Mets v. Yanks, Part 1 - McFadden's at Citi Field

McFadden's Restaurant and Saloon

Citi Field

Behind Center Field on 126th Street

Flushing, NY

Remember that day that Steve and I went looking for McFadden's, to no avail?  Well, ends up we drove right by it.  Like, four times.  Steve had an extra ticket to a Mets/Phillies game and he invited me along (thanks again Steve).  Quick disclaimer:  I am not a Mets fan, I am a Yankees fan. However, pretty much all of my friends are Mets fans and I live in Bayside - heart of Mets territory at only 5.2 miles away from Citi Field (according to Google maps).  So, somehow I end up at more Mets games than Yanks games.  For shame, I know.

It's pretty clearly marked

Anyway, it's game day and Steve gets to the stadium before me.  He says he's in McFadden's and we should meet up there.  I'm thinking to myself, it must be inside the stadium since we surely couldn't have missed it if it were accessible from the outside.  Wrong.  I hop off the 7 train and start walking around to the bullpen entrance of the park, which is on the same street that we drove down last time we were looking for McFadden's.  Sure enough, there it is.  In our defense, it's tough to see... if you manage to look past the huge awning bearing the bars name as well as the additional signage that pretty much lines the whole block.  Long story short, we're idiots.

Just an average picture of some average wings

But how were the wings?  Eh, they were ok.  They had average flavor, were average size, had an average amount of heat... just all-around average.  The thing about wings though is that finding a place serving average wings is still a victory.  I mean, come on, they're wings.  You know that saying about pizza right?  Something like, pizza is like sex... even when it's bad, it's still pretty good.  Well, same goes for wings.  And being that these were better than bad, there were no complaints.

I'm so glad my doctor doesn't read this blog

We also ordered this heart attack on a plate, which was pretty decent - for those of you looking to supplement your wing intake.

We didn't want to stop there though.  We killed a lot of time at McFadden's and still hadn't even entered the stadium yet even though it was like the 6th inning.  We decided to finally make our way in and see what else we could find... and maybe even catch some live game action.  Unfortunately we were out of luck.  We tried the World's Fair Market and they had fried chicken but no Buffalo wings.  The concession stands had chicken tenders but no wings.  Looks like McFadden would have to be the lone wing representative for Citi Field.  Obviously our next task was going to have to be making our way to the Bronx to compare McFadden's wings to the wings at Yankee Stadium.  

For the baseball purists out there who might be upset that we spent so much time in McFadden's before actually entering the stadium, it gets worse.  While we were sitting there, watching the game on the LCD screens, we subtly pointed out to each other that R.A. Dickey was throwing a no-hitter - without using the actual words, obviously.  That put us in a tough spot.  Everyone knows that you can't move your seat when a pitcher is making a bid for the no-no.  But on the other hand, no pitcher in the history of baseball has ever thrown a no hitter for the Mets.  Not Nolan Ryan, not Tom Seaver and not Doc Gooden.  We couldn't miss witnessing the first in person... it would have been history.  Hell of a catch 22.  So of course, we moved... and got to our seats just in time to see Dickey give up his first hit.  So yeah, sorry about that.  Maybe next time.

Anyway... we did eventually make it to Yankee Stadium for a wing challenge.  Check in on Wednesday, we'll have part 2 posted then.