The Chicago Cubs have one of the richest and most interesting histories in baseball. And even though it’s a crumbling disaster-waiting-to-happen, Wrigley Field is still one of the greatest ballparks ever built. Two things they don’t do well are food and winning. After all, it’s a rebuilding century for the Cubs. We’ve all heard the nicknames – Scrubs, Flubbies, Goatriders. Attending a Cubs game is like watching a 3½ hour disaster with nasty beer and shitty food. Unlike the Cubs, the White Sox pride themselves on food at US Cellular Field. Many baseball fans flock to scalpers for tickets to Opening Day just to be reunited with the food.
Hot Dogs:
Hot dogs at The Cell are made from Vienna Beef franks, whereas Wrigley uses Ballpark. Although the Cubs did recently work out a deal with Vienna. Ballpark Hot Dogs are a cheap, low-quality wiener fit for feeding to a dog. At Wrigley, ketchup on a hot dog is a perfectly acceptable practice. Nobody over the age of 18 should EVER put ketchup on a hot dog. Only crazy people and Texans do it. It’s an insult to Chicago style food! Adding ketchup to a hot dog in Chicago is a mental illness. At Comiskey, hot dogs are usually cooked over a griddle or steamed, then topped with sauerkraut, mustard, and grilled onion.
Nachos:
Nachos at The Cell are one of the best foods available. Sure, they do have the crappy chips and cheese wiz for a couple bucks, but most people go to the Tex Mex stand for Nachos in a baseball helmet. You can get: two different kinds of barbacoa, carnitas, black beans, pinto beans, lettuce, tomato, onion, sour cream, guacamole, jalapenos, salsa, nacho cheese, and black olives. All of this plus a souvenir baseball helmet for only $11.50. Nachos at Wrigley cost about the same amount, but it’s just the plain, boring tortilla chips and cheese wiz.
Beer:
Bud Light is the official sponsor of the Chicago Cubs, but Budweiser isn’t even a Chicago beer. Nobody drinks that rice water crap at bars. Nobody buys it in liquor stores. Bud isn’t even American anymore. You’ll be able to find a few other beer selections at Wrigley, but not many. Miller Lite is the official beer of the White Sox, and it’s the beer of choice for true Chicagoins. In fact, Miller products are so popular in Chicago that their corporate headquarters moved here. Aside from that, The Cell has stands for Coors, Leinenkugel’s, Corona, and several imported beers.
Hard Alcohol:
Camarena is the official tequila of the White Sox, and margarita vendors walk up and down the aisles with coolers full of it on their backs. For $7.50, you get a sizeable margarita with a souvenir cup. You can also get yardsticks of it on the concourse. At Wrigley, they have… well… nothing. You can get wine coolers! *barf*
Sausages:
Sausage-type sandwiches are usually the most common foods associated with baseball games. Comiskey has Vienna Beef hot dogs done three different ways, Bobak’s Polish sausage prepared Maxwell Street style or just steamed, grilled or boiled bratwurst, and Italian sausage cooked on a griddle with red gravy or grilled onion and sauerkraut. At Wrigley Field, you have just a hot dog and just a brat. There’s nothing special about them, no diverse preparations – just plain old boring sausages. Some stands do have a few basic options, but most just give you a bare-bones dog.
Food Diversity:
One of the biggest differences between food at Wrigley and The Cell is food diversity. Wrigley just has your boring, stereotypical stadium food. Nothing really stands out about anything they sell. At US Cellular Field, every food stall and vendor sells all the foods representative of the south side of Chicago. You can get: elotes, churros, Italian ice, burritos, bao, Cuban sandwiches, Italian beef, Irish nachos, corned beef and rye, and deli sandwiches.
Outside the Park:
Cubbie fans pride themselves on having such an awesome bar and food scene in Wrigleyville as they continue slamming beers and paying no attention to the game. Let’s be serious here – The Cubby Bear, Billy Goat Tavern, and all those bars around Wrigley Field are just massive douchebag hangouts. Sure the bars and neighborhood are nice, but where is the true sense of baseball spirit when you are elbow-to-elbow in some half-rate bar surrounded by a bunch of bandwagon Cubs fans who don’t even care about the game; meanwhile the bartender completely fails to serve you because it’s too busy.
On the other hand, Bridgeport is a true baseball neighborhood. White Sox logos are displayed throughout the entire neighborhood. All along 35th Street, hot dog stands, t-shirt vendors, and small bars line every street corner. Everyone is easy-going, loves the game, and will talk to you for hours about baseball. For that reason, I call Bridgeport my home.
If US Cellular is so great why do they only draw 20k a game idioit boy? I’m sure this was an unbiased article. Any moron can use the myth that Cubs fan don’t know what is going on during the games….typical Sox fan. You my friend should be ashamed of yourself.
The Sox have a smaller following than the Cubs because they don’t have the international appeal, which is why Comiskey rarely fills up. Wrigley Field is also one of the only two remaining classic American ballparks left, which draws huge crowds because people want to see a historic stadium. The fact that they have an average 20k capacity is irrelevant to how good the stadium and food is.
Only thing I need to say to the remainder of your comments is this…… Last Place!
The 20k is directly related to the quality of food ya mongaloid! Think about it……people love Wrigley Fields hot dogs so they keep going and eat more! My Grandpa frequents Moe’s Cantina so are you saying he’s a douche bag?!?!? Keep your oscar meyer & kraft singles to yourself at Comiskey! HAHAHA
Ricky B!
peace
Oscar Meyer and Kraft? Have you ever been to a Sox game? Comiskey only serves Vienna or Bobak’s sausages. You can get them grilled, steamed, boiled, fried, or seared on a griddle with a multitude of toppings. No crappy Ball Park franks at The Cell.
I will say one thing.. Deuces and The Diamond is a pretty awesome club. Not familiar with Moe’s. The Cubby Bear and Sluggers are aweful though.
I’ve never been to Comiskey but I’ve been to U.S. Cellular! News Flash: Comiskey was the old stadium where the White Sox played. Maybe you should write a disclaimer at the top of the page so every one who is reading knows that this is going to be a biased article about how great the Sox are, written by a So called fan who doesn’t even know the name of the stadium they play in. GET REAL Buddy!
Yes, Comiskey was the name of the old stadium which was torn down in 1990. When the new stadium opened in 1991, it was still named Comiskey until 2003 when US Cellular bought the naming rights. Just about every Sox fan and non-Sox fan still calls it Comiskey. Lets put it in perspective. If the Tribune Company decided to buy the naming rights to Wrigley, would you call it Tribune Field or would you still call it Wrigley? Same stadium, just a different name. I have no need to put in a disclaimer about being biased about how great the Sox are because that’s not what this post is about. It’s about how the food is better than Wrigley, which is a well-known fact. Comiskey has the best stadium food in the entire country, and you won’t find one journalist who will say otherwise. One thing I should disclose is the fact that this post is a content marketing experiment, and seems to be succeeding. I wanted to write an offensive post to see what kind of engagement I can spark from readers.
1.) Technically, food being better would be an opinion & not a “well known fact”.
2.) You have clearly not reached out to every single journalist(i’m assuming you only mean sports journalists) to survey whether they think The Cell has “the best stadium food in the entire country” so myself and this Tony Balogne character will gladly source at least 4 journalists within 2 weeks to prove yet another fallacy in this “content marketing experiment”.
1) You will not find any stadium with as good or as large of a selection of food as Comiskey.
2) My content marketing experiment involves writing a provocative article to see how much user engagement I can spur. I’d say it’s working very well right now.
How many stadiums have you visited?
i bet its less than 30 which would maybe fall under 5% of the total # of stadiums in the country.
I’ve been to about half of baseball stadiums so far. I have plans to see the remaining half by the end of next season. You may find food bloggers and sports journalists who say certain dishes at each stadium are the best, but any that have been to all stadiums will say Comiskey has the overall best. Every stadium does have its own specialty foods like Japanese food for the Jays, that new 2 foot long chili cheese dog for the Rangers, etc.. Fenway has some of the best brats I’ve had at any stadium.
I’m talking EVERY stadium, not just baseball buddy.
Oh and I supposed if someone changed the name of the Sears tower, people would still call it by its original name? GEET RRRREEAAAAL BUDdy! It looks like your experimenting with hallucinogenics if you think US CEllular has a best food in the country! I’m pretty sure espn jjust had a tournament where fans were able to vote onthe best baseball stadium…. Why wasn’t “comiskey” #1?
They did change the name of the Sears Tower. It’s now called the Willis Tower, and everyone in Chicago still calls it the Sears Tower. Comiskey has the best stadium food in the country, but certainly not the best overall food in the country. There are numerous restaurants just outside of both stadiums with far better food. The ESPN fan vote is a purely biased poll. Obviously the voters can only vote on stadiums they have been to, and for most baseball fans, that number is one or two. The Sox have a fairly small following, so of course they wouldn’t be #1.
The Sox have one of the largest markets in the MLB. Maybe for once you will use some factual information before you make these senseless claims about your beloved Sox. I wish you were as good as providing reliable information as you are as a Market researcher…. GEEEEEZZZZ. HAHAHA
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe you may be referring to the team budget. In that case, the Sox have the 10th biggest budget I believe. Something like $110mil per year. As far as fan-base, they have a relatively small market mostly made up of people south of the Eisenhower, south suburbs, and northwest Indiana. They don’t have the international appeal like the Cubs, Dodgers, and Yankees do. Big reason Wrigley is also packed is because it is one of two classic American ballparks left, so people come from all over the world to watch the games and see the stadium. Fenway Park is the same way. The Sox lost a lot of that appeal when they tore down old Comiskey. The Cubs, Dodgers, and Yankee games are also broadcasted in several countries worldwide. Check out this map of baseball fans.
http://strangemaps.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/835641802_ef422b12cf_b1.jpg
Hey Tony Bologna, your an IDIOT!! Comiskey or Sox park or the Cell, whatever you want to call it has with out a doubt the best all around food to offer!
Yes I’ve been to both parks and Wrigley field (which I love to go to as well as the Cell) has a shit offering for food choices.
Oh yeah, can you say LAST PLACE CUBS!!
Couldn’t help but notice this Sox/Cubs blog and couldn’t agree with the commentors more. Its a common misconception that The Cell has better food based on the smell when you walk inside but in reality, Wrigley actually has better hot dogs. Plus, being a Sox fan, I know that most of my friends call it The Cell. There is a % of Sox fans who are over the age of 30 and half of them call it Comiskey still, but not many.
Go Sox!
Tommy Bizzle
My comments aren’t based on smells. I live right in the neighborhood, so I can have all the smells of Comiskey I want. I’ve actually tried almost every food offered at the stadium as well as Wrigley. Sox win by far. Also going along with living in the neighborhood, there’s not one person in Bridgeport that calls it The Cell. I’ve actually never heard anyone living south of the Stevenson call it The Cell before. I’ve had a Wrigley dog before, and it was nowhere near as good as the ones at Sox games. Of course I’m not talking about the vendor in the stands either. I was offered a Ballpark frank with ketchup at Wrigley…. ketchup? Only crazy people and Texans put ketchup on hot dogs!
The White Sox have an official tequila and the Cubs don’t. Game over. Sox win.
Lets not forget the Margarita vendor that walks around the stands. Gotta love Camarena
I thought those were for the ladies!! hahahaha
Sometimes the beer vendor just doesn’t get there in time, so an occasional margarita will suffice.
Have you ever been to either stadium or did you just look up a bunch of sponsorships
This is,all bullshit your wasting your time.
Of course I’ve been to both stadiums. I’m at Comiskey a few times a month, and Wrigley a couple times per year.
This also is not a monetized blog yet. Although I do offer sponsorships and stuff, I haven’t done any yet. I sold a photo once, but that’s it, so saying I write everything for money and sponsorships would be false. Everything on this blog was written because I felt each of these businesses deserved recognition or to be accosted publicly for failing the culinary world.
If you read my disclosure statement, you will also see that I was not compensated for any of my opinions, nor will I accept compensation for any such things.
Harrison,
Big fan of your blog you have here.
This is all hog wash….sox stadium has the worst lemon chill I’ve ever tasted. End of discussion!!!
Did you have the lemon chill cartons from the vendors in the stands or at the actual concession stand? The guy who walks the stands sells a standard corporate product which isn’t that good. The actual Italian ice concession stand sells homemade Italian ice made with real lemons. These stands are located in three spots on each level. Pretty good stuff, but if you want the best you will ever taste, go to Ferro’s at 31st and Wentworth.
Pish posh!! Oh next thing this guy will try an feed us is that the Food at Comiskey is better than the food at Olgilvir transportation center.
Food at Ogilvie is just a bunch of national fast food chains. Union Station is the one with a decent selection of food.
Geez all these Scrubs fans trying to trash this article. I guess having a last place, worst team in the MLB is making some scrub fans crabby ROFL!!!!! The Cell has better food and better beer. And several Cubs fans I know agree even though they hate the Sox. Plus Miller is the preferred beer in Chicagoland yet Wrigley sells crappy buttwiper beer.
buttwiper isn’t even an American beer anymore!
I cried so hard tonight as Anthony Rizzo came to bat! ….
Rizzo might possibly put the Cubs in 2nd to last place instead of last place in the NL
Great conversation to have but guys… We can’t confuse that great smells The Crll has with the great good Wrigley actually serves. Just being honest. The smell at The Cell wins every day but Wrigley knows what they are doing with there dogs. The Italian ice is bar none also.
How can Wrigley know what they are doing with their hotdogs when they serve Ballpark franks and ketchup is an acceptable condiment? Wrigley only recently got a contract with Vienna, but they still serve that Ballpark crap!
The only thing Comiskey knows how to cook are a bag of diks. And the fans love them. Especially Harrison ford
Been going to games at both stadiums since I was a kid. Last time I was at Wrigley I ate some pretty bland food and drank some tasteless domestic draft beers. For my money The Cell is where the good food’s at.
How can any of you say that Wrigley has better hot dogs? BALLPARK FRANKS! That is cheap low quality hotdogs! Talk about highway robbery! How the fuck are you going to say that is better!? Forcing ketchup on a “Chicago Style Hot Dog,” how is that a better hot dog!! I know most of the posters here love their “Cubbies” but let’s not stray away from what is a good hot dog. Just because you like the Cubs does NOT mean there is a better hot dog at Wrigley. I will say they have made a wise decision recently to contract through Vienna. But all those years of Ballpark franks and charging tons for it, is just fucked up.
All Hot dogs are low quality retard.
No you are a retard, there is a difference between a better made hot dog and generic hot dog, dumb ass! Think before you talk idiot
If you let anybody force ketchup on your hot dog, you are a weak man. Further, if you cannot accept the fact that ketchup is an option and maybe some people like a dog w/ only ketchup(and not mustard or chicago style) you need to get a clue. Maybe if you only eat 10 hot dogs in a year, you want to be smart and max out every time but a true hot dog lover will eat about 70 and there’s nothing wrong with about 5 of those only having ketchup.
Sack up or get sacked bro.
Thanks for the deuche bag comment “sack up or get sacked bro,” watching too much Jersey Shore eh? ROFL!
I’m not sure if it’s relevant, but the Cubs lost 17-1 yesterday. Doesn’t this call into question their judgment in picking good concession food?
So funny i forgot to LMAO
heheh
but no seriously, food has nothing to do with the loss yesterday.
toss up or get your salad tossed bro
Can’t we all just get along? This is why I hate sports!
It’s funny reading everyone in Chicago’s opinion on how crappy each stadium’s food is when neither stadium or team can even hold a candle to the legacy of your southern neighbors the St. Louis Cardinals.
Enjoy
Come rica park food sucks Big time! The Cell is the best in food and Quality of all products and baseball experience. I can’t compare to wrigley because I haven’t been back there since 1965 when you had to pee in a trough like a fuckin mule ……