Heinz Ketchup is returning to Fenway

dynomite

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Feels like the Sox have been playing ketchup all offseason
They should have done more in Heinzsight.

Don't get me wrong, this is a positive thing.

Here's hoping that they thoroughly improve the rest of the concessions. They have been atrocious since COVID.
Since before then. I presume Aramark has a death grip on the concession stands, which is why most of them offer the same, hot lamp strangled cafeteria food. Even the branded food (Legal Seafood, etc.) is prepared and served by Aramark workers, I believe. It's a shame, as most other teams have upgraded their food offerings in recent years.

The best food at Fenway remains the sausage (with peppers & onions) vendors outside the stadium. That said:

- I like the Kayem hot dogs. They're better with some color on the grills at the stands. But all of them desperately cry out for the Gulden's brown mustard packets of days gone by.

- I like the kettle corn being made behind RF, and you get a ton of it.

- The pizza behind RF is okay, although the lines are awful.

- Del's Lemonade was a welcome addition

- There's some good beers if memory serves up on the LF roof (Lord Hobo, maybe Night Shift).

- The peanuts are reliable.

Anything I missed?
 

HangingW/ScottCooper

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Nov 10, 2006
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They should have done more in Heinzsight.



Since before then. I presume Aramark has a death grip on the concession stands, which is why most of them offer the same, hot lamp strangled cafeteria food. Even the branded food (Legal Seafood, etc.) is prepared and served by Aramark workers, I believe. It's a shame, as most other teams have upgraded their food offerings in recent years.

The best food at Fenway remains the sausage (with peppers & onions) vendors outside the stadium. That said:

- I like the Kayem hot dogs. They're better with some color on the grills at the stands. But all of them desperately cry out for the Gulden's brown mustard packets of days gone by.

- I like the kettle corn being made behind RF, and you get a ton of it.

- The pizza behind RF is okay, although the lines are awful.

- Del's Lemonade was a welcome addition

- There's some good beers if memory serves up on the LF roof (Lord Hobo, maybe Night Shift).

- The peanuts are reliable.

Anything I missed?
The Savenor booth had steak tips (and still does). Before they would give you more tips and no bread. Now they give you a lousy roll taken out of the 3 day old bin from the back room of KoKo Island (Old school South Shore reference) and put 3 small steak tips in it. It tastes like bread and not steak tips.

They also got rid of the short rib grilled cheese at the same booth.

The concourse behind home plate that has the automated ordering has somehow become less efficient with less product. We've made it a point to eat outside the stadium.
 

Max Power

thai good. you like shirt?
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Jul 20, 2005
8,029
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Tasty Burgers were made by Tasty around the corner and brought over. Is that not still an option?
Nope, they no longer have a stand at the park. But you can get takeout from the window at their new location a block away and bring it into the park.

The food is worse than ever at Fenway and the new POS system makes the lines go so slowly. You can literally miss three innings trying to get something. Going cash-free was supposed to speed things up, but it was really just an excuse to charge tax on all the items and not build it into the price.
 

TonyPenaNeverJuiced

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Jun 7, 2015
321
Yet another reason why I feel lucky to be in L.A. and go to Dodger games is that they have an open carry policy, and I'm known to pack heat.

78681
 

twibnotes

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Jul 16, 2005
20,368
This is a start…now please, for the love of God, bring back brown spicy mustard, preferrably Guldens

Hot dogs with yellow mustard just aren’t right

note: even the sausage guy outside the park only had yellow mustard last time I checked. Are we in Russia, Danny?
 

Comfortably Lomb

Koko the Monkey
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Feb 22, 2004
13,039
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Am I the only lunatic who liked the True Made ketchup? I've actually been buying it as my main ketchup for the past year.
If you liked it good for you, I guess, but serving that stuff instead of actual ketchup was an insane decision. The key ingredient in ketchup is sugar. The point is to slather an unhealthy dose of sugar all over fries and other junk food. That’s what’s going on with ketchup. When some company makes a sugar free “ketchup” then that’s basically a niche product. And whoever made the decision to force that stuff on tens of thousands of patrons every game probably shouldn’t have been in a decision making role in the first place.
 

Rasputin

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Am I the only lunatic who liked the True Made ketchup? I've actually been buying it as my main ketchup for the past year.
If you're not using Heinz, what the fuck are you even doing with your life? Generations of your ancestors are offering keening laments from the afterlife now that you've gone so far astray.
 

Spelunker

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Jul 17, 2005
12,003
It's really sad how awful Fenway concessions are. I've been spoiled by West Coast stadiums, but they're light years better than Fenway was pre COVID, and Fenway is somehow even worse now
 

bosox188

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Jan 11, 2008
3,017
Marlborough, MA
If you liked it good for you, I guess, but serving that stuff instead of actual ketchup was an insane decision. The key ingredient in ketchup is sugar. The point is to slather an unhealthy dose of sugar all over fries and other junk food. That’s what’s going on with ketchup. When some company makes a sugar free “ketchup” then that’s basically a niche product. And whoever made the decision to force that stuff on tens of thousands of patrons every game probably shouldn’t have been in a decision making role in the first place.
If you're not using Heinz, what the fuck are you even doing with your life? Generations of your ancestors are offering keening laments from the afterlife now that you've gone so far astray.
No I fully agree it was an insane move for Fenway. I'd been eating the sugar free / no sugar added Heinz variant for years so I was already coming from a somewhat weird spot I suppose. I actually like the texture and the thicker consistency of the True Made. Typical ketchup just feels watery in comparison now, in addition to tasting more sweet than salty.

I will say, when I was a kid my aunt would always have Hunt's ketchup instead of Heinz when we went to visit her... awful, just awful. That stuff had no business existing.
 

Dr. Gonzo

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Jan 8, 2010
5,256
The Savenor booth had steak tips (and still does). Before they would give you more tips and no bread. Now they give you a lousy roll taken out of the 3 day old bin from the back room of KoKo Island (Old school South Shore reference) and put 3 small steak tips in it. It tastes like bread and not steak tips.

They also got rid of the short rib grilled cheese at the same booth.

The concourse behind home plate that has the automated ordering has somehow become less efficient with less product. We've made it a point to eat outside the stadium.
Hey, those rolls were great at Kokos when you were on your having a scorpion bowl as a 17 year old.
 

GlucoDoc

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Dec 19, 2005
77
This is good, but hopefully we won't repeat last years situation where we are playing ketsup in every game!!
 

yeahlunchbox

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Jan 21, 2008
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If you're not using Heinz, what the fuck are you even doing with your life? Generations of your ancestors are offering keening laments from the afterlife now that you've gone so far astray.
I'm not putting ketchup on my hot dog for one, because I'm not a child.
 

SumnerH

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Jul 18, 2005
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You can't eat a hot dog and get selective about what toppings people use. That just smacks of a nearly Chicagoan inabiliity to understand the relative pecking order of sausages. Hot dogs are an unashamedly wide-eyed, childlike, unpretentious, use-ketchup-if-you-want-it food.

If you're going to get precious about only using mustard or horseradish or giardiniera or “adult” condiments on your sausage, first get yourself a brat or salsiccia or andouille or something.
 

Curt S Loew

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Who puts Ketchup on hot dogs?
8 year olds and terrorists. I couldn't care less about this. The real crime is when they got rid of GULDENS!

Don't be handing me YELLOW mustard with my hot dog.

-Edit - I see this was addressed. But it's worth another mention. Since I was a kid I had my Fenway Frank loaded with Guldens so I mostly tasted the Guldens.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

Found no thrill on Blueberry Hill
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Sep 9, 2008
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Amazing news. I may need to change some of my voting in various polls about the offseason. Monty would be nice, but I'm set at this point.
 

JOBU

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Sep 22, 2021
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If it’s not too much to ask how about some finely diced onions for the dogs too. Even the tigers have that at Comerica
 

Ale Xander

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Oct 31, 2013
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They’re still light years better than the dreck at Camden Yards.
Perhaps but I don’t get the eat in ballparks thing. I’d rather be at the better ballpark and have the Jumbo Crab Cake at Rusty Scupper before a night game or after a day game.

And in any case I’m sure Rubenstein can use his Rolodex and get people to improve the food
 

dynomite

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I'm not putting ketchup on my hot dog for one, because I'm not a child.
We desperately need a thumbs up button.

You can't eat a hot dog and get selective about what toppings people use. That just smacks of a nearly Chicagoan inabiliity to understand the relative pecking order of sausages. Hot dogs are an unashamedly wide-eyed, childlike, unpretentious, use-ketchup-if-you-want-it food.

If you're going to get precious about only using mustard or horseradish or giardiniera or “adult” condiments on your sausage, first get yourself a brat or salsiccia or andouille or something.
Other people can put cotton candy on their hot dog or cover it in peanut shells for all I care. Just give me the option of brown mustard to put on mine.

(As an aside, the real crime here is the closure of The Lower Depths in Kenmore, where they had hundreds of beers and grilled, buttered dogs for $1 apiece and dozens of possible toppings, including outstanding sauerkraut and spicy brown mustard.)
 

YTF

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Condiments on sausages? I say to each their own. Generally speaking I prefer a spicy brown mustard on all sausages, with the exception of an Italian sausage which for some reason I do not like with mustard. When it comes to Italian its either marinara if available or a a little ketchup. My one other sausage/ketchup exception would be on a hot dog ONLY in this manner. When I make a homemade meat sauce topping for dogs I add just a bit of ketchup to add a little sweet to the chili spices.
 

Curt S Loew

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If it’s not too much to ask how about some finely diced onions for the dogs too. Even the tigers have that at Comerica
I seem to remember them being there from my childhood. Didn't use them then. Probably wouldn't use them today if they were presented the way I remember.
 

Harry Hooper

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I seem to remember them being there from my childhood. Didn't use them then. Probably wouldn't use them today if they were presented the way I remember.
I believe Eddie Andelman was the one who on the radio clamored for (successfully) getting the onions available for hot dogs in Fenway Park.