Eating my way through Spring Training

Day One
At 6a.m. the sun rose above the mountains of the Cleveland National Forest and I was behind the wheel of my car headed east to Phoenix. Thus begins the trip to Spring Training 2010. The lineup: Day one, Giants at Mariners; Day two, Giants vs. Brewers; Day three, Giants vs. Rockies; Day four, Giants vs. Diamondbacks.

I went on a solo trip to Spring Training two years ago for a quick weekend where I saw two Padres games. For this year's trip my dad joined me. He has never been to Spring Training and is a huge Giants fan, so watching him get ready for this trip has been like watching a kid in a candy store.

A bit of planning went into the trip including, of course, where to eat while in Arizona. I checked out Yelp, got some word-of-mouth recommendations and found a few ideas on springtrainingconnection.com.

On the Spring Training Connection web site they ranked which stadiums had the best food. Peoria Sports Complex, where the Mariners play, was ranked number one. Giants' stadium in Scottsdale was ranked number seven out of eleven locations.

For Day One I decided to try Randy Jones' BBQ in Power Alley behind third base. I got their bbq pulled pork sandwich and it was not a disappointment. For $6 I got the sandwich, piled high with pulled pork, potato salad and corn on the cob. My beer on the other hand, a measly Bud Light, was $7.25. Guess you can't win all your battles.

We also went to a small beer garden near center field where there were some better beer choices. A big cup of Fat Tire and Blue Moon was only $7.25 each. A great value in my book --only in terms of ballpark prices, of course.

For dinner after the game we crossed the street into a shopping center that had a bunch of different restaurants. We checked out a word-of-mouth recommendation by going to Abuelos. The food was really great and reasonably priced. The best part was the happy hour drink specials. Most drinks were $3-4 each. I got a two enchilada plate with chicken in a green sauce and avocado in a cream sauce. My dad got a Matamoros plate with chili relleno that was excellent - nice and crispy with great flavor. I would go back here indeed.