Food @ The Touchdown Club - New Meadowlands Stadium, NJ

Firstly, I must apologize for the long silence. We have been pretty busy lately and we have also been having some computer problems, hence the lack of new post. Anyways, all is well now and we are back. As promised, here is the long awaited post about the food available in the Touchdown Club at the New Meadowlands Stadium.
Prior to going for the game, I tried to search the Internet to see what kind of food is available in the New Meadowlands but was pretty shocked that there wasn't much about it. I found one or two press releases, remarks about the lack of choice available and mainly bad reviews about the food in the New Meadowlands. When we were actually there, we were pleasantly surprised. It was nothing like what we read in the reviews. There were a whole lot of food choices available (albeit a tad bit expensive) and I felt that the menu was very well thought out. There were the usual stadium fare like hot dogs, pretzels, nachos, chicken tenders, fries, clam strips, burgers, grilled sandwiches, BBQ sandwiches, cheese steaks, Italian sausages and pepper..you know, the usual stuff.
Apart from that, there were also regional food favorites available. From the press releases, it seems that before the grand opening of the New Meadowlands, Executive Chef Eric Borgia and Sportservice's President Rick Abramson hopped in a car and scouted the area for the best restaurants, serving some of the best local food. From there, they came out with this selection. I must say that they did a pretty swell job! Among some of the more popular local food available are the NY pastrami sandwiches, lamb gyros, Taylor ham and egg sandwiches, Italian roast pork sandwiches, red and white bean turkey chili as well as meatballs made from Chef Borgia's grandmothers recipe.
If you are not a big fan of regional favorites (how can you not be?!?!), there are also a whole lot of international food to choose from. There is a sushi counter serving freshly made to order sushi, freshly made pizza from the huge brick oven in the middle of the club as well as grilled meats from a special grill section.
Now, to all you Food Network fans...check this out! This is only available at the Club and Suite levels. Food Network developed a menu featuring a variety of gourmet hot dogs and salads., just for the New Meadowlands Stadium The menu looks so good but we didn't have a chance to try them out. There is only so much one can eat, right?
Apart from all the food available, there are also three sports bars as well as a wine bar serving all types of beers, wines and liquor. The best thing about the Touchdown Club is....no matter where you go, there are huge flat screen TVs all around. This is totally awesome, cos you really do not want to miss out on any action, while you are lining up for your beer or food.
Here's what we ate. Kevin tried the ever popular Nonna Fusco's Meatball Sub ($9) and I had the Grilled Steak Sandwich ($15). The meatballs were really out of this world! Very very good! Man, I wish I had Nonna Fusco's recipe too! :P My steak sandwich was yummy too. Juicy steak with some really crunchy fried onions on top. Our only negative comment was that the bread for both the sandwiches were a tad bit too hard. The small cup of draft beer that Kevin had was $8.75 and my extra large souvenir cup Diet Pepsi was $6. I guess I would have to agree that the food are a little on the pricey side but I guess if you are willing to fork out $400 for a ticket, what is $15 for a sub rite? Thank goodness for us, everything is on the company account! :P
After half time, we went up to the club area again to get some snacks. We shared a nachos platter, with cheese and salsa ($7.95), a braided pretzel ($4) and another soda ($6). The salsa for the nachos were awesome! Kinda spicy, with a little kick! The pretzel? It was yummy too, just like how you would expect from a NY pretzel (yes, it's the NY water that makes it so goooood!) Overall, I feel that the food selection at the New Meadowlands Stadium is really good (I really don't understand what people are complaining about!) and the quality is on par with some of the nice restaurants around this region. The only downside is that the prices can be a tad bit high, but then again, that's what you would expect to pay when you buy food and drinks at a sporting event, right?

NY Giants vs. Chicago Bears @ The New Meadowlands!!

Remember me blogging about getting Touchdown Club tickets for the Giants game earlier last week? Well, the long awaited game day finally came and we headed out to the New Meadowlands Stadium a few hours before kickoff time last Sunday. The weatherman predicted heavy rain starting from about 4pm (the game starts at 8:30pm). Since there is no roof at the New Meadowlands, we were praying real hard that it would hold til after the game. Oh well, I guess it doesn't really matter if it rains. People watch football in the middle of snowstorms, so what is a little bit of rain, right?

The club tickets that we got also came with Premium Parking Permits. That's totally awesome cos we get to park at the lots surrounding the stadium. Not only that, we also managed to find a spot really close to the stadium entrance. Very very cool! If we didn't have any parking permits, we would then either have to take the train (which isn't really all that bad) or we would have to buy parking permits off scalpers (the market rate is around $50!). Even with those parking permits, we would have to park like really far away from the stadium. So yeah, yay for us! :D

Since we got there early, we walked around to checkout all the pre game events that were happening around the stadium. Bud Light's Party Plaza was rather cool. They set up an outdoor bar and also stage for a mini pre game concert. Weber Grill also set up a BBQ Pit at the plaza and there were all types of BBQ meats for sale there. Of course, we could also buy beer from the Bud booths. Apart from the Bud Light Party Plaza, there were also all kinds of other booths giving out freebies. Toyota even had a photo booth where we can take a photo 'with' Eli Manning for free! It's more like we stand in front of a green screen and they superimpose Eli beside us :P Still, it's pretty cool!

After walking around for a bit, we decided that it's time to head inside to the Touchdown Club. It's pretty cool actually, not having to line up with the crowds to get into the stadium. We had our very own VIP entrance and stuff.

The Touchdown Club was really impressive. Huge ceiling to floor windows with views of New Jersey, New York City as well as the field. It was really big, with two bars, a wine bar, lounge areas as well as dining areas. Also, there were tons of flat screen TVs showing other live games that were going on in other stadiums around America as well as live feeds from the field. Security was rather tight though and we had to flash our tickets each time we went in and out of the club. I guess they had to make sure that non club seat holders don't make their way into the 'all exclusive' club (rolls eyes). There were all kinds of food vendors too, from NY style pastrami sandwiches to sushi to pasta. I'll have to write a separate post just about the food choices available in the Touchdown Club.

Ahhh, check out our seats. Pretty awesome right? We had a full view of the entire field! Also, club seats were larger, plushier and have more legroom compared to regular seats. We had to chance to check out the regular seats when we went for the Bon Jovi concert earlier this year. Boy, they were small! There was so little legroom that our knees were actually touching the seats in front of us. Ahhh well, I guess that's why club seat tickets cost $400 a piece! Still...I wouldn't pay $400 just to watch a football game, no matter how much legroom they gave us :P

It was totally cool actually, to be so close to the field. I started watching football back in 2002 and since then, it has always been my dream to go watch an actual game (of course, in that dream, it's Heinz Feild, not the Meadowlands! :P). To actually get to watch a live NFL game was just so awesome. Just imagine, I was so excited, just watching the Giants and Bears play. I wonder what would actually happen if I were to be given the chance to watch my beloved Steelers play at Heinz Field? Hmmmm, I think I would just pass out in excitement! LOL!

After eating dinner at the club (will blog about that later), we headed out to our seats, just in time to watch them introduce the teams. Those guys really know how to put on a show. Smoke, fireworks...the whole deal. That really got the crowd all pumped up! You can actually feel the energy flowing through the entire stadium. It's really hard to explain, you have to be there yourself. Definitely different from watching the game on TV, I must say!

After the coin toss, Kelly Rowland (from Destiny's Child) sang the national anthem and was joined on the field by 125 breast cancer survivors. It was part of NFL's effort to promote Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The whole campaign was to educate people that early detection saves lives. All women above 40 should obtain an annual mammogram. It was especially meaningful for me, since one of my favorite aunts is also a breast cancer survivor.

After the ladies left the field, it was time for the game to begin! Woohoo! With the Bears going into the game 3-0 and the Giants coming in with a string of loses, we were all geared up for an explosive game. The Giants needed to win at home! Guess what? The Giants didn't disappoint. Nine sacks at half time, how awesome was that??? I really felt sorry for the Bear's QB, poor guy. The Bears really didn't play all that well. I was surprised, considering that they have yet to lose this season. Lindsay (Kevin's boss gf) is a super huge Bears fan and I sort of feel sorry for her. It must be really tough to see your team sux so bad. Ah well, a true fan sticks by their team, no matter how bad they are playing.

During half time, 30 of the greatest and most influential men in the Giants 86-year history were installed into the Giants' Ring of Honor. They were selected by the Giants organization based on their contributions to the success and history of the franchise, whether they were players on the field, coaches on the sideline, executives in the front office or owners. All the recipients of this award were cheered on by the crowds, all except for Tiki Barber. The crowd went wild booing him. I guess the Giants fans were doesn't like the way he criticized their QB and coach after his retirement.

The rain started to come down pretty hard right before half time, stopped for a little and started to come down again at the end of the 3rd quarter. It wasn't really that bad, considering that it was supposed to start pouring at 4pm. We were prepared though. Kevin and I went out to Walmart earlier that day and bought four disposable ponchos for $0.88 each! Are we smart or what? :P As you can see from the picture, despite the rain, Kevin, Brian and Lindsay were still in very high spirits! :D

The final score...Giants 17 Bears 3!! Wow! The Giants really trashed the Bears this time around. I guess you always play better when you are at home, especially when you are so hungry for a win. The game ended really late and by the time we got home, it was midnight. We were actually really glad that we didn't take the train to the game. Brian and Lindsay took the train (took them only 20 mins to get there from Hoboken but more than an hour to get home!) and they didn't get home til after 1am! I guess there were just too many people taking the train at the same time.

We are really blessed to be given the opportunity to actually attend a live NFL game, let alone getting a chance to watch the game from club seats! We had a great time hanging out with Brian and Lindsay too. Thanks APL and McAllister for the awesome tickets. Maybe we can get a chance to watch the Steelers play the Giants next season! :D

* If you want to see more photos from the game, just head over to my Facebook album at : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=523807&id=842365095&l=39e77df9ad

Guess who is goin' to the Giants game this weekend?

Kevin and I are huge football fans. Sure, we like soccer. Baseball as well as hockey is cool too. However, we looveeeee football. Seriously, nothing comes close to football. Whenever football season comes around, you know where we will be every Sunday afternoon. That's right, in front of our TV, watching the game. We have always wanted to go watch a live Steelers game but getting tickets to a Steelers game is close to impossible (unless you are willing to pay really jacked up prices). Kevin's boss asked him a couple of weeks ago if we would like tickets to go watch a Giants game with him and his girlfriend at the new Meadowlands stadium. Like doh! Of course we would. Granted, it's not a Steelers game but the idea of getting to watch a live NFL game was just out of this world.
Look what Kevin brought home today! Yup, two tickets to the Giants vs Bears game for this weekend!! They are not just any tickets. They are Touchdown Club seats tickets. This babies cost $400 a piece! It comes with access to the club level lounge as well as premium parking. Boy, we are so excited. Not only do we get to go watch a live NFL game but we scored some really awesome tickets. Section 217, row 10. I went to the Giants stadium website and checked out the location of our seats. Wanna see how close we will be to the field?
Yup, that's pretty close!! I also love how we are right at the 10 yard line, so we can see all those touchdowns up close. So so so exciting. We will be meeting Brian and Lindsay (Kevin's boss and his gf) at the game. Since they are huge fans of the Chicago Bears, I bet it will be an interesting night. Six more days to the game....ohhhh, I can't wait!!!