Opening Day is just under two weeks again and I'm getting really eager for Phillies baseball. One extra added bonus this season is a revised concession offering at Citizens Bank Park. Among the highlights: local favorite for donuts and chicken Federal Donuts, local brewery Victory, and some new gluten-free options. Restaurant reporter Michael Klein of the Inquirer offered a sneak peak at some of the offerings in his blog.
Federal Donuts will offer their plain doughnuts to start, reports Philly.com. It looks like they will not get to sell their chicken (Bull's BBQ may be adding wings, it appears), but it's a start. An interesting tidbit from the article: selling wings makes trash very difficult to clean in the ballpark.
A number of gluten-free options will be added in the form of a permanent gluten-free stand. I once tried to eat gluten-free for two weeks while my doctor was figuring out some of my stomach issues. At the ballpark there was hardly anything available to eat. They were offering the Budweiser gluten-free beer Redbridge back then, but not much else on a regular basis. Now gluten-free fans can get pizza, hot dogs, and pork sandwiches.
A Victory beer garden will be added in the space above the bullpens. I am glad to see that there will be more options at games other than the traditional Budweiser options. Citizens Bank Park has had some of the better beer options compared to other ballparks. I had always hoped that the local brewery would get some extra attention like the local brews at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. I would love to see some of the options from the Biergarten at Xfinity Live! at the ballpark.
Finally, the Phillies will be bringing back the "Phillies Franks" name to hot dogs. Once a common name used by then-owner Medford, the company that acquired the hot dog maker began using its' own name, Hatfield. Check out this old Phillies Franks commerical from 1981 from former Phillies pitcher Mark Davis:
