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If it was hard before to keep 49ers fans in the stands during games, just wait until they — and any visitors headed for the College Football National Championships on Jan. 7 — try the trendy (and totally yummy) new food selections available this season on the Levi’s Stadium concourses.
Levi’s and its new concession operator, Levy, have unveiled a food court called Touchdown Terrace, which is intended to showcase Bay Area restaurants and smooth out the flow of lines at concession stands overall. Bonus: It’s shady here in the afternoon along the stadium’s outer ring from the 50-yard line to the end zone near Gate F.
We checked out the new kiosks during a practice run at the stadium. Here’s what the Faithful who are foodies will find:
Barbacco: This Italian trattoria in San Francisco will head down to Santa Clara on game days to serve two types of polpette, Sicilian meatballs. One’s made with pork; the other is a meat-free Impossible Foods version. Both come with tomato sugo and bread. A chopped salad with salami and other goodies is also on the menu.
The Chairman: Curtis Lam’s popular Asian street food truck will create its signature steamed bun, a bao stuffed with miso-glazed pork belly and topped with turmeric-pickled daikon. If you miss the bao here, check the website, www.hailthechairman.com, for the truck’s Bay Area lunch and dinner stops.
The Coin Toss: Every week, Levy’s chefs will put two dishes head-to-head in a bracket-style competition, with fans voting to determine the stadium’s next signature dish, according to executive chef Jon Severson. For example, two hamburgers will compete: A Backyard BBQ Burger and a Bacon Jam Burger. (They had us at bacon jam, but don’t let that influence your vote.)
Copita: Look for tacos and margaritas from this modern Mexican eatery in Sausalito run by renowned chef Joanne Weir. Handmade tortillas will be stuffed with her 24-Hour Carnitas (braised pork with pickled vegetables and tomatillo-habanero salsa) or Chicken Tinga (with braised tomato and onion, plus chipotle and avocado). The Copita Margarita combines Herradura Blanco with fresh lime juice and agave nectar.
Levy-Levi’s concessions: San Francisco’s famous Dungeness crab shows up on a pretzel roll, and there’s a new bacon-cheddar sausage from the Bay Area’s Silva Sausage Co. Some weeks may see the chefs offering up that sausage, or others, topped with onions that have been infused in a reduced Shock Top beer sauce.
Michael Mina Group: Mina’s Bourbon Pub chefs already offer sit-down fare at the stadium, but their pitmaster will make brisket sandwiches (smoked 16 hours, served with house-made bread-and-butter pickles) and pulled pork sandwiches (smoked 12 hours, topped with cole slaw) for the terrace booth.
Organic Coup: Erica Welton and Dennis Hoover, the Pleasanton folks who in 2015 started serving the nation’s first certified 100 percent organic fast food — yes, the title alone is a mouthful — will bring their crunchy chicken breast sandwiches here. A jalapeño-spiked veggie slaw tops the fried chicken.
Salt & Straw: This premium ice cream specialist will scoop three flavors at the stadium: Double Fold Vanilla, Freckled Woodblock Chocolate and Roasted Strawberry Coconut (vegan).
So what rose to the top? We put three taste-testers, all students entering Stanford Business School this fall, on the spot. (After all, they need to get used to making tough calls.)
Their verdicts:
— Sam Parker, a homegrown student from Menlo Park, said his favorite was The Chairman’s pork bao.
— Bechir Pierre, a transplant from New York state, said he’d pick Organic Coup’s fried chicken sandwich.
— Danny Reyes, who comes from Miami, voted for Barbacco’s meat-free “Impossible meatballs.”