Santa Clara's Hula Truck, a family-owned enterprise, will serve Poke Nachos and other Filipino fusion favorites at 49ers games this season. (Photo courtesy of Levi's Stadium)
The Faithful are also foodies, so Levi’s Stadium and its hospitality partner, Levy, make a concerted effort every year to offer craveable culinary experiences for those devoted Niner fans.
For the 2022-23 season, the offerings include a cherished family recipe for lumpia, award-winning pizza and a type of burger rarely seen in the Bay Area, plus dishes from other locally owned enterprises. And there will be more when the stadium’s in-house executive chef unveils his new menu this month. Here’s just a sampling:
NEW DISHES, RETURNING FAVORITES:
Sandi’s Food for the Soul: Santa Clara chef-caterer Sandra Dailey and her team will make her Cajun specialties, Seafood Jambalaya and Seafood Gumbo, both with chicken andouille sausage, and Four-Cheese Macaroni and Cheese, with or without bacon. Dessert time — that comes when the Niners first score, right? — calls for her signature Peach Cobbler Cups with whipped cream and caramel sauce.
Konjoe Burger Bar: Joey Camacho’s local enterprise, a Santa Clara favorite with a location at the Monticello complex across town, will be back with an expanded lineup this season. The breakout star is likely to be the Bodega Burger, a New York-style “chopped cheese” sandwich rarely seen in the Bay Area. Besides the burgers, which are made with grass-fed beef, you’ll find Hot Chicken Tenders and Savory Fries.
ChurWaffle: The Burgess Brothers of Sacramento are branching out this season with a BBQ Hot Link Sandwich, Crispy Chicken Fritters tossed in their housemade barbecue sauce and Loaded French Fries topped with pulled pork and cheddar cheese. They’ll be serving their signature item, the cornbread waffle, as a Strawberry Shortcake ChurWaffle and Peach Cobbler ChurWaffle.
Tony G’s Slice House: The Bay Area’s global pizza champion, Tony Gemignani, and his Slice House will expand to six stands at Levi’s. And he’s created a new themed pizza with a wild array of toppings. Called the Gold Rush, this pepperoni and applewood-smoked bacon pizza will be finished with … take a breath … gold and red peppadew peppers, hot honey, ricotta, green onions, oregano, garlic oil AND grated romano.
Hula Truck: The Gorospe family’s Santa Clara-based business has been expanding to Bay Area venues with a Pacific Island/NorCal fusion lineup. Think Poke Nachos, gluten-free Poke Rice Bowls and the popular, secret-recipe My Mama’s Lumpia, filled with ground pork, shrimp and water chestnuts. Finish off the meal with Dole Whip or Spiked Dole Whip, as in Malibu rum.
The Shop by Chef Baca: This San Jose chef, a comfort-food specialist, will make two easy-to-eat-at-your-seat sandwiches, both on sourdough rolls. The Asiago Meatball Sub features San Marzano tomato sauce, caramelized onions, cashew pesto sauce and provolone cheese, and The Italian drizzles housemade dressing atop the layers of salami, mortadella, capicola, provolone and pepperoncini.
Smoking Pig: Paul Reddick and his restaurant team — they’ve been one of the South Bay’s biggest barbecue draws for the last decade — will fire up the pits early and head to the stadium to prepare brisket, pulled pork and chicken sandwiches. New this season will be the Superb Nachos, piled with your choice of those smoked meats.
Super Duper: This San Francisco-born chain will be back at Levi’s with its Super Burgers and Mini Burgers made with vegetarian-fed beef from family-owned ranches. For the non-meat-eaters in the crowd, there’s a Veggie Burger with an unusual topping, hummus, plus cucumber and Super Sauce. Garlic Fries are studded with fresh garlic and aged cheddar.
Starbird: These folks helped launch the local fried chicken mania back in 2014 in Sunnyvale, then expanded throughout the Bay Area. This season, they’ll be serving Crispy Chicken Tenders, which are cooked in non-GMO rice bran oil and accompanied by housemade sauce (Star Sauce, Greek Yogurt Ranch, Honey Mustard or Honey Chipotle BBQ), and squeezing fresh lemonade.
The Chairman: Curtis Lam’s popular Asian street food truck, based in San Francisco, will offer its signature bao stuffed with miso-glazed pork belly and pickled daikon, along with buns stuffed with karaage chicken, spicy chicken and miso-cured tofu.
COMING SOON:
Levy chefs at Levi’s: The menu isn’t quite ready for primetime, but the stadium’s executive chef, Jon Severson, and his Levy staff have spent the summer creating new dishes starring farm-fresh produce and herbs from the Faithful Farm on the stadium’s roof.
Originally published at Linda Zavoral