New at Nationals Park: Korean hot dogs and an upgraded scoreboard
You can still bring single-serving food items and a sealed water bottle into the ballpark, but if you’re willing to splurge on concessions, some of the new additions are worth a visit, starting with Ssong’s Hotdog in Section 130. The South Korean street food franchise, which has three locations in Maryland, will offer several varieties of its sugary, panko-rolled hot dogs on a stick, including potato mozzarella sausage, mozzarella sausage, premium beef or spicy beef sausage, or plain mozzarella, as well as bubble tea. The hot dogs I sampled — drizzled with Sriracha mayo and sweet chili sauce — were the best thing I ate on the tour.
Los Cinco Tacos in Sections 136 and 309 is a sister restaurant to Capo Italian Deli, which opened a location at Nationals Park last season. The menu features gluten-free carne asada, pollo asado, barbacoa, nopal (cactus) and al pastor street tacos, as well as loaded nachos, chips, queso and pico de gallo. The barbacoa was especially tasty.
Eli’s Crepes will offer a variety of savory ($12.99) and sweet ($11.99) crepes near Section 113, including turkey, egg and cheese; ham, egg and cheese; Mediterranean; chicken pesto; Nutella strawberry; and nutty banana. Rita’s Italian Ice is opening a stand on the left field plaza, and Emerald Amor Café will sell turkey legs at the stand adjacent to the Ultra Loft in center field, which Jammin Island BBQ vacated last season. (Turkey legs were not on offer Monday, so I can’t say how these compare to your standard Renaissance fair offering.)
The Nationals have also expanded the menu at the Capital City Mambo stand near Section 140, with the addition of chicken or pulled pork nachos in a souvenir helmet. The Screech Burger — a grass-fed patty topped with pimento cheese, bacon jam, fried onions and ranch drizzle — will be available at the Budweiser Brewhouse after previously only being offered on the club level. City-themed hot dogs tied to the Nationals’ opponent (think Cincinnati chili when the Reds are in town or cheesesteak-topped hot dogs when the Phillies visit) will be available at Taste of the Majors in Section 114. Most, but not all, of Nationals Park’s concession stands will be open for Tuesday’s Futures Game exhibition, so you may have to wait until the home opener to try some of these.
Returning food and beverage options include:
The District Drafts program, which offers a rotating selection of local craft beers on draft, is back for a 13th season with two new breweries: Ten Eyck and 6 Bears & A Goat. Souvenir beer bats filled with 24 ounces of your favorite draft beer are available for $29.99 at District Drafts carts; a craft beer without the bat will run you $16.99. That’s a 3 percent increase from last year.
Prices for other concession items are mostly unchanged from last year, but paying $7.99 for a jumbo hot dog or $7.49 for a soft pretzel could be hard to stomach given the Nationals have one of the lowest payrolls in baseball.
For every Tuesday home game, the team will offer discounts on tickets, parking and concessions, including $5 sodas and pizza, $4 hot dogs and $3 pretzels. For every home game, 12-ounce cans of Budweiser, Bud Light and Michelob Ultra are available for $5 and 12-ounce cans of Bud Light Seltzer are available for $6 at the Brewhouse, Ultra Loft and Budweiser Terrace from the time the gates open until first pitch.
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