Texas Rangers New Food Items: Some Hits, Some Swings and Misses

The World Series Champion Texas Rangers are set to host the Chicago Cubs in the season opener on March 28 at Globe Life Field. A smattering of single seats and some standing-room tickets are available. The World Series Championship banner will be unveiled before the game, so arrive early.

The Rangers are beefing up the food menu, as they've done since introducing the Boomstick in 2012. Each year the team's concessionaire, Delaware North, tinkers with the menu, trying to take things up a notch — a bat flip to a plain old hot dog. We got to try some of the new items recently and here's what you can look forward to (and avoid).

Concession logistics and "push-through" have also been updated. Delaware North has added three more Amazon "just walk out locations" and 10 Mashgin self-checkouts that use AI and cameras for touchless checkout. Also, mobile orders are available from seats for 90% of concessions. They've also added old-school vending machines for beers, soda water, hot dogs and more.

Whataburger at The Ballpark

First and foremost, there is a full Whataburger inside Globe Life Field, near section 105. This outpost will have many classics, including a No. 1, with the fresh-never-frozen beef patty, fries, onion rings and shakes. The obvious question is will one have to miss three innings to get food like in the drive-thru? Our guess, yeah, probably. But that's part of the appeal, right? To our point: Whataburger won't be ready for the first homestand but look for it in April.

Hurtado Barbecue

A highlight of eating at the ballpark is the inclusion of local vendors such as the popular Arlington barbecue spot, Hurtado Barbecue. Go sports and brisket! Hurtado's Milanesa taco was our favorite item we tried at a press preview. A thick slice of chicken-fried brisket is topped with creamy gravy and chile de arbol and served in a tortilla. The brisket isn't dry like you might expect; they make this work somehow. Bonus, this spot uses Amazon Express pay. Plus it's so popular they're opening another location in April on the upper concourse near section 201.

Arlington Eats

The Rangers and Delaware North try to give props to local restaurants. Arlington Eats is located near section 101 and will have a rotating lineup of Arlington-based restaurants including Prince Lebanese, The Tin Cup, Cartel Tacos, Ella B's Restaurant, Shrimp Doc and TJ's Catfish and Wings. These restaurants are all solid and we're excited to see them there.

The Boomstick Triple Play

The original steroid-injected culinary play at the ballpark, The Boomstick, is on defense now too. A three-tool meal. For $32.99 you can get a burger with two Nolan Ryan beef patties, Rico's Nacho Cheese, LTO and pickles; a foot-long chili cheese dog with grilled onion and jalapenos; and a nacho tower with chili, cheese, grilled onions and jalapenos. Section 132 is where you'll want to go. All of this is $33.

Ranchero Chile Relleno Dawg

This dog has some bite. For $16, get an Angus beef frank stuffed with queso, wrapped in roasted banana peppers and bacon, grilled and served on a Martin's potato topped with grilled onions. This is 4.5 out of five stars in terms of ballpark hot dogs.

Texas Tacos

If you've had some margaritas, this might seem like Taco Bell. A red shell holds a tortilla filled with taco meat, topped with a bit of lettuce and tomato. These are $14.99, but it's just a basic taco with a tortilla. Our shell was a bit stale, but surely they'll have all that sorted out by game time.

Korean Pork Steamed Buns

The pork inside the chewy buns is topped with a bit of fresh cilantro slaw, Unagi sauce and a drizzle of spicy mayo. It's serviceable, but also a wee bit hard to get behind with the Asian food within a mile of the ballpark. It's $15.99 (we hope that's for two), so if you want something unique, this is a good option.

Meatball Garlic Knot Sliders

If you really need some protein and want something decent and substantial to eat, track these down. An extra-large meatball is sandwiched between a tasty garlic knot with three to an order. The size of these makes for an awkward bite but this is a good problem to have. Three garlic knot sliders are $18.

Chicken Empanadas

Handmade empanadas are fried to a perfect golden crispiness with a nice amount of meat but we were surprised by an unexpected flavor mingling with the chicken: black olives. These come with Tostitos chips and salsa and are $14.99.

Golden Chick

Golden Chick has added a chicken and waffle taco to the menu. If your food mood board is mostly beige and lacks flavor, then you'll like this. For us, it was a tasteless dry chicken strip on a limp-ish waffle leading to a less-than-desirable mouth feel. A bit of bacon on the top was a feigned attempt to jazz it up. Just make sure you grab some drinks to wash it down. You can get two waffle and chicken strip tacos for $15.