Highly anticipated with high-end amenities, the Priority Club at Comerica Park is new, 13,000-square-foot, member-only space.
Tomahawk steaks with mashed potatoes and au jus.
Lobster rolls on toasted New England-style rolls.
Oysters Rockefeller.
Those are just a taste of the dishes Comerica Park premium seat ticketholders can expect at the ballpark's new Priority Club.
The Priority Club at Comerica Park, highly anticipated and loaded with high-end amenities, is a new, 13,000-square-foot, member-only space that debuts at the July 24 home game.
Located below lower-level seating, it's an all-inclusive space for food and drink, including premium climate control seating.
Priority Club members have a private street entrance, descend to the Priority Club entrance and walk down a staircase to the club.
There is no shortage of food choices.
Inside, fans can enjoy the space with high-top seating surrounded by a live kitchen with offerings from sushi to seafood to steak and pasta.
(A favorite for this food writer was the lobster roll and the Tomahawk steak.)
And for those who want traditional ballpark fare, there’s that, too. Fans can enjoy Ballpark hot dogs, Italian sausage, peanuts and Cracker Jack.
A very large full bar with a quartz countertop lines the back of the club. Included in the ticket price are premium spirits, craft cocktails like the new bourbon-based Batting Tiger and other cocktails and drinks.
From the premium seats, it’s a minute or so walk to the private club where fans can feast on various elevated food options at live kitchen stations while experiencing VIP benefits.
This new, beneath the home plate and lower seating level space, has been in the works for more than two years, Ryan Gustafson, Ilitch Sports + Entertainment President and CEO, told the media at a preview.
“Over the last two plus years, we've invested over $160 million across all the Tiger facilities from Comerica Park down to Lakeland,” Gustafson said.
Other investments included renovation of the home and visiting clubhouses at Comerica Park, an upgraded and larger scoreboard and new sound system.
Gustafson told the Free Press that this new space came from listening to fans.
“We heard a lot from our fans that they wanted an area that was high end,” Gustafson told the Free Press. “They want to entertain clients, they wanted to entertain employees, they wanted a place where they could go to have and drink that was in proximity to their seats.”
While offering upscale food such as Tomahawk steak from Fairway Packing, Mark Szubeczak, executive chef of Comerica Park for Delaware North Sportservice, said he’s excited about the new space, its new state-of-the-art equipment, and, of course, food offerings. Since adding the new space, Szubeczak said he’s doubled his staffing at Comerica Park.
“Each area is like a kitchen,” Szubeczak told the Free Press. There are great, great flavors all throughout … every station has something exciting,” Szubeczak told the Free Press. “The food is ready; we are constantly making fresh food. We are making small plates. We will be cooking, and we will just put up plates of fresh food. It’s more small plates and we are cooking live.”
At the Priority Club, Szubeczak said fans can expect rotating menu items throughout the season, so it’s not always the same items.
The all-inclusive space, Spencer Ambrosius, Ilitch Sports - Entertainment senior vice president of ticket sales and services, said is billed as a being able to leave your wallet at home from the time you park your car (parking is included) to the time you leave.
“It’s also a great place for networking,” he said.
The Priority Club is for Comerica Park’s 350 premium, climate-controlled ticketholders and 52 Loge Box ticketholders. Eventually, Ambrosius said, the plan is to expand to offer another 120 seats.
A wide range of prices is offered, starting at $350 each, Ambrosius said.
For information, go to mlb.com/tigers.
Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: [email protected]. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Comerica Park Priority Club: Here’s our food writer's favorites
Category: Baseball
