New Vikings stadium makes few concessions on concessions fare

The Minnesota Vikings announced Tuesday the full lineup of concessions that will be available at U.S. Bank Stadium, and the list has a decidedly Twin Cities flair.
New restaurants to join the stable of partners include Prairie Dogs, Kramarczuk’s Sausage, R Taco, Murray’s and Tattersall Distilling. There also will be a booth the stadium is calling “Twin Cities Foodie” that includes an item from Shawn Smalley of Smalley’s Caribbean Barbecue in Stillwater, Tammy Wong of Rainbow Restaurant in Minneapolis and Matt Bickford of Icehouse in Minneapolis. There also will be a yet-to-be-determined sampling of State Fair Favorites, curated by Andrew Zimmern.
The new items were available for media sampling inside an event space in the new stadium. Memorable bites included what Prairie Dogs is calling a Skol Dog (a house-made hot dog topped with bacon jam, yellow mustard and purple potato chips), Smokey Chicken Nachos from Matt Bickford, a Jerk Bacon Sandwich from Smalley and Lemongrass Meatballs on a stick from Wong. Chef Thomas Boemer of Revival said the restaurant, which was one of the previously announced vendors, is working on putting real fried chicken on the menu. If they accomplish that, U.S. Bank will be the first stadium in the nation to have actual bone-in fried chicken on the menu, Boemer said. The restaurant also will serve mini versions of its banana cream pie at the stadium.
Zimmern, Gavin Kaysen of Spoon and Stable and Ike’s Food and Cocktails were available at the preview event.
Stadium officials previously announced that a wide array of local beers will be served at the stadium, including a portable cart from the Northeast Brewers and Distillers Association that will include beer from Fair State Brewing Cooperative, NorthGate Brewing, Insight Brewery, Sociable Cider Werks, Bauhaus Brew Labs and 56 Brewing.
In addition, beer from Stillwater’s Lift Bridge, St. Paul’s Summit and Lake Monster, and Minneapolis’ Surly, 612 Brew, Fulton and Finnegans will be available throughout the stadium.