart with school-lunch favorites and smaller-portion items, such as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, milk, small hot dogs and Kozy Shack Pudding

Traditional Favorites:

• Bazzini nuts
• Carl's Steaks
• Carvel Ice Cream
• Cracker Jack
• Famous Famiglia Pizza
• French's Mustard
• Hebrew National
• Heinz Ketchup
• Mike's Arthur Avenue Italian Deli, featuring zeppoli and antipasto
• Nathan's Famous, serving hot dogs in natural casing
• New York Pretzel
• Premio Sausage, serving grilled coiled sausages
• Poland Spring Water
• Tyson chicken
• Utz Potato Chips

As everyone probably realizes by now, the food at the new Yankee Stadium is a major interest of ours, so we will be sure to get more in depth with this when time permits.

UPDATE (1:06 PM) - The link to the actual release was added to the the top of the post. We inadvertently left that out previously in our haste to post the news. Also, it was pointed out (via Twitter) that prices are discussed on the release, promising a $3 hot dog, $3 soda, and $6 beer. We don't recall there being a $6 beer at the old Yankee Stadium, but it will likely be a 12 ounce bottle of Bud Light. Also, Fake IPK has chimed in via the comments and has pointed out the death of Dippin' Dots. They were the ice cream of the future for a couple of decades, but they never really caught on. The world's supply of Dippin' Dots is slowly dwindling. Sad stuff. Read the full post, after the jump

Just To Whet Your Appetite: Some Of The Food Options At The New Yankee Stadium

Legends Hospitality Management plans on posting a press release later this week, detailing the food options at the new Yankee Stadium. For now, we can take a sneak peak at some of those options courtesy of the many great photos that came out of the stadium tours this weekend (and in the past).



First up is the unsurprising and disappointing Famiglia Pizza. If it looks like microwave pizza and tastes like microwave pizza, it must be microwave pizza. Very disappointing, since New York City is known to have some of the best pizza in the world. Why the Yankees continue to torture us with Famiglia's horrendous dough with cheese and sauce on it is inexplicable (or perhaps it is that Famiglia is willing to pay the big bucks it must take to forge a concession deal with the Yankees).



Next, we have a minor tweak to a Yankee Stadium classic. Nobody can forget the chicken fingers and fries combo that was served at a few concession stands around the old park. Sadly, the rubbery chicken and days-old, grease-soaked french fries were actually one of the highlights of the food selection in the upper deck. Now that those days are behind us, it looks like Legends Hospitality Management has a new trick up their sleeves: sliders. Who doesn't love mini burgers? We will set the under/over on the price per slider at $5. I'll bite and take the under. Anyone willing to make the wager? A Bernie Williams CD might be in it for you if you win the bet.



Of course, there is Johnny Rockets. However, we previously covered this concession in a previous post, so we'll spare you the diatribe about awesome straw dispensers.



Here comes the good stuff. When Stadium Insider had the pleasure of visiting Safeco Field in Seattle last May, everyone recommended the garlic fries as the must-have stadium food. We gave those fries mixed reviews, but the smell of them cooking was enough to make the mouth water. As long as the Yankees change the oil in the fryers every once in a while. garlic fries at Yankee Stadium have some major potential.



Finally, we present a relatively new classic from the old Yankee Stadium, Carl's Cheesesteaks. A reviewer on yelp was hopeful back in November that Carl's would make the move to the New Stadium, and they won't be disappointed. The lines at these "hot" concession stands are typically too long to justify waiting in, but with the more open design of the new Yankee Stadium, the potential exists to wait in line and not have to miss all of the action on the field. The joys of a modern stadium will never get old to us.

Of course, there is the Hard Rock Cafe (open year round), and the upscale NYY Steak Restaurant in centerfield (it isn't too late to apply for a job there), for meals of the sitdown variety. We plan on visiting all of these fine establishments for in-depth reviews from the perspective of the average Yankee fan (never to be confused with the typical Yankee fan) during the season. Now we just have to wait to see how much all of this is going to cost us. We're pretty sure that beers are going to average $10 for the first time in 2009, but that is just speculation. Read the full post, after the jump

The New Yankee Stadium Will Open Its Doors To The Public For The First Time On April 2

The Yankees announced this morning that there will be a ticketed Yankee workout that is open to all full-season ticket holders on Thursday April 2nd, 2009 - the day before the first exhibition game at the new Yankee Stadium. This will be the first time that the stadium is open to the public for anything other than timeshare-like open houses being used to hock unsold premium tickets.

It can be assumed that the concession stands will be fired up and the new bathrooms will be in full working order. Unfortunately, only full-season ticket holders will be offered the opportunity to attend this event. Unlike our previous opinions on full season licensee perks, we are actually on board with this one being an "exclusive" event. If you drop thousands of dollars on a full season worth of tickets, you deserve to have something that is unique to your investment. At least the Yankees upper management got something right in today's controversial press release. Read the full post, after the jump