One of the toughest decisions when coming down to the ballpark with friends and family is deciding where to grab a bite to eat before the game.
Executive chef Gary Davis and the Delaware North staff are here to appease your game day stress and make that decision for you -- just come straight to Great American Ball Park!
With Opening Day just under a week away, Davis and his crew fired up the grills, assembled their freshest ingredients and put their new menu on display to delight the tastebuds of local media at the annual food preview at the ballpark.
“This media day for the Reds leading up to Opening Day makes everyone realize that baseball is back and gets everybody excited,” Davis said. “People get to see the food, and then there are 43,000 fans coming back here next week who are going to be like, ‘I saw that!’ and they're going to want to have it. So it's an awesome event to be a part of and it’s a really exciting day for me.”
Preparing over a dozen new food options for the 43,000 that will enter Great American Ball Park on Opening Day and the two million or so that will come through the gates in 2026 doesn’t happen overnight. That preparation starts long before Opening Day and never truly stops. Whether it’s benchmarking other sports teams, putting new spins on existing dishes or concocting original ideas of their own, the DNC wheels never stop turning.
“We still had items we were adding up until last week. It takes from the end of the baseball season last year all the way up until now to come up with these items,” Davis said. “Trust me, I did not think of all this. I have a great team of chefs and front of the house managers that had a lot of input and helped me come up with a lot of these different offerings for the upcoming season. So that’s what you have today is a collaboration between the whole team here at Great American Ball Park.”
This year’s menu introduces 14 new options ranging from ballpark staples like dogs, burgers and nachos to street bowls, tacos and fries -- all with some special flare that you can only find at the home of the Reds.
In previous years, there has been a particular dish that Davis has accurately predicted will become a fan favorite for that season. The Skyline Chili Nachos debuted to rave(nous) reviews in 2023. Last season fans might remember the Redlegs BBQ Walking Taco featuring a collaboration between Cincinnati favorites Grippo’s and Montgomery Inn. This year? A fun, smoky take on a ballpark classic.
“I think one of the things that fans are going to like the most is the Stadium Burnt Ends. It's a hot dog that's been cut in multiple ways, fried really hard, tossed with barbecue sauce, hit with barbecue rub, and finished off with white barbecue seasoning and pickled red onions. It is really, really good. And it's the closest thing that you can get to barbecue but is still a hot dog.”
Say less; you had me at hot dog and fried. And for the non-carnivores, look no further than the Tofuego Tacos.
"The tofu is cooked with chipotle peppers and includes pickled red onions, cotija cheese and jalapeno aioli. It’s got this really incredible taste," Davis said. "You can’t even tell it’s tofu, it tastes almost like chicken. It’s probably one of the best vegetarian dishes I’ve ever made."
After fans enjoy a nice entrée and wash it down with one of the many drink options (including the new Ballpark Beer collab with Braxton Brewing Company for ages 21+), it will be time for dessert to finish off the ballgame. And boy does GABP have something in store that may very well keep you seated during the seventh-inning stretch: the Double Player Donut Parfait.
Cinnamon sugar donuts, house made banana pudding, vanilla wafers, Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, whipped cream and caramel sauce.
Mic drop.
“Our assistant general manager Ryan Spangler comes from another DNC location where they had a lot of desserts,” Davis said. “We had a conversation about it and even our general manager Andy [Worden] was like, ‘Listen, we have to do a really big dessert.’ So, we talked about these donuts, and then we wanted banana pudding. We combined the two, and this is what we got: the best of both worlds. It is really good, and it will feed four of you.
“We really thought about this. We wanted to have something big, we wanted to have one of those items that people would come to the ballpark and seek, and we knew this item would do it.”
When you come to Great American Ball Park, leave your diet at the entrance and in the words of Tom Haverford and Donna Meagle, “Treat Yo Self!”
Here are some of the featured items you can find at Great American Ball Park this season:
• Queen City Classic Burger: Double all beef smash burger topped with American cheese, special sauce, lettuce and tomato on a potato roll with colossal crisp fries. (Fan Zone Food Hub near section 130)
• Queen City Crunch Burger: Double all beef smash burger topped with pimento cheese, crushed Grippo chips and pickles on a potato roll with colossal crisp fries. (Fan Zone Food Hub near section 130)
• G.L.T. (Goetta, Lettuce & Tomato): Crispy Glier's goetta patty with shredded lettuce, sliced tomatoes, pickles, American cheese and Woeber’s horseradish aioli on slider buns. (Food Bars near sections 129 & 416)
• Glier’s Goetta Nachos: Glier’s goetta crumbles with Funacho cheese sauce, chipotle sour cream and pickled jalapenos over tortilla chips. (Available at the Food Bars (sections 129 & 416)
• Stadium Burnt Ends: Bar-S southwest-style sausage pieces fried with a sweet BBQ rub and sauce topped with pickled red onions and a white BBQ sauce. (Scouts Club and Porkopolis near section 412)
• The Cincy Heat: Hempler’s double smoked sausage with Italian braised peppers and onions with Woeber’s whole grain mustard on a hoagie roll. (Food Bar near section 109)
• Hempler’s Jalapeno Cheddar Cajun Bowl: Hempler’s jalapeno cheddar sausage bites with sautéed peppers and onions on dirty Cajun rice topped with a Cajun cream sauce. (Food Bar near section 109)
• Smoked Brisket Street Corn Bowl: Montgomery Inn smoked brisket with Mexican street corn, pickled red onions, jalapenos, Cotija cheese and BBQ sauce. (Mr. Red's Smokehouse near section 138)
• White Chicken Chili Fry Box: Grilled chicken, hatch green chili queso, white beans, sour cream, pickled red onions and cilantro on colossal crisp fries. (Frybox near sections 137 & 534)
• Frito Chili Fry Box: Vegetarian Frito chili, Funacho cheese sauce, crushed Fritos, pickled jalapenos and ranch sauce on colossal fries. (Frybox near sections 137 & 534)
• Wings & Rings Boneless Wings: Boneless chicken wings with your choice of garlic medium or honey barbecue sauce. Ranch and blue cheese available upon request. (Food Hubs near sections 112 & 130)
• Tofuego Tacos: Three flour tortillas topped with chipotle shredded street tofu, jalapeno aioli, cilantro, pickled red onions and Cotija cheese. (Scouts Club and Los Rojos Taco Cart near section 128)
• Baby Ruth Brownie Sundae: Baby Ruth chocolate brownies topped with soft serve ice cream, caramel syrup and whipped cream. (Rosie’s Ice Cream Stands near sections 132 & 413)
• Double Play Donut Parfait: 12 cinnamon sugar donuts with house made banana pudding, vanilla wafers, Cinnamon toast Crunch, whipped cream and caramel sauce. (Mr. Red's Smokehouse near section 139)