When I heard there was a new provider of food and beverage service at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, I needed to have a taste. I went there recently (June 26) when the O’s played the Cincinnati Reds before almost 30,000 people.

The O’s new food partner is Delaware North Companies Sportservice. I heard that the group’s food executives had done a lot of tasting of our regional fare and were intent on applying what they gleaned at Oriole Park. They spent a reported $11 million to redesign and improve service, installing new grills and other equipment so more food can be freshly prepared.

To run the new operation, they hired Joshua Distenfeld, a Certified Executive Chef with 25 years of experience. He has been the executive chef at Harrah’s Las Vegas, and more recently at Harrah’s in Chester, PA.

Distenfeld is accustomed to crowds and to crowd-pleasing. Walking through the stadium, the staff greets him warmly. Generally speaking, being at ease is a sure sign of a highly skilled food professional. He is clearly at home.

The general manager on site is Tim Stib. He and his family moved to Federal Hill last October so he could be near the park. Stib has been with Sportservice for 30 years, most recently as regional manager for the Phoenix region. I can’t even imagine the constellation of tasks he oversees and the number of miles he must walk during games days.

Stib is part of the team that rethought the design of the new concession stands. The company installed an up-to-date electronic system to improve the flow of food and staff. The Sportservice food and retail staff is about 600 people a game.

Imagine the logistics of getting tasty food, in great variety, to tens of thousands of people, with a window of only a few hours. The food has to be at the various stations throughout the park and the Eutaw Street Fairway. It must also be available for suites and individual seat orders in some sections.

As you might imagine, this is not Sportservice’s first rodeo. They operate in 50 professional sport venues. Their clients include the Boston Bruins, Chicago Bears, Minnesota Twins and New York Jets.

I have eaten at more sports venues than I care to remember, and most of the time, I have been simply grateful to have something adequate. After all, no arena advertises itself as “fine dining.”

Sampling the Fare

My first stop was at the Chop House for a taste of their signature steak and egg sandwich. It is made from thinly sliced, skirt steak, grilled right in front of you, topped with balsamic-infused sautéed onions, horseradish cream and gouda cheese, served on a soft hoagie.

As if this isn’t tasty enough, it is topped with a fried egg. I would order it without the egg, even though it was freshly made and was popped on after the sandwich was assembled. The other flavors are rich enough. I thought it was one of the ballpark winners and a hefty meal for $12, with a side of crisp kettle chips lightly seasoned with Old Bay. The chips could get to be a habit.

Another nod to Old Bay came with the Camden Yards crab cake. Made with a generous amount of lump crabmeat, lightly seasoned, sautéed and served with house-made tartar and/or cocktail sauces, fresh lemon slices, crackers and Tabasco. Crab cakes can be grilled soft or crusty, as you prefer. I will say that the taste and texture are reminiscent of the crab cakes served on the Eastern Shore.

At the Das Sausage Haus, Italian sausages, Esskay hot dogs and Natty Boh Brats are among the offerings. I couldn’t resist the Natty Boh Brat, the house specialty. The natural casing didn’t have the mouthfeel I was expecting, but the flavor more than made up for it.

There is also a standalone Polock Johnny’s Polish Sausage Stand. The sausages are made in volume for game days, and fans tell me that they taste like the real thing.

Kosher Sports Inc. provides kosher hot dogs and a changing variety of sandwiches, pretzels and snacks at a standalone cart on the entry level.

Boog’s BBQ can’t be missed. Pork, beef and turkey barbecue is available, as well as any combination of the three. This time I tried the turkey BBQ sandwich, slices of fresh, moist turkey with a dry rub that includes black and white pepper, and served, if you like, on a Kaiser roll.

You can add one or none of various sauces such as barbecue or horseradish. The baked beans are house made with bits of Applewood-smoked bacon, a sweet and vinegary flavored sauce, and beans that have not turned to mush. The coleslaw is made without mayonnaise and also has a bit of tang.

I have certainly heard complaints that Boog’s food is too dry and lackluster, but given the logistics, it exceeded my expectations and I would certainly order it again. You have to remember you can only compare ballpark food to ballpark food. No restaurant deals with thousands of portions an hour.

If there is anyone left who doesn’t know, Boog Powell was the first basemen for the O’s in 1966 when they won the World Series for the first time. He is usually at the Eutaw Street location during games for photos and autographs.

Naturally there are desserts at the ballpark. They include Berger Cookies, funnel cakes and Carvel ice cream. Tucked away on the club level is the dessert cart, with goodies from the cold-kitchen in the warehouse. Seven-layer carrot cake, crème brulée cheesecake, pecan tarts, apple tarts and chocolate cups to be filled as needed, with sliced strawberries and topped with cream.

The service kitchen, on the 4th floor of the old renovated B&O warehouse bordering Eutaw Street, is 1,000-feet long. All the food not prepared at each location’s stand kitchen is made there, such as pizza, and fried chicken. Cold food and sauces are also made there, and bread and other staples are sorted there.

The food is then rolled on carts across the connecting bridge across Eutaw Street to where it is needed in the ballpark. The 2nd and 3rd floors of the warehouse are the Oriole and ballpark offices. The 5th and 6th floors have various sized catering rooms.

Sportservice has catered everything from pre- and post-game parties to wedding parties with plated dinners for 300 or 400 people. Whew!

PS: It was happy night – Orioles 7, Cincinnati 5. Perhaps the Reds missed their hometown favorites, Skyline Chili and Graeters ice cream.