SEATTLE — The return of football season and the Seattle Seahawks also means the launch of new delectable, eclectic foods on game day within the stadium.
Lumen Field hosted its Taste of Lumen event Tuesday, giving media members a sneak preview of some of the excellent options its menu will have for fans on Seahawks game day.
“When you come here to Lumen Field, you go down to Section 122, and you’ll experience some of the great food that we have from Legion Sports Bar,” Seahawks legend and Legion Sports Bar founder Kam Chancellor told MyNorthwest. “We decided to bring the Bam Bam Smash Burger here. We brought the Seattle Smash Burger. We brought some of our Legion cajun fries and our cajun shrimp.”
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The Bam Bam Smash Burger — named after Chancellor’s NFL nickname “Bam Bam” — and fried shrimp were two of the most popular food items there. Smash burgers are having a moment in Seattle, and Chancellor believes it’s because they are as familiar to the public as they are to him.
“For me, I love smash burgers because it kind of emulates the type of play that I had when I was a player. You know my little gavel? I smashed the gavel down, so I’m smashing burgers down. I love that, and that’s my whole play on the smash burger.”
But creating a dense menu that has something for everyone is a lofty goal for the team at Lumen Field, something that Sean Borst, Senior Executive Chef for Lumen Field, takes very seriously.
“I think our guests nowadays are really food educated and they’ve eaten all around the world,” Borst said. “It is really important to have something where it’s not just hamburgers and hot dogs. That we’ve raised the game. The options have to be vast. They have to be creative.”
The menu isn’t the only thing that takes considerable planning.
“We’re feeding 70,000 people at once, so it’s a big operation,” Borst said. “This takes months of logistic trade, like working out all the kinks, and then it’s a good week of getting everything prepped because you have sweets, concessions, catering, media, everybody under the sun.”
The whole operation requires approximately 3,000 people in order to make Borst’s goal happen — for the entire stadium to leave with full bellies.
There’s even a twist on a Seattle staple.
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“One burger that we came up with was a play on a Seattle dog,” Borst added. “It’s got jalapeno cream cheese and caramelized onions. Really, really fun food there. And then Bar Dojo is really exciting. Asian-Latin fusion. Birria Ramen. Poke nachos. They’re on club level, and they’re just killing it.”
Dumplings and ramen only scratch the surface of the variety of food the Lumen Field menu will have during Seahawks games. The concourse will be loaded with stands full of nachos, short rib sandwiches, multiple types of mac and cheese, pork belly burnt ends and so much more.
For those looking to maximize the bang for your buck? The “12s Combo” returns this year with two hot dogs and pretzel bites for $12. There are also $5 hot dogs and $3 popcorn bags in select locations throughout the stadium.
A full list of all the menu items can be found on the Seahawks’ website.
Contributing: Frank Sumrall, MyNorthwest
Paul Holden produces the Seattle weekend events calendar for KIRO Newsradio and a weekly story for MyNorthwest. He also appears on KIRO Newsradio’s “Seattle Morning News.” If you know of even more cool things going on in the area, let him know at PaulH@kiroradio.com.