Believe it or not, Busch Stadium III, now in its 19th season, is still the eighth youngest ballpark in Major League Baseball.
Maybe that isn鈥檛 so difficult to believe. For a franchise as storied and proud as the Cardinals, two decades is just a routine one-two-three half-inning. And just beyond the outfield, Ballpark Village continues to grow.
Or maybe, between its retro-generic brick confines and the two World Series championships it鈥檚 already hosted, Busch III feels timeless.
If you鈥檙e a hungry restaurant critic who also loves baseball, a Cardinals game is a challenge.
In Baltimore, my hometown, the smoke from Boog鈥檚 BBQ wafts over Oriole Park at Camden Yards during Orioles games. Boog is the locally beloved former Orioles slugger Boog Powell.
When I went to a Royals game last year at Kaufmann Stadium in Kansas City 鈥 MLB鈥檚 sixth oldest ballpark, which the club is trying to replace 鈥 a local barbecue operation offered me a sample of ghost-chile sausage on my way inside.
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Busch Stadium lacks that signature, unmistakably 狐狸视频 food. The focus on local restaurants that 狐狸视频 City SC has brought to Citypark since the soccer team and its stadium opened last year has underlined that lack.
There is hope, though. If you鈥檙e willing to explore the ballpark. And, yes, of course, willing to spend money. I understand ranting about the cost of taking your family to a game. For this project, alas, the prices are a given.
There is also now the 狐狸视频 Slinger Dog, new for this season, a hot dog with hash browns, nacho meat and two sunny-side-up eggs.
During the Cardinals鈥 first homestand of this season, I went to three games in four days, eating my way from right field around home plate to left. I visited vendors in the 400 sections and the 100s. I omitted any foods that are not available to all ticketholders.
I also skipped the basics: plain hot dogs and burgers, nachos, peanuts and popcorn. I wanted the dishes that are, as baseball鈥檚 analytics nerds would say, above replacement level.
Here are the food items you must seek out at Busch Stadium in 2024 and those you should avoid.
Note: Parenthetical numbers indicate the stand鈥檚 section(s) in Busch Stadium. Prices do not include tax or optional gratuity.
What you must eat
Farmtruk
Farmtruk chef and owner Samantha Mitchell knows how to feed a stadium. Her food truck has already established a presence at Enterprise Center for the Blues and Citypark for City SC. And beginning this season, you can find Farmtruk in the right-field upper deck at Busch (429). Yes, you鈥檒l need to make a pilgrimage there if you鈥檙e sitting elsewhere, but Farmtruk will repay the effort with the best food in the ballpark 鈥 by far.
Farmtruk鈥檚 signature dish is its Brisket Mac: exceptionally creamy mac and cheese that would be worth a trip by itself topped by tender, deeply beefy pulled brisket. (Brisket, never a sure thing, is especially fraught at a stadium, as we will see soon enough.) Mitchell finishes the dish with green onions and crumbled Red Hot Riplets, a fun nod to 狐狸视频. The portion is generous, easily enough for two to share.
New to me at Farmtruk鈥檚 Busch stand are the Pork Belly Jalape帽o Popper Sliders. These aren鈥檛 literally a jalape帽o popper sandwich (though that would be fun, too). Instead you get succulent confit pork belly garnished with tomato jam and a spicy cream-cheese spread that replicates a jalape帽o-popper filling.
HOW MUCH: Both the Brisket Mac and the Pork Belly Jalape帽o Popper Sliders are $17.99 each.
Big Chicken
I approached Big Chicken (135, 458) warily because of the celebrity non-chef angle. Basketball legend Shaquille O鈥橬eal is a founder. Also, the chicken sandwiches are arrayed in rows for you to peruse and pick from, tipping the stand from fast-food convenience to convenience-store 鈥淗ow long has this been out here?鈥
My worries were unfounded. Big Chicken serves very good fried chicken sandwiches. Graded on the ballpark curve, they are must-eat. The 314 sandwich uses a maple-bacon doughnut from 狐狸视频鈥 Vincent Van Doughnut as the bun. The doughnut bun is a tried-and-true gimmick 鈥 I ate one years ago at a Gateway Grizzlies game in Sauget 鈥 but it works, especially with the bacon to mellow the sweetness.
The chicken is juicy and moderately spicy 鈥 about as Nashville hot as you would want during a baseball game. (I briefly imagined the 狐狸视频 chain Chuck鈥檚 Hot Chicken in Big Chicken鈥檚 place, then remembered how Chuck鈥檚 level 5 spice of 6 chicken knocked me on my rear last year.) The Uncle Jerome sandwich gives you the fried chicken, with pickles, on a standard bun.
HOW MUCH: The 314 sandwich is $15.99. The Uncle Jerome is $14.99.
Bacon-wrapped hot dog
I won鈥檛 argue with anyone who prefers a basic ballpark hot dog, even if they top it with ketchup. I鈥檓 a brat guy myself, but if anything will persuade me to switch, it will be the bacon-wrapped hot dog available at free-standing carts (147, 168). The bacon is the obvious upgrade here, but I appreciated the heat of pico de gallo and the crunch of fried onions just as much. You can also add baked beans as a topping. I, well into this project by this point, did not.
HOW MUCH: The bacon-wrapped hot dog is $10.49.
碍辞丑苍鈥檚 Killer Pastrami Sandwich
Like barbecue, pastrami raises the degree of difficulty for ballpark food. Unlike Busch鈥檚 barbecue, I can recommend 碍辞丑苍鈥檚 (147), the cart operated by the Creve Coeur deli. 碍辞丑苍鈥檚 pastrami is tender and zippy 鈥 though not so zippy you don鈥檛 miss its beefiness. With sauerkraut and onions, it does indeed make for a killer sandwich.
HOW MUCH: The 碍辞丑苍鈥檚 Killer Pastrami Sandwich is $14.79.
The bench and bullpen
These concession stands aren鈥檛 must-visit, compared with the options above, but they work as an alternative to or upgrade from standard fare. Mission Taco Joint (150) offers the appealing Tex-Mex via California fare of the local restaurant chain. Those dishes suffer a little from being finished and held before you purchase them. The chile-crusted fries in the West Coast Nacho Fries ($13.99) go soft in its combination of queso and crema, but the flavors still pop, and the Mango Shrimp Tacos ($9.99) deliver crisp fried shrimp and a truly hot habanero aioli.
I don鈥檛 know if I would seek out 贵谤别诲诲测鈥檚 (432) on my own dime, but its bacon double steakburger with cheese ($12.49) is a definite step up from a ballpark cheeseburger, and the cheese curds ($8.99) are a fun snack.
As I said, this project intentionally skipped the basics, but I did realize I鈥檇 never tried the Mega Slice Pepperoni Pizza (139, 162, 437) at Busch. It鈥檚 a big slice 鈥 you can share it, making the price ($9.99) one of the few deals here 鈥 with a thick crust, gooey cheese and plenty of deliciously oily pepperoni cups.
The slinger dog is gross. (It should be even grosser.)
Credit the 狐狸视频 slinger dog with the most dramatic debut at Busch Stadium this season. At least until new Cardinals ace Sonny Gray returned from the injured list.
Can Gray balance two wobbly fried eggs on his shoulders, though?
The slinger dog does. Until it doesn鈥檛. But I鈥檓 getting ahead of myself.
The slinger dog is an all-beef hot dog nestled in its bun on a bed of hash browns, then slathered with nacho meat and topped with two sunny-side-up eggs.
The Cardinals unveiled the slinger dog at a media event ahead of the home opener. In a season the team is pitching as 鈥淔or the Lou,鈥 it pays tribute to 狐狸视频鈥 beloved hangover cure.
After the Cardinals鈥 shocking last-place finish in 2023, everyone is ready for a wiener.
And the slinger dog, Cardinals vice president of events, services and merchandise Vicki Bryant promised at the media event, 鈥渋s a party in your mouth.鈥
The party begins at the Top Dog concession stand (132). A cook cracks eggs into ring molds on the griddle. They sizzle while she flips the hot dogs and brats and stirs the onions.
However overwhelming the slinger dog looks in photos or video, it is more overwhelming in person.
However gross the slinger dog looks in photos or video, it is grosser in person.
Frankly, it needs to be even grosser.
As designed, the slinger dog is essentially a chili dog with fried eggs. The hash browns don鈥檛 matter. They vanish into the bun. The nacho meat isn鈥檛 chili, but it鈥檚 in the ballpark.
The eggs are an adventure. Mine shimmied in place atop the slinger dog while I carried the tray a short distance to a counter to eat. I didn鈥檛 risk carrying it any farther.
One of the eggs started to slip when I tried to pick up the slinger dog. The white of this egg looked a little liquidy on top, anyway, so I ignored it.
The other egg was ideal, with a golden runny yolk and a crisp bottom. If you don鈥檛 like runny eggs, don鈥檛 order the slinger dog.
If you can manage a bite with hot dog, hash brown, nacho meat and egg, the dish still doesn鈥檛 capture the madness of a true slinger.
The slinger dog needs cheese. Shredded cheese? Sure. Nacho cheese, as can be found all over the ballpark? Even better.
Really, you can鈥檛 hold back in the stadium-food game circa 2024. In Pittsburgh, the Pirates are topping a hot dog with pierogi.
Just saying: Toasted ravioli would be a fitting For-the-Lou cherry on the slinger dog鈥檚 sundae.
HOW MUCH: The slinger dog costs $13.79. If nothing else, you do get a lot of food for that amount.
What else to avoid
The slinger dog鈥檚 aesthetic and structural shortcomings are obvious. Other, more subtle dangers lurk throughout the ballpark, though.
Barbecue
Broadway BBQ (109) is just a lazy fly ball from Salt + Smoke. The acclaimed barbecue restaurant was a welcome, locally owned addition to Ballpark Village when it opened three years ago in the One Cardinal Way tower. Looming over Broadway BBQ while you wait for the mesquite-smoked beef brisket, Salt + Smoke is also a taunt crueler than any a bleacher bum could hurl.
Broadway BBQ鈥檚 brisket was, by far, the worst thing I tried at Busch Stadium, verging on inedible. Sliced to order, this brisket showcased an appealingly black and gnarly bark, but the meat was so chewy it could have been advertised as jerky, though jerky typically brings more flavor than these dull slabs of rubber.
Undercooking of this notoriously fussy cut was the likely culprit here. It just so happens I know a place that could teach lessons on smoking excellent brisket at large volumes.
Smoked turkey, which I tried the day after the brisket, is the better option 鈥 tender enough and packing more than token flavor of woodsmoke 鈥 but is by no means a ballpark must.
HOW MUCH: The beef brisket basket, which includes bread, pickles and a bag of chips, is $13.49. The turkey basket is $12.49.
Stir-Fry
The regrettably named Asian Action (136) turns out perfectly adequate stir-fries packed into conveniently portable Chinese-restaurant takeout containers. My order of a chicken stir-fry, cooked (or at least finished) to order in a wok while I waited, led with a pleasant sweetness that yielded to a modest, but definite heat.
Asian Action鈥檚 set-up is the problem. It works only if you hit the stand upon arrival, as I did on the final of my three visits to the ballpark. This gets you a passable meal, which by itself is not enough to justify the price.
During the game, though, the cooked-to-order line backs up, and you risk missing a half-inning, a full inning or maybe even more. At my first two games, I either gave up and left the line or didn鈥檛 even bother.
HOW MUCH: A chicken stir-fry costs $17.49.