Official Miller Park Food Thread

[aracko]

Ron Mexico - cause the icecream is for kids. I have NEVER been able to go to the Park with my kids and get away with NOT buying them the icecream. If it were Stone Cold ice cream or whatever - I wouldnt be able to afford it.

 

Kids really dont care as long as its cold and frozen.

[Bring Back the Stein]

The food at Miller Park is a scandal. Sure there is a good range of sausages, but everything else is awfully pedestrian. The best stadiums, by my mind, present food that reflects the identity of the city. Cheese steaks in Philly, crab cakes in Bal'more, sushi in San Francisco and Seattle. One of the best things about Milwaukee is its strong ethnic identities and, to mix metaphors, the offerings at MP are pretty weak beer.

Here's my free idea to Rick Schlesinger that will go a long way to improving the food at Miller Park (and not including the obvious need to replace those gummy, soggy buns with Sciortino's rolls):

Have a revolving ethnic food stand, maybe in Gorman's corner, pegged to whatever is the upcoming ethnic festival at the lake. How awesome would it be to have some Polonez pierogi in June, or all manner of wursts when German Fest was on tap? Some El Rey carne asada when Mexican Fiesta was coming up or maybe some good noodles when Asian Moon was going on? It would be a good way for the festivals to raise awareness about their goings-on, make a Claudio Vargas start that much more palatable and promptly cause me to gain ten more pounds.

[hawing]

Oh, pierogies would be awesome.

 

And Brian, how soon are you launching gyrosfan.net? Or wait, the internet's dead, never mind. http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/smile.gif

[HebrewHammer]

Gyros? So that stand open AFTER the game, when everyone is drunk, right?

[sgtcluels]

That's a pretty wicked idea Stein. I'm sure the festivals would love the free advertising as well. And I'm sure the festivals could also provide the staff for the week/weeks that they'd be serving food.

 

But what would they serve during Pride fest? I'm scared...

[sgtcluels]

Gyros? So that stand open AFTER the game, when everyone is drunk, right?

No.. if you are drunk AFTER the game you will be to broke to afford a Gyro. But it might help people entering sober up and not act like Cubs fans.

 

[MBHA]

As I read the litany of complaints about the high cost, meager offerings, and slow service at the food stands I offer the following.

 

Miller Park is one of the very few MLB facilities which still allows you to carry in most food items (depending upon how they are packaged) and non-alcoholic unopened beverages (depending upon how they are packaged). If you have the time tailgate and eat prior to the game. You can just about have the menu of your choice within reason, at the cost you are willing to pay. Almost all MLB facilities do not allow tailgaiting. The Brewers actually encourage it by providing outdoor restrooms, trash cans, and containers that accept hot coals for disposal. Try finding that in SF, NY, or LA.

 

The only issue I have is with the slow service at the food stands. A major culprit are those who pay by credit card. I have witnessed people charge foor/beverages orders for under $10. Geez... you come to a game with no cash?

 

I believe that if they had cash only lines at the stands for food/beer people would gravitate to those and it would move much faster than what you currently see. Let those who want to charge things all their life be made to wait in line.

[pretendastronaut]

I think you're right about the charging slowing things down, but it should make things faster.. They don't currently, but they should. From what I've observed it seems the card system they use is to finicky and cards often need scanned more than once, and after that it seems to take unusually longer to authorize the card. They shouldn't have you sign a slip either, plenty of other places have gone away from making you sign the slip, so its feasible. If they could solve those problems, people using cards should actually be faster.

[Invader3K]

Yeah...most places take credit cards (restaurants, gas stations, etc), and it's usually faster than at Miller Park.

[decktard]

I think you're right about the charging slowing things down, but it should make things faster.. They don't currently, but they should. From what I've observed it seems the card system they use is to finicky and cards often need scanned more than once, and after that it seems to take unusually longer to authorize the card. They shouldn't have you sign a slip either, plenty of other places have gone away from making you sign the slip, so its feasible. If they could solve those problems, people using cards should actually be faster.

Yeah... that is the issue right there... the system is very slow and on more than one occasion my card had to be swiped multiple times.

As far as not carrying cash from MBHA... it is the 21st century. Everywhere takes credit these days and I often don't always carry cash unless I know I'm going to need it... like if I want cactus league nachos.

 

Aside from the system one of the bigger problems I see is often the help is not trained very well. After I fork over my money or get my card swiped they usually just sit around and wait for my food order to come up before taking the next order. They could at least get the next person in progress... I don't mind stepping aside to wait for my polish.

[brewers4eric]

The tailgate is one of the best parts of the Miller Park food experience. I prefer the bacon wrapped sirloin (on special at Fareway this week at 2 for $6.00) cooked over the charcoal on my cheepo grill out in the parking lot.

 

If you don't tailgate, the smell out of the food out in the parking lots is going to force your stomach to growl and your wallet to empty at the food vendors inside the park. Even with the tailgate, my wife won't attend a game without a trip to the Cactus League nachos stand.

 

I could have sworn that I saw a vendor that sold cheesecake at the Loge level behind the pressbox. I saw it in passing one time and must have thought that it went for about $10 a serving.

[SeriesFinale]

I know this is sacrilege in Milwaukee, but I wish they had more veggie sausages ("soysages") available in different parts of the park...my wife is a vegetarian and it was always a pain to drag ourselves way to the other side of the park to the one place they sold them.

 

Since I've moved to California I'm addicted to the garlic fries they have at AT&T Park...MP should get those. The Cha-Cha Bowls they sell out by the big Coke bottle are pretty awesome, too, but I hate having to go all the way to the bleachers to get them, and once you've finished one, it's like a brick in your stomach. It's a big bowl of grilled meats, beans, rice, and peppers. Sort of like paella but not quite.

[Bring Back the Stein]

And some chard burgers on a bed of quinoa with caper-lemon sauce.

 

(Sorry. Just yanking your chain. I still would kill to be able to get a bowl of czarnina at MP.)

[SeriesFinale]

And some chard burgers on a bed of quinoa with caper-lemon sauce.

 

(Sorry. Just yanking your chain. I still would kill to be able to get a bowl of czarnina at MP.)

 

I know you were joking but we actually do eat metric tons of chard and quinoa http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/eek.gif

 

Anyway, she puts special sauce and kraut on her sausages like everyone else at MP, she just likes them without the meat!

[MBHA]

"As far as not carrying cash from MBHA... it is the 21st century. Everywhere takes credit these days and I often don't always carry cash unless I know I'm going to need it... like if I want cactus league nachos."

I'm would not be against people using credit cards at the food stands if they would divide the stands into credit card lines and cash lines. I'd be very interested to see which line moves faster. Faster lines in most cases = greater sales $$.

[jaybird2001wi]

I always make sure I go to a game with $20 to $30 in cash so I don't have to use the ATM at Miller Park or the charge/debit card. Since I am broke and Miller Park is the costliest place I ever go to these days, I usually set a food budget for myself. If I bring in $20 cash and spend it all, I don't withdraw money from the ATM at all. Once my $20 runs out on food/beverages, I am done. Then again, $20 is all I really need to have an enjoyable time at the game anyway. All I really get is 2 or 3 hot dogs and a beer or soda and I am set for the entire game.

[logan82]

I would kill for a gyro stand at Miller Park.

 

Only if they have the meat on spindles though.

[PKBadger]

The problem with the credit cards, as I understand it, is that all the concession stands in the stadium are connected to one central computer. So at any given time, this computer could be trying to authorize 30-40 different cards at once. Thus, you have these slowdowns, failures, and constant re-swiping. As someone who works in the retail industry, I have to say that this is about the dumbest thing I've ever seen.

 

In fact, I was charged $7.25 on my credit card for a transaction that I ended up paying cash for. They tried to swipe it about 3 different times, and the sale never completed. I'm still kind of ticked off about this.

 

Compounding this, ATM's are extremely hard to find. There are 2 near home plate on field level, and honestly I have no idea where any other ones are.

[SeriesFinale]

Yeah, I've never understood why there aren't ATMs everywhere at MP (and other parks). They encourage spending, for one. I waited two innings to get cash at MP a few years back.

[brewcrewnation]

There is a atm at tgif, and its never busy.

[SeriesFinale]

Good to know

[And That]

Late to the discussion here, but some thoughts:

 

-I've seen Secret Stadium Sauce at Pick 'N Saves all over the state, when I last lived in Wisconsin. I know for a fact they have been carried at the Piggly Wiggly, Copps, and Pick 'N Save in Oshkosh.

 

-Chorizo was my favorite kind of sausage, hands down, before I turned to the dark side of veganism.

 

-I had nachos at MP once, and while I wasn't a big nacho guy in the first place, I didn't like them at all. I'd rather sit back and buy a few beers at the game than waste my cash on food I could easily bring in, or eat beforehand.

 

-Veggie brats at the Gorman Thomas place? That seems like some sort of an anachronism.

 

-However bad the food is for you at MP, it is no worse than any other park I've ever been to. I'm still living down the horror of the mega hot dog I had at the Pads' ST facility about 4.5 years ago. If you don't like sodium and empty calories, you're going to have a tough time in any baseball stadium, anywhere. I say this as I'm about to go to the Minnesota State Fair, fully intending to engage in some deep-fried key lime pie and deep-fried tater tot hot dish expeditions.

 

-As for the sausage cycle, there are plenty of ways to get on base not involving a hit, so why choose more than four sausages?