Baseball season is over and we’re monitoring the indoor arena space for hockey and basketball food prospects.

If you’re a fan of games on ice or hardwood, there’s plenty to get you salivating during the pre-game, between periods or halftime feeding windows!

Let’s take a look at the vendors and their contenders!

Aramark is based out of Philadelphia. They do a wonderful job of driving unique flavors with their staff of locally-based executive chefs while also working to create unique dishes in conjunction with local eateries.

Aramark’s lineup of indoor venues:

• AT&T Center (San Antonio Spurs)
• Canadian Tire Center (Ottawa Senators)
• Capital One Arena (Washington Capitals/Wizards)
• PPG Paints Arena (Pittsburgh Penguins)
• Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (Cleveland Cavaliers)
• SAP Center (San Jose Sharks)
• Well Fargo Center (Philadephia Flyers/Sixers)

Aramark enjoyed a successful “Dare to Pair” program in its baseball venues. For the indoor season, they’ve created the “Eat Your Feed” campaign of items that gained favor among social media fans and videos.

This is a class of interesting prospects. We’d love to hear from fans in these locations who’ve sampled these products. Our hostess, Alison Shelton, is always ready to checkout new dishes.

We won’t list all the prospects here, but these definitely ended up on our radar:

First, Something About Mary nailed it when it came to predicting “meat in a cone.”

Meat.

Balled up.

In a cone.

I want to include a scene from The Sopranos here where Paulie Walnuts tryies to order an espresso and goes off by saying: “We give them the gift our cuisine and dis is what they do with it.” This is a family show so we’ll spare you the cussin’.

We digress…but….ah, the cone! Yes…will it insult traditional Italians? We’re thinking not, but you never know. Paul E.  Walnuts was a pretty strict guy…anyway, this bad boy comes out of San Jose, home of the NHL’s Sharks.

Meatball Cone (SAP Center): Meatballs awash in marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese (pronounced mooz-a-rell), crushed red pepper (nice touch that), a sprig of basil and a waffle cone. We’re intrigued as to what goes into the meatballs. Are they baked? Fried? Fried and then baked? We need to know! What kind of meat is used in the ball? Are there further spices? And then of course, there’s the Italian argument of do you call it “gravy” or “sauce”?

Who knew a cone of meat could raise to many questions!?

Aramark and Local Restaurants

Aramark also has some intriguing local restaurant tie-ups we’d like to explore, particularly in Washington. Ted Leonsis’ two clubs are rolling with three interesting local restaurant entrees.

As Aramark describes:

Federalist Pig (seen here): A two-time Michelin Bib Gourmand winner, Federalist Pig, is bringing DC barbecue to Capital One Arena. Fans can order a Texas Ranger featuring chopped brisket, crispy onions, and house pickles on a BBQ toasted bun or indulge in the Carolina on My Mind with pulled pork, coleslaw, crispy skin, and Carolina Vinegar BBQ sauce on a toasted bun. (Section 110)

Bun Papa: Alexandria, Virginia’s Bun Papa will dish out its Fried Chicken Sandwich, Big Papa Deluxe, Roadhouse Burger, and Papa Poutine to Capitals and Wizards fans. (Editor’s note): That’s the Roadhouse Burger pictured at the stop of this story, BTW. Ridiculous. (Section 120)

Takorean: With menu items that feature a combination of Korean flavors with Mexican flair, Takorean’s new location will serve up a bulgogi taco, chicken dak galbi taco, and hoisin tofu taco. (Sections 107, 432)

Korean food. In taco form. We’d eat that all day long! Order a couple dozen!

Washing it down in Washington

Need to wash it all down? Capital One Arena’s “Drink Mkt” is basically a grab-and-go beer-lover’s dream! Look at this place. The trick is to avoid indecision. Have a plan before you go in! Scout it out. See what beverages you like and execute a swift smash-and-grab! Take too long and you’ll trundle back to your seat just in time to hear the horn at the end of the period…and yeah, nothing is worse than getting stuck behind someone who can’t make a decision!

Attention all you wannabe Food Scouts!

Don’t know about you, but we’re slobbering already!

Have you tried any of these dishes? Send us scouting report!

Or….visit our pages on Instagram and Facebook to tell us more! Hungry scouts are always welcome!