Why You Need To Eat Your Way Through A Whitecaps Game At LMCU Ballpark

Baseball is America's pastime. There's something about the crack of the bat, the sun on your cheeks, and the organ playing that really makes you excited to be in the seats enjoying the game. But the best part of any baseball game... is the food!

I'll be totally honest; I'm not a huge fan of baseball as a whole. You won't catch me watching it at home, and I can't tell you any of the players names. But, I have such an extremely large soft spot for going to baseball games. There's something fun about being there and enjoying all of the audience between the endings, that makes me really get into the spirit of the sport.

But to be totally honest, the best part of going to the ballpark? The FOOD.

In fact, the Whitecaps pride themselves in being so good at their food game that they allow fans to vote on one of four options to join the menu every year. This year, it's their Gyro Nachos, which smell AMAZING.

So naturally, I came hungry ready to dig in to one of the dozens of options they offer.

I took a long walk along the stadium, and on the far side of the visitor's side I found the Sweet Meats BBQ stand. The smells coming from it were so good, I knew I had to skip the traditional hog dog and pretzel to dig into whatever came out of their smoker.

First up, a pulled chicken sandwich that was perfectly tender, smoked, and seasoned.

Bonus- they let you put your own BBQ sauce on via a cart next to the stand, so I knew it would have just the right amount of flavor. I hate it when I only have a cup's worth of sauce to try to make work.

Then, the most insane item on the menu at the Sweet Meats stand was the "poutine bowl", which runs $13.50 and could easily be a sampler platter for two people to enjoy.

Traditionally, Poutine is gray over some sort of fries or tots, but they entirely ditched that version and instead, just serve a bowl full of pulled pork, spicy cheese curds, pickle fries and waffle fries that would make Chik-fil-a reconsider their recipe.

Let's be honest, I could have easily stopped there. But, when you're at a minor league baseball game, you have to go hard. That's the point of the huge menu full of great takes. Next I wanted to move to dessert- I had to try one of their pride themed rainbow cones (a specific treat for that night with the theme, normally they're just single flavor)

And last but not least- while they're not crackerjacks, it's pretty vital to finish up a game with some popcorn (as a treat)

And while this selection of foods doesn't put a dent in the huge amount of options offered at LMCU Ballpark, it's reason enough to buy a lawn ticket and show up for some fun. Plus, their theme nights are great if you just want to go out and have an excuse to celebrate something other than Grand Rapid's own Whitecaps.

If you want info on tickets and their entire schedule, check out their website.