NewsFeed

We’d Rather Eat at Citi Field Than at the Meadowlands

It's the Mets over the Jets in the Stadium Food Bowl.
It’s the Mets over the Jets in the Stadium Food Bowl.haha Photo: Getty Images

There’s no doubt that when the new Meadowlands launches two years hence, the food will be a huge upgrade from the current swill. But will it match the heavenly food court that Citi Field (a.k.a. the new Shea) has in store? No chance, a source close to the action tells us. While both venues are powered by the need to feed luxury-box owners, Citi Field is open to multiple restaurateurs. So not only will there be a Shake Shack and another TBA Danny Meyer restaurant, but Mets fans might also get a Batali-Bastianich joint and a Myriad Restaurant Group offering.

Not so in East Rutherford. In that deal, each one of the big five mega concession companies has partnered with a restaurant group — for example Aramark with Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group. Whoever wins the bid gets the stadium. That’s bad for the fans, because generally speaking, monopolies tend not to have a ton of incentive; like an all-star point guard with a guaranteed contract, they basically have to just show up and collect their checks. Not that a restaurateur of Danny Meyer’s caliber would cave to inertia, but still. At Citi Field, the food options will be a microcosm of New York City, and with the waiver wire never far away, everybody will be on his A game.

We’d Rather Eat at Citi Field Than at the Meadowlands