Las Vegas Ballpark is becoming a foodie heaven — PHOTOS

Las Vegas Ballpark isn’t getting caught up in the weird-food arms race that’s taken over baseball.

The home of the Aviators won’t be drawn into competing against the likes of the Trust Fund — a 40-ounce helmet filled with sautéed vegetables, grilled steak medallions, sturgeon caviar and steamed snow crab legs — offered by the Pensacola Blue Wahoos.

Nor will it try to out-indigestion the Three Dog Night — a hot dog stuffed inside a bratwurst that’s crammed inside a kielbasa and topped with sauerkraut and mustard on a hoagie roll — that was unleashed upon an unsuspecting world by the Akron RubberDucks.

“We don’t wanna get too crazy,” says Chuck Johnson, the Aviators’ general manager and vice president of sales and marketing. “We want to provide an elevated food experience. Something that people would like to eat. A wide variety of stuff. We have some fun things on the menu. But I think, for the most part, we want to have more quality and taste.”

New concepts

In terms of shock and awe, the closest Las Vegas Ballpark comes is the new Double Triple Play ($26): six smashburger patties, six slices of white American cheese, grilled onions, pickles and fry sauce.

“We tried to push the envelope as far as we could (without being) too egregious,” executive chef Antonio Coleman says.

Take the Spam Musubi Dog ($12), a Spam hot dog wrapped in sushi rice, served with pineapple relish, eel sauce and topped with furikake.

It’s part of the ballpark’s new Island Eats concept, spotlighting Hawaiian-inspired cuisine. That’s also the home of the ahi tuna poke bowl ($15) and the teriyaki beef ($14) and chicken ($14).

“One of our big new concepts happens to be our Tacos de Reyes,” Coleman says, “where we’re taking a trompo, we’re putting al pastor on there, we have pineapples we’re putting on, we’re letting the rotisserie go, and we’re cutting it right there in front of the guest.”

Carne asada tacos ($14) with grilled steak and al pastor tacos ($14) with rotisserie pork come with onions, cilantro, salsa, limes and rice and beans.

“That concept’s really taken off,” Coleman says. “It’s something different. We’re the first, I think, ballpark to have a rotisserie at a taco stand giving you the full experience of eating street tacos.”

Specialty items

There isn’t much Coleman and his staff can’t tackle. For some of the specialty items, though, it’s just easier to turn to local vendors.

“There are unique items that we would never think about,” Johnson says. “How do you make mochi doughnuts in a ballpark? Well, there’s somebody that made that their business.”

That somebody is Lilikoi, which also serves boba and horchata.

Pride of Philly Steaks, the local institution commonly known as P.O.P.S., is serving its cheesesteaks at the park for the first time this season.

“People eat with their eyes a lot, too,” says Brad Kleiss, director of operations for food and beverage. “There’s nothing better than coming into this ballpark, you look over, you see a pizza oven. It’s amazing the kids that sit there and watch.”

Custom Pizza Truck joined the ballpark in the middle of last season, crafting 10-inch wood-fired pizzas. It takes about 90 seconds to prepare each pie, then about 90 seconds for it to cook.

Other returning local favorites include BBQ Mexicana, with its burnt ends burrito, and Bowltastic, which serves up rice bowls and crispy lumpia.

“I think our concessions staff has done a fantastic job with bringing more outside vendors in,” Johnson says.

“It’s an opportunity for us to concentrate on those core items, with a little bit of experimentation, while we have these other items that are so unique and give the fans an experience that is (beyond) going to just a regular baseball game.”

Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4567.