I first visited Petco Park nearly ten years ago, when I attended my first American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA) conference. It was part of the agenda, and while I’m not certain if all attendees went to the game, it was certainly an impressive undertaking on ASTA’s part. We had a private party on the rooftop of the Western Metal Supply Company, a brick building retained while the new ballpark went up around it. I later went with a woman who had been invited to a club box with free drinks and food, but I couldn’t tell you what I ate.

This time, during the first week of the new Major League Baseball season and our second visit to San Diego, I made sure that wasn’t the case. I learned that Petco was one of best places of food in the country, and now I can report that’s completely accurate (based on the ten I’ve been to, which is exactly one-third of the total). While I didn’t try all the food offered here, I asked some people who did buy certain dishes, and they were kind enough to allow me to snap a photo of them.

But JRS and I naturally tried some items on our own, which turned out to be excellent. She even said that Petco’s food was better than that from Oracle Park, and I must admit she might be right.  Just the variety offered here is a surprising, and I wasn’t expecting how good what we tried would be. So, here’s a quick rundown of what you can find at the Padres’ home ballpark (of course, this is just partial sample).

The places we didn’t try (but wanted to)

Puesto Trophy Tacos is a San Diego-based chain that has multiple locations. Just because it’s a local specialty, I would have wanted to try their classic Baja fish taco. I’m not sure if I could have gotten the El Borracho at Grand Ole BBQ, but it would have been intriguing to have their meats covered in queso and Frito serrano relish. There were also the Mini Donut Company and the Pop Pie Company, which had outsized potpies that looked like incredible comfort food.

Foods I took pictures of 

Coco Ichibanya is a fast-serve curry restaurant from Japan that’s made its way to the West Coast. One gentleman was kind enough to allow me to take a picture of his chicken bowl with cheese. You can get tri-tip nachos from the Seaside Market, which include cheese sauce, sour cream and green onions. According to the Petco Park Insider, these are considered the best food in the park. The last food I snapped on my iPhone was one of the Padre Pretzels, which come in six different varieties. The most seemed to be the s’mores flavor.

What we ate and enjoyed

JRS and I decided to get some foods at the 394 Bar, which is named after Padres Hall of Fame inductee Tony Gwynn’s career batting average. We discovered this was the place to have elote, the Mexican corn with lime juice, mayo, Tajin seasoning, cotija cheese and cilantro (left off this time for JRS), and we added some birria egg rolls to the meal. Both were quite tasty – the corn wasn’t soggy and was seasoned just right with tang, spice and creaminess.  The eggs rolls were crispy with tender birria beef and complimented with the consommé dipping sauce. She also bought a curry roll later in the game, while we also shared an ice cream served in a mini-Padres helmet to add to our collection. Bonus: we also got a giveaway -  a Padres fanny pack.