Lane Phillips is a dedicated who’s been to every opening day since 2004, except one. Wearing a purple jacket, richly embroidered and decorated with pins and patches from every playoff year, he stands with his wife, Samantha, in a long food line waiting to place his order.
“We’ve been craving Rockie Dogs since September,” he said, after grabbing the foot-long dog.
Sometimes, over more than a decade of opening days, they try other foods sold at Coors Field, but mostly it’s the Rockie Dog.
They’re traditionalists, when it comes to Rockies ballpark food. Others are more experimental, craving the “new” new thing, and ballparks across the country compete to keep up with changing consumer tastes, where outrageous is the reigning trend, from the Atlanta Braves’ “burgerizza,” a giant meat patty tucked between two eight-inch pepperoni pizzas, to the Beast sandwich at Miller Park in Milwaukee, a bacon-wrapped grilled bratwurst split in half and stuffed with a hot dog.
At Coors Field, there’s everything from Fried Twinkies on a stick to Berrie Kabobs — strawberries and bananas on a skewer drizzled with white and milk chocolate.
One of the newest items is AZ’s Canteen Dog created by celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern, who’s known for his “Bizarre Foods” television show.
“It’s one of those opulent things people are looking for,” said Brian Arp, general manager of Aramark at Red Rocks, which supplies much of the food at Coors Field.
It’s not just any beef hotdog — it’s Piedmontese beef, a style of meat that originated in northwest Italy made from Piedmontese cattle which were then imported to North America to meet consumer craving for top-quality meat.
Zimmern’s dog is slathered with roasted vegetable mayo, house-made grain mustard, pickled jalapenos and mint cabbage slaw.
Julie Stiewig was one of the first to order AZ’s Canteen Dog. She saw the big sign promoting the celebrity dog in the Wazee Market near section 137, and stepped right up.
“Of course, it will be up against the Helton Burger,” she said, with a nod of her head toward the Helton Burger Shack near section 153.
It’s no surprise that many of the new foods are creative twists on the classic American hot dog.
Back in 1893, a German immigrant who also owned the St. Louis Browns baseball team introduced the sausage to baseball parks, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, and it’s now solid tradition.
“It’s synonymous with baseball,” said J.T. Tafoya, eating a bratwurst, which is his favorite, because it reminds him of summer.
Hungry people in the packed Coors Field were expected to consume 10,000 on Friday — including from Biker Jim’s Gourmet Dogs, the local iconic favorite served for the first time this year in Coors Field, and the Beachcomber, hot dogs topped with pineapple, barbecue sauce and jalapenos.
About 1,200 hamburgers were expected to be sold, along with 3,000 orders of nachos, 2,750 bags of peanuts, and 1,200 pounds of french fries.
And, to appeal to those sophisticated consumer tastes, the Pork Belly Bao Tacos are new this year in the Mountain Ranch Club, along with the Chimichurri Pork Guacamole Tostada.
There are long lines at Famous Dave’s BBQ, where the smell of caramelized barbecue sauce on ribs grilling over hickory chips lures fans like Thomas Wolf.
“It’s the only edible food in the whole stadium,” he said, waiting for a Georgia pork sandwich with a side of coleslaw.
Owner Bill Ferguson has had his barbecue stand here for seven seasons, and this year expanded to include sides like the coleslaw.
“We’ve expanded,” he said. “People made it loud and clear” that they wanted more than just the meat.
And then there are people like Jenny McGraw, one of the few people spotted eating a salad.
“It’s great,” she said. “I’ve never had a salad here before.”
She was surprised to see the sign for Infield Greens just inside the ballpark entrance at Blake and 20th streets, touting fresh salads with choices of chicken, shrimp and tofu and five different toppings.
She ate it along with a big cup filled with french fries.
“Just for balance,” she said.
Colleen O’Connor: 303-954-1083, coconnor@denverpost.com or @coconnordp
