49ers fan’s guide TO THE NEW FOOD CHOICES AT LEVI’S STADIUM
Italian, Asian, American, Mexican: Which dishes scored with our taste-testers?
If it was hard before to keep 49ers fans in the stands during games, just wait until they try the trendy new food selections available this season on the Levi’s Stadium concourses.
Levi’s and its new concession operator, Levy, have unveiled a Touchdown Terrace food court, which is intended to showcase Bay Area restaurants and smooth out the flow of lines at concession stands overall. Bonus: It’s shady here in the afternoon along the stadium’s outer ring from the 50yard line to the end zone near Gate F.
We checked out the new kiosks during a practice run at the stadium. Here’s what the Faithful who are foodies will find:
BARBACCO >> This San Francisco trattoria is heading down to Santa Clara on game days to serve two types of polpette, Sicilian meatballs. One’s made with pork; the other is a meatfree Impossible Foods version. Both come with tomato sugo and bread. A chopped salad with salami and other goodies is also on the menu.
THE CHAIRMAN >> Curtis Lam’s popular Asian street food truck is serving its signature steamed bun, a bao stuffed with misoglazed pork belly and topped with turmeric-pickled daikon. (If you miss the bao here, check www. hailthechairman.com for the
truck’s Bay Area lunch and dinner stops.)
THE COIN TOSS >> Every week, Levy’s chefs will put two dishes head-to-head in a bracket-style competition, with fans voting to determine the stadium’s next signature dish, according to executive chef Jon Severson. A Backyard BBQ Burger and a Bacon Jam Burger went head to head
during week one.
COPITA >> Look for tacos and margaritas from this modern Mexican eatery in Sausalito run by renowned chef Joanne Weir. Handmade tortillas will be stuffed with her 24-Hour Carnitas (braised pork with pickled vegetables and tomatillo-habanero salsa) or Chicken Tinga (with braised tomato and onion, plus
chipotle and avocado). The Copita Margarita combines Herradura Blanco with fresh lime juice and agave nectar.
LEVY-LEVI’S CONCESSIONS >> San Francisco’s famous Dungeness crab shows up on a pretzel roll, and there’s a new bacon-cheddar sausage from the Bay Area’s Silva Sausage Co. Some weeks may see the chefs offering up that sausage, or others topped with onions that have been infused in a reduced Shock Top beer sauce.
MICHAEL MINA GROUP >> Mina’s Bourbon Pub chefs already offer sit-down fare at the stadium, but their pitmaster will make brisket sandwiches (smoked 16 hours, served with housemade breadand-butter pickles) and pulled pork sandwiches (smoked 12 hours, topped with coleslaw) for the terrace booth.
ORGANIC COUP >> Erica Welton and Dennis Hoover, the Pleasanton folks who in 2015 started serving the nation’s first certified 100 percent organic fast food — yes, the title alone is a mouthful — will bring their crunchy chicken breast sandwiches here. A jalapeño-spiked veggie slaw tops the fried chicken.
SALT & STRAW >> This premium ice cream specialist will scoop three flavors at the stadium: Double Fold Vanilla, Freckled Woodblock Chocolate and a vegan Roasted Strawberry Coconut.
So what rose to the top? We put three taste-testers, all students entering Stanford Business School this fall, on the spot. (After all, they need to get used to making tough calls.)
Their verdicts
Sam Parker, a homegrown student from Menlo Park, said his favorite was The Chairman’s pork bao.
Bechir Pierre, a transplant from New York state, said he’d pick Organic Coup’s fried chicken sandwich.
Danny Reyes, who comes from Miami, voted for Barbacco’s meat-free “Impossible meatballs.”