If you’re gearing up to support the Atlanta Braves at their April 6 home opener against the San Diego Padres at Truist Park, come hungry.
The team’s food and beverage partner, Delaware North, has several new food options that will be served at multiple locations around the park.
Louis Martorano, who is kicking off his first full season as executive chef, said he started developing ideas for menu items last October, and held taste tests for Braves executives, including Braves president and CEO Derek Schiller, before the end of the year.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
New menu items include:
The Cleanup Burger. Four grilled beef patties topped with hash browns, hickory-smoked bacon, cheese and a sunny side up egg, sandwiched between two Belgian waffles topped with maple syrup. Available at the 1871 Grille near section 113.
The Submarine Sandwich. Built for one or as a 3-foot-long sandwich that feeds up to eight people, the Submarine Sandwich sees house-smoked, carved-to-order turkey breast topped with Red Dragon cheddar sauce, bacon, a fried green tomato, butter lettuce and avocado crema. Available at the Carvery near section 112.
Georgia BLT. Chow down on a sandwich with bologna, butter lettuce, tomato, pimento cheese and garlic mayo on a brioche bun. Available at the 1871 Grille near section 141.
The Triple Play. A play on the Caribbean staple papas rellenas, the Triple Play features a potato stuffed with chicken then fried. Available at the section 313 market and section 343 market.
The ‘Douille Dog – Andouille sausage topped with beef chili, onion and cheddar cheese. Available at the section 313 market.
The Closer – A beef hot dog wrapped in mozzarella-whipped potatoes, then fried and served with spicy mayo. Available at the section 343 market.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Martorano, who previously managed restaurants in hotels across the country, said he’s a “baseball freak” who’s excited at the prospect of “marrying two of my biggest passions.”
“I get to have fun every day, and when I have to take a deep breath, I go out and look at the field. It’s very calming for me and very good inspiration,” he said.
He said he also drew his inspiration from food from Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina, the five states that comprise the majority of the Braves’ fan base.
“How do you take a little bit of that and incorporate that into what we do here? For my first time doing this, there was a lot for me to learn, a lot of research,” he said.
This included figuring out what foods would be in season in the months while the Braves play, including Georgia white shrimp and Vidalia onions. He tries to source many of his ingredients locally, including meats from Spotted Trotter and cheese from Sweetgrass Dairy.
He’s particularly excited that all meats used at concession stands around the park are smoked in-house. His staff started smoking meats at the beginning of February in preparation for the season. Typically, about 2,800 pounds of meat are used over a three-day weekend, not including hot dogs and hamburgers.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Martorano said the key to developing successful menu items boils down to cost, efficiency and, of course, taste.
“Anytime I can make people want to eat food that comes off a concession stand and go, ‘I’ve gotta have that,’ to me that’s the greatest challenge,” he said. “It’s easy to see a pretty plate ... but when you’re making food sound good and taste good, that’s what we’re trying to do. It’s all about the wow.”
In addition to new food options, Truist Park will also offer five new self-checkout market and Grill-N-Go locations total in sections 137, 315, 335, 313 and 343. In addition, the Crown Royal Walk-Off Market in section 130 will open for guests to grab items from shelves and pay by scanning their palms or dipping a credit card using Amazon One and Amazon Just Walk Out technologies.
Also, the Terrapin Taproom Concourse Bar, attached to the Terrapin Taproom at the ballpark entrance, will open for guests to purchase Terrapin beers and food from Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q during the game. And, new for this season, plant-based restaurant Slutty Vegan will serve vegan brats, chicken tenders and fries from a kiosk in section 130.
Just outside the park at Battery Atlanta, several new food and beverage options are set to open in the coming weeks, including Cultivate Food & Coffee, Battle & Brew and National Anthem in the Omni Hotel.
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