Designated Eater: Pit Beef and Crab Cakes in Bowie
The Bowie Baysox were the second stop on my May 2018 northeast ballpark trip. To see all posts from the trip, click HERE. To see all “On the Road” posts, click HERE.
At May 5th’s Bowie Baysox game, a man named Jason Tritle was in attendance. This is Jason.
On this particular evening, Jason had one job and one job only: to serve as my Designated Eater. In this role, he would consume the ballpark cuisine that my gluten-free diet prohibits.
Jason is a native of Hagerstown, Maryland, who grew up going to Hagerstown Suns games. He now lives just outside of Richmond, and as such is a regular attendee of Richmond Flying Squirrels games. His Minor League Baseball affinities don’t end there, as he once spent a summer as a Dakstats operator for the Aberdeen IronBirds.
As for being Designated Eater, Jason said that “This is what I do when I travel anyway. I try the food and drag people with me to go to Minor League Baseball games.”
Although he was solo on this evening, Jason is a family man. He met his wife, Amy, at a Pittsburgh Steelers fan club gathering in Baltimore. Their three children are all named after Steelers, which Jason said was his wife’s idea. Those kids are Ben (as in Roethlisberger), Nolan (as in Chuck Noll) and Merril (as in Hoge).
“All of their middle names are Steelers too,” said Jason.
The first item on Jason’s agenda was the Split Finger Burger — topped with cheese, a split hot dog, tomato and bacon.
Have at it, Jason.
“It’s good, but what I mainly tasted was the barbecue sauce and it wasn’t anything unique,” said Jason. “But it’s grilled, done well, and the same with the dog. And anything with bacon is good.”
The Split Finger Burger doesn’t scream “Maryland,” which is of course the state in which the Baysox are located. But the next two items that Jason tasted were Maryland staples.
This is a crab cake.
Jason, who was wearing an alternate Rockfish logo Baysox cap, took an enthusiastic bite.
His enthusiasm didn’t end there. Perhaps he wasn’t expecting to be a ballpark crab cake to be above average, because he twice said “This is actually really good.”
“There’s minimal filler, so you get a lot of crab meat and a lot of Old Bay flavor, which is what you’d expect from a crab cake. I’d prefer it without the roll; it just gets in the way of the flavor.”
The final item that Jason would sample, and the second Maryland specialty, was the Pit Beef sandwich. (Per Serious Eats, “pit beef is typically a top roast that’s been minimally seasoned, grilled directly over charcoal, and sliced deli-style[.]”
Jason, a big fan of pit beef, called this version “adequate” and once again said that the bun gets in the way. He went on to say that the best pit beef he’s ever had came courtesy of the Charcoal Grill, a spot in Baltimore.
“With pit beef you walk up, get it and walk away,” he said. “Any place that tries to fancy up pit beef is a bad idea.”
Since Jason was doing his Designated Eater duty on the same day as the Kentucky Derby, he then ranked his three Bowie Baysox selections thusly:
Win: Crabcake
Place: Split Finger burger
Show: Pit Beef sandwich
Thanks, Jason. You were able to Justify your opinions.
benjamin.hill@mlb.com
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