The Rochester Red Wings has a mouth-watering philosophy when it comes to the endless list of food offerings at ESL Ballpark.
“Food is fun,” says Jeff DeSantis, the Triple-A baseball team’s general manager of food and beverage. “People love the experience of coming to the ballpark and trying a variety of excellent food.”
Red Wings general manager Dan Mason has called the downtown stadium “Rochester’s greatest restaurant,” and he may be right. The “classics” remain, of course: hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries, chicken fingers, popcorn, and peanuts. But there’s so much more.
“You can come to seventy-five home games this season and enjoy a different entrée every time,” Mason says. “People remember what they ate much longer than who hit a grand slam or pitched a shutout.”
The Wings understand that, as a minor-league club at the mercy of its parent club (the Washington Nationals), the roster is ever changing, and the wins often take a backseat to player development.
“The game is a huge part of the experience, the focal point,” Mason says, “and food and beverage are the second piece to that. When we moved here in 1997, we decided to make food and drink a huge part of the fan experience, and we’ve been evolving ever since.”
This year’s additions to the lineup include a half-chicken dinner, specialty calzones each Wednesday, and a BBQ Sundae, which is mac and cheese, pulled pork, baked beans, coleslaw, and a dash of barbecue sauce, topped with a cornbread skewer.
Of course, nothing says Rochester like a “garbage” plate—hamburgers or hot dogs with macaroni salad, home fries, and meat sauce—and it’s a popular item at the Home Plate concessions booth.
There are also boneless wings, mozzarella sticks, and hot soup for cold nights, rotated throughout each home stand. Chicken noodle, New England clam chowder, and broccoli cheddar are very popular. “We had chowder when the Worcester Red Sox came to town in May, and we sold over twenty gallons for that series,” Mason says.
Jambalaya and fish fries are offered on specialty nights throughout the season. Mason says jambalaya is probably the most eagerly awaited item on the menu. “Fans clamor for it,” he says.
One of those fans is Pat Brown of Greece. A season ticketholder for three years, he’s a “huge fan” of the jambalaya and trash can—basically a smaller Home Plate in a cup.
“I love the specials they run,” Brown says. “Having different options available every day is fantastic. It means I’m seldom getting ‘the usual.’”
You wouldn’t expect linguini and clam sauce at a ballpark, but that luxury item has been offered. So have turkey legs and even a full turkey dinner, stuffing and all, for the annual Christmas in July promotion.
The Wings front office spends much of the long offseason brainstorming for new items to offer once the ballpark opens the following spring. “We see what other teams are doing and what the trends are,” Mason says, “but you have to know your own market. How can we take dishes unique to Rochester and put our own spin on them?”
Which is why the club doesn’t just sell hot dogs; it also has a foot-long Bruce Dog, named after the team’s beloved canine bat retriever (read our spring 2025 (585) Kids issue online to learn more about Bruce) complete with hot sauce and diced onions. And it is why it has partnerships with some of Rochester’s most popular, longstanding companies. Zweigle’s hot dogs (red or white), Salvatore’s pizza, and DiPaolo bread are served daily, and Coca-Cola has been a longtime partner.
“There’s nothing more Rochester than having a Zweigle’s hot dog at ESL Ballpark,” Mason says. “And nothing tastes better.”
Sandwiches are another popular item at the ballpark, and again, variety is king. There are a Black Angus half-pound burgers, Philly cheese steaks, Philly chicken steaks, Buffalo chicken steaks, fried chicken sandwiches, and Alto’s Italian Sausage, named after Red Wings legend Joe Altobelli.
“The Red Wings make fresh food right here at the ballpark, and it’s super delicious,” says Rochester’s Kelli Marsh, co-owner of the Roc Holiday Village. “The variety they offer is exactly what you want when you come to a ballgame.”
Mary Blasko has been a Red Wings season seat holder since 1986, when the team was still playing at Silver Stadium on Norton Street. She agrees the variety is king at ESL Ballpark (formerly Frontier Field).
“I sometimes have a hard time deciding if I’m going to visit Black Angus for a burger, Roc Nacho for chicken or beef nachos, or Altobelli Deli for a sub,” she says. “The chef, Keith Hillock, always has great specials.”
The ballpark includes nine inline concession stands, and around twenty portable booths. There are also three main picnic areas, four party suites, and two dozen rental suites.
The food is prepared in a spacious kitchen off the concourse. At about 3,600 square feet—the size of two average houses combined—the kitchen can handle heavy demand. DeSantis says that when the Red Wings pack the stadium in midsummer, his staff of more than 250 can cook 2,000 hamburgers in a single night, all made fresh.
There’s no shortage of desserts, either. Cotton candy and ice cream are popular old-time staples, but so are the newest additions—raspberry funnel cakes, ice cream nachos, and Red Wings gelato. “We are constantly evolving,” Mason says.
Fans need something to wash all this good food down, and they can choose from sodas like Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, and root beer but also pink lemonade, raspberry iced tea, and bottled water. Michelob Ultra and Bud Light are on tap, as well as fifteen craft beers, including Blueberry Ale, Cosmic Krush NEIPA, Highland Lager, Red Wing Red Ale, and Scotch Ale.
The Wings remain dedicated to the community, which is why the team invites nearly forty nonprofit groups to the ESL Ballpark to run the registers for certain games, bringing a percentage of profits back to their organizations. Last year, those organizations earned more than $200,000 in commissions.
If Mason has any doubts about the importance of good food at the ballpark, those thoughts are quickly dispelled when he ventures into the community during the offseason. “They don’t ask who’s batting cleanup or who our best pitcher will be,” Mason says. “They all want to know what new food and beverages we’ll be offering in the new season. It’s something they look forward to and we look forward to.”
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2026 issue of (585).
Views: 45
