Take Me Out to the ... Trendy New York City Restaurant?

NEW YORK -- It's a pleasant spring day here -- the kind of day that makes us think/hope/pray/beg to somebody that this most miserable of winters might soon, finally, at long last be over. So in the spirit of spring, I went to a ballpark.

Specifically, I went to Citi Field, which is the new home of the New York Mets. (They've got two new ballparks set to open in New York in the next couple of weeks, in case you hadn't heard.) They didn't have a game at Citi Field today, but they did have the next best thing you can find at a ballpark -- food.

Oh boy do they have food at Citi Field.

Mets Chief Operating Officer Jeff Wilpon, who's beaming about his gorgeous new ballpark, had the idea during its construction to get together with some prominent New York City restaurateurs to handle some of the concessions. The first guy he approached was Danny Meyer, whose Union Square Cafe and Gramercy Tavern are New York institutions and who's hit it big lately with hot spots like Shake Shack and Blue Smoke. If you're not a New York City regular, these names might not mean a lot to you. But if you're in town and you're going to a Mets game, you'd do yourself a favor if you dropped by the "Taste of the City" section behind the center field scoreboard and lined up for a Shackburger and some Box Frites (pictured).

The Mets hosted a food tasting at Citi Field this afternoon. Meyer was there, along with fellow New York City chefs Drew Nieporent and Dave Pasternack, who also have hooked on to provide high-end concession stand food. The Mets did a full-on press conference, introducing each chef and outfitting each in his own Mets jersey with name on the back.

"All of us who love food, we love food no matter where it is," Nieporent said. "We love food on airplanes, and we love food at the ballpark."

And with that came the tasting. Food was piled up all around the "Caesar's Club," one of several high-end dining options that'll be available to Mets ticketholders wandering around the new ballyard prior to first pitch. Your faithful correspondent was there on your behalf, dear readers, and so he made it his mission to try as much of it as he could.

The rundown:

-- Korean short rib salad -- grilled short ribs over bok choy, soy bean sprouts, soy beans, mushrooms, carrots, rice wine and minin vinagrette, among other things. Served cold. Tender. Tasty.
-- Heritage pork porchetta over sauerkraut with kielbasa. Nieporent mentioned this dish specifically as one of which he was especially proud. Easy to tell why.
-- Macaroni and white cheddar with pancetta. Mmmmm. Sorry. Need a moment. Just remembering this one is a religious experience.
-- Fried flounder sandwich and Long Island clam and corn chowder, from Pasternack's "Catch of the Day." Very nice. Nice enough to make me go back during a game for the lobster roll or the shrimp po'boy, neither of which was in attendance today.
-- Pulled pork sliders and skirt steak tacos from Blue Smoke barbecue.
-- The Shackburger and Frites. The piece de resistance.

There was also sushi (Nieporent is renowned for Nobu) and something called a "shrimp dog," which is a hot dog, but with shrimp. And there were Nathan's hot dogs and Brooklyn burgers and pizza and sweet and spicy chicken tenders and a bunch of stuff that screams "New York" and is going to be available in more than just a couple of ballpark locations. But I was getting a bit full, and I have a sweet tooth. So for me it was off to the chocolate pot du creme with orange tuile, which was a delectable capper and didn't tast like anything else I'd ever had at a ballpark before. It was halfway through dessert that I had the idea to bring my wife to a Mets game this year on a date, if only to eat.

Maybe it's this winter hanging on too long, or maybe it's baseball season getting so close, but yeah. My mind was a little loopy like that.

Anyway, these are the Mets, who always try so hard and yet always seem to end up in the shadow of that bigger, pinstripier, more legendary team that plays eight miles away in the Bronx. And so you look around, when you go to Citi Field for these events where they're trying to show it off, and you seek out the places where they missed. The Mets always seem to miss -- to come up just short, in spite of how hard they try.

But I don't know about this one. Walking around Citi Field, which had a soft opening Sunday with a college game between St. John's and Georgetown and will host a pair of exhibition games against the Red Sox this weekend in advance of its April 13 regular season opener, it's hard to find fault.

The Yankees' new place would appear, from driving past it on the Major Deegan Expressway, to be a gleaming, over-the-top palace with marble and gold touches all around. But the Mets ... they've built themselves a beautiful new ballpark with wide concourses and good sight lines and a quirky, almost ridiculous-looking outfield fence. Everybody connected with the place looks as proud as a new father or mother, and they should be. The new place is everything Shea Stadium was not. It's warm. It's comfortable. It's attractive. And this afternoon, it was flat-out delicious.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I really do need to get out for a run ...