What are the new foods you should look for at the ballpark for Opening Day

It’s a new year, new hopes for the team… and that means new food items to try out at Busch Stadium.

Our Food/Travel Editor, Suzanne Corbett met with Busch Stadium Executive Sous Chef Norman Taylor, Jr. and found out about what he and his team has cooking for the upcoming season.

Along with the great food, there are new vendors including Freddy’s. She is shown testing a sundae from Freddy’s.

Cardinal Eats 2025: Step up to the plate and eat up

By Suzanne Corbett, STL Sports Page Food/ Travel Editor

When it comes to ballpark eats Chef Norman Taylor, Executive Sous Chef at Busch Stadium, knows how to assemble a winning food roster. Just take a look at this year’s roster. It’s custom made for hungry Cardinal fans, starting with the ballpark’s culinary king, the hot dog.

“You’ve got to have a hot dog and you got to have a sausage. But we’ve done more than that,” Chef Norman said. “What we’ve done is taken our hot dog and topped it with arguably the most St. Louis things – house smoked brisket, barbecue sauce and fried onions to create our St. Louis Brisket Dog.”

The Brisket Dog shares the menu with last year’s winner, The Slinger Dog.  A dog that’s about as St. Louis that combined hashbrowns, nacho meat and two fried eggs in a big bakery bun. Other winners on a bun include two of Chef Norman’s new additions. Two different sausage links from St. Louis’s own G & W Sausage, a spicy Red Hot and a r winners Bacon Cheddar Bratwurst.

The Red Hot is topped with sautéed peppers and onions and spicy mustard while the Bacon Cheddar Brat gets layered with sauerkraut and finished with a drizzle of spicy aioli and toasted onions. Each are nestled in a Fazio oversize bun, which are baked fresh on The Hill.

Beyond the bun, Chef Norman reported the Asian Cafe was transformed into the Intentional Wok. Located in the Outdoor Grill area just steps away from Freddy’s Frozen Custard Stand, which serves a complement to Freddy’s 400 level operation, serving only frozen custard treats. Intentional Wok is a great option for fans who want to create their own bowl.

“Our International Wok that is a make your own rice or noodle bowl while offering a lot of Asian flavor choices. You pick either rice or noodles and your protein – sauteed chicken, tempura chicken or beef. Then you can pick your sauce – teriyaki, sweet and sour, zesty orange and an optional sesame seed garnish.” Chef also said fans can order up chicken eggrolls or steamed dumplings with sauce on the side, and pair it with bubble tea or a Japanese beer.

Other foods to taste this year at Busch includes those from Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic that are featured at Mayo Ketchup, a South American-Caribbean. A restaurant that makes its debut at Busch, located at section 168, which has been a favorite with Cardinal players for years.

“We have been a drop off caterer for the Cardinal Clubhouse, and we have had lot of ties to players over the years who come to the restaurant. We thought we would be a good fit and here we are,” said Mayo Ketchup owner Mandy Estrella.

Mayo Ketchup will offer beef and chicken empanadas, Cuban sandwiches, sweet plantains (fried and glazed with a sweet sugar glaze) and cheese arepas. Arepas is a grilled cheese stuffed and round corn cake. I consider it a Caribbean grilled cheese. All of these are favorites in Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

“There’s definitely nothing at the stadium that looks anything like the food we’re doing,” said Estrella who is excited to introduce her food to Cardinal fans.

To finish off a day of ballpark eats consider noshing on a cookie.

Make that a big cookie from Crumbl. Another hometown specialty that has made it to Busch for 2025 that offers four different kinds of fresh baked cookies. A four pack includes the peanut butter, chocolate cake batter with thick chocolate frosting, chocolate chip and a “gameday” flavor that will only be available at Busch Stadium. The flavor is being held until Thursday.

Finally, don’t forget to order the number one most popular food sold at Busch, nachos. Busch sells nachos than any other stadium in Major League Baseball.

“Cardinal fans love their nachos. And while I love to bring out new things each season, I know our fans are creatures of habit. We’ll always have the classics they’ll looking for, especially the nachos.”