Batter Up: Tres Agave at AT&T Park

This month was the beginning of baseball season, and yesterday was the perfect day for my first San Francisco Giants game since the weather was the type that one had to be outside. (But not necessarily four hours in direct sunlight.)

There’s not much new when it comes to food at AT&T Park, where the Giants play. Stands still flowing with garlic fries. People still chow down on corn dogs. I’m still avoiding the Crazy Crabs. But there was one addition, and that’s the restaurant Tres Agave, which has taken over the Mexican food carts that used to be run by Compadres.

Tres Agave is a pretty popular Mexican restaurant just a couple of blocks from the stadium in SOMA. So I was interested to see what kind of game fare they were offering.

The Tres Agave cart can be found on both the promenade and view levels (and possibly the Club level, but I couldn’t get in to check myself) and sells things like street tacos and humongous nachos topped with carnitas.

But I got the chicken tamales (they also have vegetarian) because I love tamales. For $6.50, you get a tray of two tamales and a whole lot of chips. The thing about the tamales is they’re tiny like baby tamales. I think they were maybe 6 inches. Can you even see them in the tray that was overflowing with chips?

The tamales were decent. It was basically cornmeal and chicken. The sauce that came with it improved the taste, but I saved much of it for the chips because I don’t like eating chips without salsa.

After a few innings in the heat, I had to get up and walk around and feel the breeze of the bay. So I ran into another Tres Agave cart and this time I tried their bacon-wrapped hot dog ($6.75). I know, you’d think by the sound of this that this item would be the most popular thing at the stadium.

The hot dog came with grilled peppers and onions and then drizzled with some kind of sauce, kind of like chipotle. Again, the tray was overflowing with chips.

This wasn’t a foot-long dog. It was like a minor league dog, just as small as the tamales. It was nice and salty, but I have to say I could barely enjoy the bacon because I tasted more of the hot dog than the bacon, and the sauce covered everything up. I enjoyed it but I didn’t feel satisfied. (And I tossed out the tray of chips because they didn’t serve it with any salsa.)

Tres Agave might be selling fancy Mexican food, but I’m really disappointed at the portion size. It’s almost like those catered parties and these were the perfect portions for finger food.

After the tamales and hot dog, I had to get a frozen lemonade just to survive the rest of the game in the heat. Luckily, it was a game worth watching since the Giants beat the Diamondbacks, 2-0, behind pitcher Randy Johnson (who used to play for the Diamondbacks). Just 146 more games to go!