Fine Dining(?) at Citi Field

Hi everyone, it’s Kris!

Phyllis recently blogged about my fine dining experience at Yankee Stadium, so I thought it was only fair to do a post on Citi Field.
I was invited by my friend John to last Thursday’s game (6/11/09 Mets vs Phillies) and our Delta club seats gave us access to the Acela Club, a 350 seat ‘fine dining’ restaurant overlooking left field.

So what's a diehard Yankees fan doing at a Mets game? Come on guys, you should all know me by now - I never turn down free seats to anything!

Me, John, and Bernie in the 10th row: Some exciting footage of the game:


The view of the field from the Acela Club restaurant: Inside the restaurant:
At dinnertime, a $48 prix fixe menu gives you unlimited access to the market table buffet (soup, salad, antipasto, cured meats, and hot pasta stations) and a choice of one entrée (jumbo crab cakes, prime rib, roasted pork etc).

Market table buffet: White cheddar mac n cheese with pancetta, baked garganelli with short rib bolognese, Tribeca caesar salad with white anchovies:
Jumbo lump crab cakes with tomato, caper and cauliflower chutney:
Grilled skirt steak, salsa verde, sweet potato fries:
So how did this compare to dining at Yankee Stadium? While my crab cakes and buffet selections were all delicious, it wasn't exactly 'fine dining'. And I'd have to say that I was more impressed with the gourmet spread at the Yankee Legends Suite which featured waygu beef, lamb cheeks, ramp risotto, and fiddlehead ferns. The Yankees buffet had more variety and hot cooking stations and was included with the cost of the Legend club seats. And the Mets Acela Club didn't offer any dessert (at least not that night).

Sorry Mets fans, but I'd have to give the win of this fine dining 'subway series' to Yankee Stadium!

And for all you Howard Stern fans out there, look who I ran into at the game: Hard to miss him with everyone yelling out "Baba Booey!"

Fine Dining(?) at Citi Field