Tag Archives: el tiante
Fenway Park Food Menu 2023 – Best Food, Fenway Franks + More
Posted by Kurt Smith
Here it is, Red Sox fans and Fenway visitors: your complete guide to the Fenway Park food menu!
The culinary highlights at Fenway Park aren’t as fancy schmancy as at most ballparks, but it’s greatly improved from years past. Honestly though, their food guide doesn’t offer up much info about it.
So someone needed to step up and address this, and I’m just the guy for the job.
I’ve talked about Fenway Park food elsewhere, including the Fenway Frank, and the outside sausages, but this is your complete, all-inclusive, full Monty, whole shebang…(GET ON WITH IT!!)
Here’s your table of contents in case you want to skip anything. (But don’t, there’s great photos!)
The Fenway Park Food Main Street
A Big Concourse With A Big Food Court
A Night Out At The Sam Deck
Behold The Fenway Frank + Monster Dogs
In Massachusetts, We Eat Lobstah.
Burgers + Other Sandwiches
Do Red Sox Fans Eat Pizza?
Healthy, Kosher, and Gluten-Free Fenway Eats
Fenway Park Desserts
Bring Your Own Grub
Lansdowne Sausages – A Baseball Tradition
Some Fenway Park Food Tightwad Tips
Fenway Park Food Updates For 2023
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The Fenway Park Food Main Street
Jersey Street, formerly Yawkey Way, is a street that runs east of Fenway; the Red Sox close it off on game days so that fans can enjoy an experience similar to Eutaw Street in Baltimore.
It’s definitely where you want to enter the ballpark to try the better Fenway Park grub, such as…
El Tiante serves up Cuban sandwiches (ham, pork, pickles, cheese and mustard) and the possible excitement of meeting Luis Tiant, the star pitcher from the 1970s Sox teams. Tiant is sometimes there to sign autographs, but I’ve not yet seen him, so I wouldn’t buy a Red Sox ticket just for that.
El Tiante also carries Italian and spicy sausages. I’ve seen Al Fresco sweet apple chicken sausages and jerk chicken sandwiches on the menu too.
The Fish Shack is the spot for fried seafood appetizers, like clams calamari (with jalapenos), fish and chips with a side of tartar sauce that Homer Simpson would approve of, and a fish sandwich (flounder I believe). They have surf and turf kabobs here, clam chowdah, and an impressive and expensive lobster roll that you can order hot or cold. (More about the Lobster Roll in a bit.)
Yankee Lobster (!) is the purveyor of the seafood items; I’m not sure who thought it was a good idea to have anything “Yankee” at Fenway Park. But anyway, with their addition comes rotating items on the menu, so you could see things like lobster mac and cheese here as well. If you want seafood at a Red Sox game, check out the Fish Shack first.
Taste of Boston is a pretty cool idea. Each month of the season, two local favorites from Boston set up shop here. Taste of Boston has featured Mei Mei (bacon fried rice and cheesy nachos), Roxy’s Grilled Cheese (Green Muenster Melts) and Jake’s Boss BBQ (ribs and pulled pork sandwiches).
If you’re visiting Boston for a game at Fenway and want to try something popular and local, definitely check out Taste of Boston. Sometimes they will feature something related to the visiting team; in one of my recent visits the Blue Jays were in town, and the Blue Frog Bakery was there with Canadian bacon sandwiches.
The Big Concourse – The Fenway Park Food Court
The Big Concourse (the Red Sox call it the Right Field Concourse, the Kids Concourse and the Bleacher Concourse, but it’s all basically the same spot) is a picnic area in right field large enough to feature picnic tables, with umbrellas even.
There aren’t many unique names for stands in the Big Concourse (unless you consider “Chicken Tenders & Fries” to be unique, which I guess it is). For the most part the stands in the Big Concourse are self-explanatory; Burgers & Fries and Sausages stands sell what they say they sell. Most all stands here sell Fenway Franks and Monster Dogs.
That aside, if you’re looking for the more unusual Fenway Park food items, like Grillo’s Pickles or the Franken Bean Hot Dog, the Big Concourse is where to find them.
The aptly named Nachos stands make very impressive plates of nachos…they pile on chicken, beef, cheese, salsa and sour cream. Best to get a fork and napkins for this one.
There are Corn & Co. stands here with varying flavors of gourmet popcorn. You can get souvenir refillable popcorn, but unless you really, really love popcorn or are sharing with hungry kids, I doubt you’ll be refilling that large thing more than once.
Cavendish Farms is the provider of French fries at Fenway; their fries are coated and seasoned and nice and crispy, and the typical size and shape you’d expect from French fries. (Incidentally, they are serious about their offerings for sporting events. Check this out.)
The Big Concourse even has vending machines with sandwiches and snacks so people don’t have to wait in line. No microwaves, so I’m presuming the machines are keeping stuff warm somehow.
A Night Out At The Sam Deck
The Sam Deck is the revamped tavern in the Right Field Roof Deck and was formerly the Budweiser Brew House, before the Red Sox improved their tastes and made Samuel Adams the beer of choice.
This was once just a bar with better drink selection, but the Red Sox have turned it into a restaurant with a nice view and a high end menu.
Food choices include lobster rolls, mozzarella sticks, Bavarian pretzels, Buffalo chicken pizza rolls, apple fries; in other words, fancy stuff that you won’t find anywhere else in the park. There’s also craft brews, since that’s a big thing in baseball now.
I’ll talk more about the Fenway eateries like the Sam Deck, Game On!, and the Bleacher Bar in a future post, but for now you know that if you’re sitting in the upper right field seats, you can visit the Sam Deck for good eats.
Behold The Fenway Frank + Monster Dogs
Honestly, the Fenway Frank deserves its own post. Here’s my ode to it.
But just for basics…the Fenway Frank is still the go-to food item at Fenway. It’s made by Kayem Foods, who spiced up the Fenway Frank with more garlic and smoke when they took it over in 2009.
The inimitable Fenway Frank is served in a white bread bun for that mushy texture, which is unusual for a ballpark dog but shouldn’t be. If you’re too hungry for just one, there are Monster Dogs sold in several places, including on Jersey Street. They are indeed Monster-sized at ten inches long.
You can also get Fenway Franks in local supermarkets, of course.
In Massachusetts, We Eat Lobstah.
The Lobster Roll is a fan favorite at Fenway, and with good reason. A hunk of New England lobster on that same toasted white bread roll used to house the Fenway Frank. It’s still available most everywhere in Fenway, so it’s a popular item here.
Unfortunately, to my knowledge the Red Sox no longer serve the impressive Lobster Poutine Stak, but if I hear differently I’ll let you know.
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Fenway Burgers, BBQ, + Deli Sandwiches
Savenor’s is a highly regarded purveyor of beef in the region, and they are the Official Beef Provider of the Red Sox or something like that.
There are several types of burgers at Fenway, depending on where you are in the ballpark. There’s a basic burger/cheeseburger you can get pretty much anywhere. Then there’s the Bloody Mary burger in the Big Concourse, made with (ready for this?) Worcestershire sauce, mayonnaise, lemon juice, vodka, and Bloody Mary mix. Don’t ask me where they put the vodka.
Finally, the new Truly Terrace has a Truly Awesome Burger, which is Savenor’s butter smash burger, topped with melted Vermont cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion, and Thousand Island dressing on a brioche roll.
Incidentally, if you’ve got a hankering for a burger at Fenway, there is a Tasty Burger on the corner of Jersey and Boylston just a block from the ballpark. The burgers there are cheaper and you have a much bigger selection of toppings. Just throwing that one out there.
Oh, and check out the King’s Hawaiian sliders.
Savenor’s is the provider of beef and turkey for other sandwiches, like steak tips sandwiches…something like a Philly cheesesteak, but with thicker slabs of meat. Or try an Italian beef sandwich if you can find one (look around Jersey Street or the Big Concourse).
Savenor’s is known for “using the whole animal for prime cuts”, and was voted Best of Boston by Boston Magazine. So they’re safe, as beef goes.
Finally, for deli sandwiches, check out the Fenway Farms Deli on the third base side and in the Big Concourse…build yourself a hand carved sandwich with Boar’s Head meats. Choose from hot pastrami, beef or turkey. Wraps and salads can be had here too as you can see.
There’s quite an impressive selection of condiments here: honey mustard, horseradish, savory remoulade, and deli mustard to name a few. The Fenway Farm items are actually grown on the roof of Fenway (they don’t, however, pass on the shipping savings to fans), and many of the ingredients in the sandwiches come from the farm, which is as fresh as it gets.
The name of this joint changes from time to time, so it might have a different moniker when you go, but the location has been the same.
Do Red Sox Fans Eat Pizza?
Believe it or not, yes. Pizza stands are just about everywhere in Fenway, serving Sal’s Pizza, the Official Pizza of the Boston Red Sox. They have about a dozen locations in the region, including one on Brookline Avenue very close to Fenway if you’d like to have a better selection. They even have food trucks going around.
Sal’s is good stuff, especially by ballpark pizza standards. They use 100% mozzarella and locally grown vegetables, but get their tomatoes off the vine from Northern California, so they’ll go great distances if needed for taste. If you’d like to try it outside of Fenway, you can get their frozen pizza at Boston area markets.
You can get a whole pie for a reasonable price (for a ballpark, anyway), but since it takes a while, you can order that first, get your Sam Adams and come back for it.
Healthy, Kosher, and Gluten-Free Fenway Eats
The Red Sox did a nice thing for celiacs and put a Gluten Free stand near the Gate D entrance. They have a Fenway Frank on a gluten-free roll, brownies and cookies, and the healthy stuff that’s never in danger of being contaminated: fruit cups, nuts, sushi, hummus, etc. My wife is allergic, so now I have something to sell to her for another trip.
At the salad bar in the Big Concourse, you can customize your own healthy salad, with items from the Fenway garden. The salad bar is another spot for deli sandwiches, with Buffalo chicken, turkey or roast beef.
If you’re interested in trying something truly different, try the Mings Bings, introduced to Fenway by chef Ming Tsai. Ming’s Bings are handheld pockets with plant-based cheeseburger or sausage filling. They’re wheat-free, gluten-free, and vegan, and they’re an ideal ballpark snack.
There are stands in the Big Concourse and the Third Base Deck dedicated to vegetarian and healthy choices, like wraps, Panini sandwiches, veggie dogs and burgers, hummus and Caesar or fruit salads. The veggie burgers and dogs don’t look all that appetizing under heat lamps, but I’m guessing they’ll give you a fresh one.
Fenway doesn’t have a large Kosher selection…there’s a kosher hot dog vending machine in the Big Concourse, and as of this writing I believe it’s the only way to get a kosher dog here. Feel free to correct me on that…
Fenway Park Food – For Sweet Teeth
As of this writing, the Fenway Park dessert menu includes a “banana splitter”, with vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream between banana ends with hot fudge and sprinkles. The Red Sox have also added Jane Dough’s edible cookie dough, with soft serve ice cream and other toppings.
You can also get: Crackerjacks, cotton candy, fried dough, Hood ice cream, kettle corn, milk shakes and slushies. Try not to have them all at once. Most of them are available on all of the concourses; the ones that aren’t are usually in the Big Concourse.
They’re easy to find; for ice cream for example, look for a stand called “Ice Cream”. If you like Dippin’ Dots, there are “Ittibitz” available, which are the same thing.
There was a “build your own sundae” stand in the center field corner of the Big Concourse last I checked–soft ice cream in a souvenir helmet with your choice of Oreos, bananas, cherries, sprinkles, etc. Oreos complete ice cream, IMHO, so it’s worth a look.
Bring Your Own Food Into Fenway – Yes, You Can! No You Can’t Anymore…
Unfortunately the Red Sox no longer allow food to be brought into Fenway. See my 2023 update below…
If you look at the prohibited items list at Fenway here, you’ll see there’s no restrictions against bringing in a soft-sided bag smaller than 5*9*2, so long as you don’t have alcohol or potential projectiles in it. I’ve done this in almost every trip I’ve made to Fenway and have never had a problem.
This gives you some options to bring in just about any kind of cuisine, at least what you can fit, even from the numerous sausage vendors surrounding the ballpark (more about them in a second). There is also every type of takeout joint you can think of a short walk away, from Chipotle to the aforementioned Tasty Burger to the new Wahlburgers, if you want to grab a couple of less expensive sandwiches or burritos or whatever to take in.
If you’re parking near the Pru Center, there’s plenty of options in their Food Court, and there’s now a Timeout Market near the Fenway T station with tons of selections. Both of these are a bit of a walk to the ballpark though, so plan ahead on keeping the stuff warm.
Should you have forgotten to buy your peanuts from a less expensive vendor (or the nearby Shaw’s market), you have two choices: buy them from the roasted peanuts kiosk on Jersey Street, or order them from a peanut vendor in the stands and have them fired at you with uncanny accuracy, which is sometimes worth the price.
Remember to be wary of just how big a bag you bring.
Lansdowne Street Sausages – A Boston Baseball Tradition
Few things are more quintessential Fenway Park food than the purveyors of outside sausages…you see and smell them as soon as you arrive from the Kenmore station.
The Sausage Guy and The Sausage Connection are two of my favorites and I gave them a separate post…but here’s a bit about some of the others:
Sausage King is probably the first visible stand on Lansdowne coming from the T; it has a red sign with a pig’s face on top. Sausage King has dogs, sausages, chicken teriyaki and steak tips; they serve them with an optional wicked red hot sauce that is close to Louisiana style.
The Original Che-Chi’s has the same sausages, dogs and chicken and steak as the rest; they’re further down Lansdowne a bit, and they’re another stand with a red sign. Che-Chi’s has a secret hot sauce, which is more of a smoky BBQ style sauce. They can be a mite cheaper than the rest, if you’re thrifty.
The Best Sausage Co. has a stand on the corner of Jersey and Lansdowne. The stand sells sausages and other sandwiches—they’re the only ones I saw with a Cajun chicken sandwich. Look for the blue stand…the vendors here seem to be having a better time than most hawkers; maybe it’s a requirement being on Jersey Street.
Fenway’s Best & Original I’ve read that this is “Artie’s” famous stand, but you won’t find Artie’s name anywhere. This one is near Gate D on the other end of Jersey Street, so it’s a bit further from the T station. They offer up “Bianco’s World Famous BBQ” (not famous enough for me to have heard of it, but just saying) and it gets nice reviews from Yelpers.
There’s a lot more sausage stands than I’ve covered here, and you can find cheaper ones if you look hard enough, but these are the prominent vendors on Lansdowne Street.
Some Fenway Park Food Tightwad Tips
I love that you’ve stuck with me this long about the culinary specialties in America’s oldest ballpark, so here’s a few helpful tips to save money on food at Fenway:
$ – You can sign up to be a designated driver at a booth in the lower concourse, and get a coupon for a free soda. They’ll put a strap on you though, so no fooling.
$ – The Red Sox have kids meals, where the little fan can get a grilled cheese or PB&J, a snack like animal crackers and a Capri Sun. All for just a fin as of this writing.
$ – Baseball loves MasterCard…using it to buy things can sometimes get sometimes score you a small bonus, like a free souvenir bucket for your popcorn.
$ – If you buy a souvenir soda cup, you get free refills for the rest of the game. It’s a lotta lotta sugar, but at least you’re getting your money’s worth.
New Fenway Park Food Update for 2023 …
So like most teams, the Boston Red Sox have updated the menu slightly at Fenway Park for 2023. I don’t know what, if anything, has been removed…but if I find out I will update this post. Meanwhile, here’s some new Red Sox food knowledge for 2023…the most notable is the new restriction on bringing in food:
At the relatively new Truly Terrace stand, you can now get a New England maple bacon burger…that’s a tasty name even. It features a fresh (one would hope) beef patty with maple bacon (W!), caramelized onions, and Vermont cheddar cheese on a brioche bun. You can also get this behind home plate.
I’m not sure if it’s anything new, but I’m told that you can get grande nachos in a baseball helmet and steak and cheese sandwiches, so I’m just adding that here. You can usually find stuff like this in the Big Concourse in right field. Wash the helmet before wearing it…
The Red Sox have also added 2020s technology to their 1910s ballpark…with grab and go stands now in multiple areas of the ballpark. Don’t want to deal with those surly Red Sox cashiers (I’m kidding, they’re usually nice)? Try the self-checkout grab and go and get beverages, popcorn etc. easily. Well, easily if you’re under 50 anyway.
And unfortunately the Red Sox have changed their policy regarding bringing food into Fenway Park…it’s no longer allowed. (Big boooos on that.) Bags have to be 12*12*6 or smaller, and can’t have more than one compartment. You are allowed to bring in one 16 oz. bottle of water, so take advantage of that.
Ultimately this means you’ll just have to enjoy your Sausage Connection sandwich before you enter the gate, which most people do anyway, but it’s a bummer that I can’t bring in my own peanuts.
There you have it fans, a long overdue, completely complete guide to the Fenway Park food menu. If you enjoyed it, please support my sponsors! And of course, be sure to read this complete Fenway Park guide for your next trip to the home of the Red Sox!
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