Citi Field food in 2025 isn't just chicken tenders and hot dogs
Jason Eksterowicz, senior executive chef at Citi Field, has been working on the menu . . . for 2026. “Yes, as crazy as that sounds,” he told Newsday on Tuesday.
Sure, first up is the matter of the 2025 home opener on April 4, and the fact that Eksterowicz was speaking at the annual “What’s New at Citi Field” event tied to this season, not next.
“But from [April 4] on, we’re going to focus on, OK, what does 2026 look like?” he said. “How are we going to do better? What are we going to create?”
Such is life in the highly competitive world of modern stadium and arena food, an area in which Citi Field has been a leader for years, now with a posse of stadiums in hot pursuit of hot menu options.
That includes the Yankees, who like the Mets hold a preseason food tasting for media members and who very much would like your attention and dollars, too.
“We put a lot of pride in not being just chicken-tender vendors,” Eksterowicz said.
Not that there is anything wrong with tenders.
M. Scott Havens, the Mets’ president of business operations, said catering to adventurous palates is important, “but there are also a lot of fans that get chicken tenders, fries and hot dogs,” he said. “You have to do those well, because those are probably our top three items.”
Tuesday’s event featured a wide array of new offerings. Eksterowicz said two of his favorites were the smoked turkey sando from “Pig Beach BBQ” and the curry chicken patty from “Chef Kwame’s Patty Palace.”
He also highlighted “Gluten Friendly” and “Vegan City,” which presented a pulled barbecue jackfruit sandwich that Eksterowicz said tastes remarkably like pulled pork.
Stadium food is notoriously expensive, but Eksterowicz said the Mets always are mindful of keeping prices reasonable.
“It’s definitely a concern of ours,” he said. “At the end of the day, there’s nothing worse than having all this great food and having it not be affordable.”
Katie Haas, executive vice president of ballpark operations and experience, said Citi Field’s food “really is almost the heartbeat of the experience.”
This season will not feature major physical changes or additions to the stadium, other than a new section of premium seats adjacent to the dugouts, where camera wells used to be. But it will be big on experiences, from theme nights to giveaways to discounted concessions on Tuesdays and more.
“We were purposeful this year in making more of an experiential transformation,” Haas said.
One addition that is likely to be a hit is between-innings mascot races of a sort made popular in Milwaukee, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere.
The Mets will have five racers, one representing each New York City borough — a pizza slice for Brooklyn, a subway car for Queens, a skyscraper for Manhattan, a ferry for Staten Island and a giraffe for the Bronx (and its famous zoo).
“The boroughs are really unique places,” Havens said. “We wanted to introduce something fun.”
Samantha Engelhardt, chief operating officer, said traditional season-ticket packages are sold out and that numerous packages and single-game offers still are available.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
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