- Food
Hits and Misses for brats, sweets, drinks, and more for the season
By
Jason DeRusha
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I’m on a boat!! New this season at Target Field is a section called The Dock, featuring pontoon seating. Also new are several new dishes, drinks, and desserts. By now you’ve seen glimpses of new food from your favorite TikTokers and Instagrammers (including me!), but before you go to Target Field, check out the best things to eat at a Minnesota Twins game. The Twins home opener is Thursday afternoon against the Cleveland Guardians.
A couple points: the Twins do this better than any team in town. Some of it is the general manager of the food operation, Pete Spike. He’s a great guy, always looking for new favorites and icons of food in this town to bring into Target Field. I love that nearly all of the new foods are available for every fan. Limitations of food service and volume and facilities often have U.S. Bank Stadium and XCel Energy Center showcasing new foods and local vendors in their suite levels only, but buy a $10 ticket at Target Field and you can find any of this stuff in the ballpark.
WINNERS!
Union Hmong Kitchen Banh Mi Brat: One of my favorites of the new foods, Kramarczuk’s makes this brat for James Beard Award-nominated Union Hmong Kitchen and Chef Yia Vang, it’s topped with pickled vegetables and caramelized garlic aioli. It’s perfect for the ballpark. Available at Section 127.
Official Fried Chicken Mighty Buffalo Dry Rub Wings: Legit heat with these; a salty/spicy dry rub on incredibly juicy chicken wings. OFC’s chicken is the tastiest food I’ve ever had at a sports venue. They are marinated, breaded, and pressure-fried to order. Available at Section 134.
East Coast BBQ Mac N’ Meat: I’m always mixed on whether a fork food is good for the ballpark, but this is going to be very popular. It’s hard to mess up mac and cheese, this version is fine, but its the BBQ meats you top it with (chicken, rib tips, or pulled pork) that make the dish legitimately tasty. Available at Section 131.
STEPCHLD Sweet Potato Fritters: A little crispy, a lot squishy, whipped goat cheese along with sweet potato, topped with maple syrup and cayenne. It was a little sweet for my taste, but fun for foodies and easy to share an order. At the TRULY On Deck.
Papa Pete’s Mini Donuts: Freshly fried mini-donuts tossed in cinnamon and sugar, these simple, tasty, well-executed will be crowd-pleasers. Available at Section 136.
S’more Cookies: Sometimes you just want a cookie. Two Mixed Up has a chocolate chip cookie stuffed with Hershey’s chocolate and marshmallows. Sit it out in the sun on a warm day, enjoy the melty goodness. Available in Truly On Deck.
Parcelle: Collagen peptide smoothies? They are super-popular with the TikTokers right now, a bit more L.A. than MSP, but these are very tasty. I’ve written about Parcelle before, it’s a new Surdyk’s/STEPChld-area clean-eating cafe. There are two smoothies: one leans strawberry, another blueberry. On a warm summer day, these will hit the spot, but will baseball fans want these instead of a beer? We’ll see! Available at Section 126.
SOLID HITS
Just A Burger from Two Mixed Up: This local food-truck-turned-food-hall restaurant offering was really hard to judge in the food preview format. How long had it been sitting? Will it be dry when you order it? I doubt it! I found the meat to be nicely seasoned, it needed a little more cheese and sauce (the dry issue), but there’s great promise here. Available at Keeper’s Heart Town Ball Tavern.
Bussin Birria Tacos: These are good at Mall of America, they’re good here too. Good seasoning on the braised beef in a griddled corn tortilla, you dip it in consommé. Available at Hrbek’s in Section 114.
Red Cow Ultimate Burger: This is a great burger at Red Cow. If you’ve never been to the restaurant, it’s nice to have it at the ballpark. Available at Section 233.
Curds & Cakes Deep Fried Oreos: I don’t like a deep-fried candy bar, but I don’t mind a deep-fried Oreo, Curds & Cakes has a funnel cake batter that is way too sweet for me, but it’s well done and people will love it. Available at Section 232.
S’mores Boozy Ice Cream: I didn’t detect any alcohol, but the vodka mixed with the chocolate soft serve made it more liquidy. Do we want liquidy soft serve? We do not. This could be fun in the summer if they get it dialed in. Available at Gate 34.
Q’BO Latín Food Chicken Tinga Arepas: This perfect arepa stuffed with bland chicken tinga has so much promise! I hope it improves as the season goes on. Available at the Truly On Deck Market.
I’M NOT SURE ABOUT THIS
Smashed Baked Potato: Obviously delicious, this dish is a smashed baked potato that you top with beer cheese, bacon bits, chopped brisket, or chili. But why wouldn’t you just get nachos or french fries instead? Available at Section 117.
Burger Fries: From local restaurant Two Mixed Up in Graze Food Hall in Minneapolis, you’ll need a fork to eat these battered fries topped with Philly cheesesteak, American cheese, caramelized onions, jalapeños, spicy ketchup, and Two Mixed Up house sauce. Like the baked potato above, why? Messy, hard to share, doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Available in the Thrivent Club.
