More Than Hot Dogs: Tigers Expand 2018 Menu [VIDEO]

Fans can buy halal bratwurst and deep-fried Nutella.

Comerica Park Food Smorgasbord 03/28/2018

So, you’re going to the ball game, but you don’t want hot dogs, pizza, or buffalo wings.

How does buffalo cauliflower sound?

Pat Batcheller

That’s one of the many new items on Comerica Park‘s menu in 2018. Executive Chef Mark Szubeczak and his staff spent the off-season cooking up new menu items to appeal to a variety of tastes.

But what is buffalo cauliflower?

“We fry a whole head of cauliflower, and we toss it in buffalo sauce, and serve it with blue cheese and celery, just like you would chicken wings,” Szubeczak says. “It’s a nice vegetarian item for those who can’t eat chicken wings.”

Two more meatless offerings appear on the menu, including the Power Greens Salad (a mix of broccoli, kohlrabi, kale, Brussels sprouts, and other veggies in poppy seed dressing), and a fruit cup of berries and melons.

Pat Batcheller

For the carnivorous fan, there’s the Sy Ginsberg corned beef sandwich, an Italian grinder, a muffaletta, and a cheddar cornbread muffin brimming with brisket. 

Pat Batcheller

And, of course, there’s dessert. Two items Chef Mark expects to do well are the doughnut sandwich filled with Guernsey Farms Dairy ice cream and the Nutella “egg roll” (a deep-fried won ton filled with Nutella spread).

Pat Batcheller

It’s Szubeczak’s job to create new menu items every season. In 2016, he introduced the “brat pop”, a deep-fried bratwurst patty on a stick. How does he come up with these ideas?

“A team of us just put our heads together and just have fun with it,” he says.

Bon appetit, Tigers fans.

Click on the audio player to hear the conversation with WDET’s resident taste-tester, Pat Batcheller.

Videos produced and edited by Annie Scaramuzzino

Author

  • Pat Batcheller is a host and Senior News Editor for 101.9 WDET, presenting local news, traffic and weather updates during Morning Edition. He is an amateur musician.