Ranking the best new foods at Dodger Stadium — including the $40 forearm-long hot dog

Los Angeles Times

08-04-2025

'Hey, where did you get that?'
'Whoa, how much was that?'
'Is it any good? Can I have a bite?'
I couldn't walk more than three feet at Wednesday's Dodger game without someone stopping me to ask about my Slugger. I was almost as popular as the Ohtani bobbleheads that evening. Almost.
If you've visited Dodger Stadium, you've probably tried a Dodger dog, the garlic fries that stick with you for all nine innings and a helmet filled with carne asada nachos. But have you tried the new hot dog that's likely as long as your forearm?
It's called the Slugger, and it was Dodger Stadium executive chef Christine Gerriets' favorite new dish to develop this year.
'We went through a lot of different variations of sausages and I reached out to my vendors and I said, 'Hey, I need a wow item,'' she says. 'I need something that people are going to be talking about.'
The jalapeño cheddar sausage is 16 inches long, with the girth of the PVC pipe under my kitchen sink.
'It's definitely intimidating when you first see it and you're like, yeah, I'm not going to be able to eat this all on my own,' she says.
I shared mine, and made my way through the stadium to try a handful of other new items introduced this season. Here's a breakdown of where to eat while you watch our defending world champions. And for the full ranking, check out our video below.
This was the longest and slowest moving line of the evening, but nobody seemed to grumble. Diners were rewarded with a blue cardboard carrying case filled with a 16-inch sausage nestled into what seemed like an 8-inch bun, and a mound of fries on each side. The hot dog is smothered in cheese sauce, a corn relish, tortilla strips and a drizzle of cilantro cream. There is no graceful way to eat this, and the bun will collapse under the immense weight of the toppings. But the sausage is taut and blistered, full of melted cheddar with a punch of heat from the jalapeño. If you can find a plastic knife to cut the Slugger into four portions, there's not quite enough bun to go around, but there are enough toppings and fries to share. Just try to finish it in one seating. Weaving through the packed stadium crowd cradling my leftover Slugger was a challenge I'm proud of but not eager to repeat.
It's a generous bowl of fluffy white rice, creamy coleslaw and big nuggets of fried chicken. The chicken is coated in a thick gochujang glaze that subdues any crunch, but it's sweet and spicy enough to leave you licking your fingers.
This home plate-shaped box was one of the items Gerriets says she and her team 'upgraded' this year. Last season there were tempura vegetables. This year, there's a mound of white rice with teriyaki chicken, spring rolls, fried dumplings, blistered shishito peppers, sweet chili sauce and extra teriyaki sauce for dipping. Both the spring rolls and fried dumplings are crisp, filled with chopped vegetables and served hot enough to burn your mouth. The chicken tastes charbroiled, the shishito peppers break up the beige with some welcome green and the rice is a tad mushy but edible. It's enough food for two, if you feel like sharing.
It's loaded as advertised, completely blanketed in a hulking mass of macaroni and cheese, shredded cheddar cheese, green onions, fried onions, chopped bell peppers and barbecue sauce. Brisket is listed on the menu as the included shredded barbecue, but my potato tasted like it was covered in pulled pork. The spud underneath was more of a solid boulder than a soft, fluffy cushion. It could have used more time in the oven and was sadly bland. But the toppings were enough to save the potato from striking out.
This is a pastrami sandwich masquerading as a burger, with a pile of thinly sliced, lean pastrami that spills from the middle of the potato bun. The burger, its American cheese, lettuce, tomato and pickles get lost under all the pastrami. This is more of an observation than a criticism. If you're in the mood for pastrami, this is the burger for you.
It's tempting to go with the churro sundae. Each of the 10 people in front of me ordered it. But I implore you to try the sweet bread sundae at your next game. Originally listed on the menu as a sweet cheese quesadilla, fans expecting the Mexican-style quesadillas of cheese-filled tortillas were confused. It's a quesadilla Salvadoreña, a pan dulce comparable to pound cake. It's crumbled over your choice of soft serve, with a mountain of whipped cream and a drizzle of chocolate sauce. Though the quesadillas are typically made with rice flour, the Dodger version tasted like a cross between a corn cake and a cookie crumble that was slightly sweet. Equally crisp and chewy, the texture made for an excellent ice cream topping.
There's more of a whisper than a wallop of pickle flavor, but the tots are hot, fresh and crispy. And they come with two sides of ranch.
The Gindaco takoyaki chain has hundreds of locations throughout Japan that specialize in one of Shohei Ohtani's favorite foods. The franchise opened at Dodger stadium in March 2024 with different varieties of the battered octopus fritters. New this year are the takoyaki umami, with Kewpie mayo, dashi sauce and bonito flakes. The orbs are perfectly round, cooked in hemispherical molds until a crisp shell forms and the inside becomes a soft, custardy pancake studded with bits of octopus.
The crispy chicken katsu is properly lubricated with enough Kewpie mayo to make the condiment feel like an actual layer of the sandwich. It's a tall, decadent sandwich made even more lavish by the amount of butter on each of the five toasted slices of bread. The pieces of fried chicken are crisp patties of meat coated in golden panko. They're layered with bacon, tomato, an avocado spread and arugula. I will admit that arugula is a questionable choice of lettuce on a club, but the crunch of iceberg isn't missed and the arugula contributes a nice peppery flavor to the rest of the sandwich. And it's one of the more affordable options at the stadium. If you rearrange that fourth slice of bread, you can split the sandwich in two.