[Trip Report!] After A 5 Year Hiatus, A Kosher Stand Will Return To Cleveland Baseball Games!

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Visiting Cleveland? Check out the Cleveland Master Thread’s Wiki on DDF here and the Guardians’ upcoming schedule here.

Update, 8/6: Today was my first day to enjoy the kosher stand. While I have the awesome Capital One seats for later this week, our Kosher Antarctica Cruise mashgiach (and record holder for the southernmost siyum?) Moishe Paskesz decided to pop into town to visit me and our Kosher Antarctica Cruise caterer and Mendel’s KC BBQ GM Shua Lurie.

I sniped some last-minute bargain priced seats on SeatGeek and enjoyed the best ballpark food (by far!) that I’ve ever had! Well, excluding feasting on Prime Rib at Yankee Stadium’s Legends Suites.

The kosher stand is located behind section 156, right behind home plate: 

The soft-launch menu includes a hot dog, po-dog, pastrami dog, and Reuben wrap:

The stand was operated today by Rabbi Solly Evenchik, who was very impressive with his calm and cool demeanor in making the food and taking orders, even with fans lining up to buy hundreds of dogs today.

Working behind the scenes was also stand owner Rabbi Mendel Segal and his son Donny.

The stand is certified by Cleveland Kosher:

The Pastrami dog is a delicious bargain for $13. It’s loaded up with Mendel’s hot pastrami that is brined for more than a week and then smoked overnight, along with delicious caramelized onions.

The Po-Dog was $12 and is also excellent. It’s a polish sausage loaded with sauteed onions and peppers and Mendel’s award-winning bbq sauce.

I didn’t try the regular hot dog or the Reuben wrap yet, but I’m sure I’ll get to those as well.

The stand sells snacks, drinks, and canned beer, though I’d highly recommend trying out locally brewed Fat Head’s beer, offered on tap at stands throughout the ballpark, including at the Fat Head’s beer garden next to the team shop, near Mendel’s stand.

Enjoying an Fat Head’s Head Hunter IPA at the game today with Moishe Paskesz:

Originally posted on 7/20/23:

Cleveland’s Jewish community has been growing exponentially over the past several years. That’s thanks to its low cost of living, warm and friendly community, safe suburban neighborhoods, excellent schools, short commute times with low traffic and plenty of parking, a revitalized core on the water with several sports teams and world-class museums, and private school tuition vouchers.

But a sore subject has been Kosher restaurants, which is something I’ve been working to fix over the past few years.

Those efforts are now bearing fruit.

Earlier this year, Mendel’s KC BBQ opened in Cleveland, and it’s been an incredible success story. The dining room there is packed night in and night out as Clevelander’s finally have a kosher restaurant they can go out to and enjoy mouth-watering food and drinks in an upscale setting.

The Cleveland Indians had a kosher-certified hot dog stand at Jacob’s Field from 1998-2018. In the early years they were served with delicious fried onions, though even in the later years it was fun to grab a hot dog and a local beer at the ballpark.

Sadly, it was closed before the 2019 season due to a financial dispute between the Indians’ concessionaire and Cleveland Kosher.

The final hot dog from the previous kosher stand on 10/8/18, with my Great Uncle’s founded Bertman’s Ball Park Mustard and incredible Bertman’s Beer Mustard:

I don’t usually believe in petitions, but I started one in May of 2019 to bring back kosher dogs to the ballpark. It got the Indians’ attention around the All Star Break that year, when they caught flak for not having a kosher stand starting in the same season as they had agreed to ditch Chief Wahoo in order to land the All-Star Game.

Alas, there have been many roadblocks, negotiations, and dead-ends since mid-2019. But now with the game-changing Mendel’s KC BBQ in town, it was clearly time to make a match made in heaven. Earlier this year I connected the Guardians, the Guardians’ concessionaire, Cleveland Kosher and Mendel’s BBQ and we had an awesome meeting with Mendel Segal and Shua Lurie showing off their potential custom dishes and enthusiastic plans.

I spoke to the Cleveland Jewish News last month about the exciting developments.

It’s baseball and kosher food, how could I not help make that happen?

And now the Guardians have given Mendel’s the green light to open a stand in Progressive Field. That was no easy feat as in the past Delaware North, the Guardians’ concessionaire, fully owned the stand. Additionally, Progressive Field already has another vendor with exclusivity on BBQ food. Plus, naming other competing cities with ballclubs, as in Mendel’s KC BBQ, meant that both KC and BBQ had to be ditched.

No matter. Come next week, Mendel’s Dogs and Deli will have their soft opening at Progressive Field, in a prime location behind home plate near section 157.

• The soft-opening menu and intro pricing (subject to change) will be:
  • Hot dogs: $7.50
  • Po-Dogs: $12 (A polish sausage with sauteed onions and peppers with Mendel’s award winning bbq sauce)
  • Reuben wrap: $13 (With Mendel’s Pastrami that is brined for more than a week and then smoked overnight, served with sauerkraut, Russian dressing, and vegan cheese, on wheat wrap)
  • Pastrami dogs: $13 (Hot dog topped with Mendel’s hot pastrami and caramelized onions).
  • Chips, pretzels, popcorn, candy, peanuts, drinks, and beer will also be sold as the stand.

Pictures supplied by Mendel’s:

Major props go out to Shua, Mendel, Delaware North, and the Guardians for making this a reality!

Where else can you enjoy a sports game with kosher food in North America? Here’s a list from DDF, please post if you have any updates!

• Baseball-MLB:         
  1. Baltimore Orioles (Temporarily closed due to staffing issues)
  2. Boston Red Sox (Dairy and meat hot vending machines)
  3. Chicago Cubs
  4. Cleveland Guardians
  5. LA Dodgers
  6. Miami Marlins
  7. NY Mets
  8. NY Yankees (Kosher stand, plus Legends catering available in Legends Suites, Champions Suites, Delta Suites, Jim Beam Suites, and Field MVP Club)
  9. St. Louis Cardinals
  10. Toronto Blue Jays
  11. Washington Nationals

• Baseball-Minor leagues:   
  1. Brooklyn Cyclones
  2. Worcester WooSox

• Basketball:         
  1. Boston Celtics
  2. Brooklyn Nets
  3. Chicago Bulls
  4. Houston Rockets
  5. LA Clippers (Boxed meals)
  6. LA Lakers (Boxed meals)
  7. Miami Heat
  8. NY Knicks
  9. Philadelphia 76ers
  10. Toronto Raptors

• Football:         
  1. Baltimore Ravens
  2. Chicago Bears
  3. Detroit Lions
  4. Miami Dolphins
  5. New Orleans Saints
  6. NY Giants
  7. NY Jets
  8. Philadelphia Eagles
  9. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

• Hockey:     
  1. Boston Bruins
  2. Chicago Blackhawks
  3. Florida Panthers
  4. LA Kings  (Boxed meals)
  5. NJ Devils
  6. NY Rangers
  7. NY Islanders
  8. S. Louis Blues
  9. Toronto Maple Leafs

• MLS Soccer
  • New York City FC

Now I’m back off to enjoying a ballgame in every MLB park!

Where are your favorite kosher stands at a stadium?

Actual footage of @CleGuardians fans finding out that a kosher stand will be coming to Progressive Field. pic.twitter.com/p3OfTj52p6

— DansDeals (@DansDeals) July 21, 2023