If We Sell Some Overpriced Empanadas Maybe They’ll Forget About All The Parkland We Took

Only in Yankee World does selling Goya count as “reaching out to the Latin community”:

In the Bronx, Latin food has always been easy to find. But not in Yankee Stadium. It has been one place in the majority-Hispanic borough where the only thing that came close to qualifying as authentic Latin fare was an order of nachos.

This season, however, the stadium’s menu — hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken fingers, fries, pork fried rice, peanuts and even sushi and baked ziti — has some spicy new additions. They read like the day’s specials at a Washington Heights restaurant: ground beef or cheese empanadas; chicken in salsa with sweet plantains, rice and beans; Cuban sandwiches with plantain chips; and papas rellenas, or fried stuffed potatoes.

Yankee fans at Tuesday night’s game against the Texas Rangers who might have otherwise walked out of the food court behind left field with a slice of pizza or a foot-long hot dog carried empanadas and Cuban sandwiches back to their seats.

. . .

The food is served at a concession stand called Salsa on the Go. It is only the second time in the 84-year history of the stadium that Latin food has been sold there. A concession stand that sold burritos was open for just one season a few years ago.

The new stand illustrates the team’s eagerness to find ways to win Hispanic fans and bring the flavor of its home borough into the stadium. Another stand, now in its third season at the stadium, reflects the borough’s Italian roots: Mike’s Deli, a branch of the popular establishment on Arthur Avenue, serves meatball parmigiana heroes and other Italian sandwiches.

“It’s silly to think that each person out of the 50,000 fans that come to a game want to eat the same food,” said Jason Zillo, a spokesman for the Yankees. “The Latin community is a huge part of our fan base. As we evolve as an organization, we’re looking to cater to the needs of the diverse number of people that come through the turnstiles.”