Frank Coztansa wrote:
Always know its a quality ballpark experience when a nearby fast food place gets a mention.
No doubt. For Comiskey I dig that little vienna beef place that's right past the viaducts on 35th.... you can get a few dogs with the fries-wrapped-around-em style popularized by Gene and Jude's and bring them into the park along with ~4-5 watter bottles* so you'll always be able to endear yourself to somebody in your party when you say "hey want a hot dog?"
For Wrigley my little haunt was that Marisa's Pizza joint that was a bit down Clark just past the L tracks. They were that NY style toss-it-in-the-oven-for-2-3mins style, and they had the "White Pizza" that I fell in love with and would later trumpet as the best pizza in NYC when I found it again at Rosa's Pizza at Penn Station (a great place to get a slice or two and a not-price-gouged beer b4 you embark on any events at the Madison Square Garden, btw). They had a gameday deal where you could get two slices and a can of pop for $5 so I was a
bigfan of that one back when I had a friend who lived above the Exedus II reggae club right there on Clark St.
Since Marisa's closed somewhere in the 5-10yrs ago range, I've pretty much kept it simple(, stupid) and just fucked with the Taco Bell right there on Addison. All you need is a couple'a double deckers with beans instead of meat and a cup of water and you're good to go for under $5 (and again you can get a third if you want to bring it into the ballpark later on to combat any sort of alcohol-compensation)
If I ever embark on a sojourn to the United Center I try to make it down early enough so I can make a stop at Mr. Greek Gyros @ Jackson/Halsted. Yeah it's a bit out of the way but it's a damn good and proper Grecian Delight brand meat Gyro from a spit that's always in rotation 24/7/365. I still gotta bug the owner dudes about that t-shirt they said they'd give me cuz I've been a loyal customer/evangilist since all the way back in 1998 when I started going to UIC.
So yeah, while I suppose there is a little bit of charm to the idea of (massively overpriced) ballpark food/drinks/etc and the ostensibly social proclamation that you've got $$$ to spend on this stuff, still if you know what you're doing you're able to spend <$10 and bring in some good food and (most importantly) a bunch of sealed frozen/waters to ensure that you're good and fed/hydrated for the whole game.
* water-bottle etiquette = i recommend you have no less than 2-3 frozen solid ones so they can melt during the game and provide you with a giant ice cube to chill the other ~2 non-frozen waters you've got. this way for the entriety of the game you've got fresh ice/cold water at your disposal au gratis. I have no idea why anybody would willfully be ignorant of the stadium policy on bringing in food/drinks and go spend $4+/water-bottle for their kids.... but hey c'est la vie. Those people pay the gouged stadium prices in enough volume so I don't have to (otherwise if everyone did what I did they would surely lockdown all food/drinks from entering the park so they can try and stick you with $5-10/item food purchases)
Good Dolphin Approved Post(TM) wrote:
BRING FROZEN WATER.
_________________
Curious Hair wrote:
Les Grobstein's huge hog is proof that God has a sense of humor, isn't it?