A look at the new specialty food and drink offerings at Ford Field for the 2023 Detroit Lions season.

On Tuesday, the Detroit Lions unveiled all the new food and drink offerings for the 2023 season at Ford Field. Given that Sunday is the team’s home opener—and a highly-anticipated one, at that—the timing was perfect to share with Lions fans what they can expect of their gameday experience.

I was lucky enough to imbibe in the offerings. So below, I’ll highlight all of the new features, where you can find everything, and my own personal review of as many items as I could shove into my face on Tuesday afternoon.

Note: I do not claim to be a food critic, so make your own judgments.

“Wow” items

Like every year, the Lions are offering what they call “wow” items—or the kind of novelty items that can be hit or miss. They get people talking, but they don’t always quite live up to the billing. I can tell you that this year’s slate is actually pretty darn good. Here’s a look at the three featured items for the 2023 season.

Coca-Cola pulled pork nachos

Description: Tortilla chips, Coca-Cola-infused pulled pork, nacho cheese, Coca-Cola BBQ sauce, jalapeños, sour cream and green onions
Location in stadium: Section 139 — AiFi Stand or the Nacho Factor in the South Club section

In honoring the Lions’ transition from Pepsi products to Coca-Cola this year, the Lions are wheeling out this item. With that corporate advertising seeming to be the motivation behind this creation, I came in skeptical but was very pleasantly surprised. The soda infusion gives a vibrancy to the pulled pork that mixes the sweet of the meat with the spiciness of the jalapeños. 7/10

Vegan crunchwrap

Description: Soy chorizo, vegan cheese, refried beans, and salsa verde
Location in stadium: Section 139 — AiFi Stand

This year’s menu featured a big focus on vegan options for fans. As a big fan of crunchwraps, I was excited about this one. Unfortunately, it’s pretty slim on the fillings. I wanted a lot more chorizo flavor, but it tasted more like a bean and cheese quesadilla. That said, the salsa verde was outstanding, so I was happy using a breaded vessel to just consume salsa. 6/10.

King of the North Burger

Description: Michigan Beef patty topped with Chicago-style Italian beef, Minnesota-inspired seared Spam, Wisconsin cheese curds, and grilled onion on a brioche bun
Location in stadium: Upper concourse — section 239 @ Bert’s BBQ

A fun concept, honoring the local cuisines of all four NFC North teams (although I had no idea Minnesota was associated with Spam). While I feared this was overly gimmicky, as well, it delivered. The sweetness of the grilled peppers was such a perfect complement to the burger that it makes me wonder why we aren’t always putting peppers on burgers. I couldn’t taste the Spam, and the cheese curd was coagulated by the time I got to eat it, but I still enjoyed this. 7.5/10

Local, minority-owned restaurants

Ford Field is propping up local business this year by featuring a handful of restaurants that are within walking distance of the stadium. I tried something from all four offerings.

Bert’s BBQ

Location: Sections 115, 134, 239
Location in Detroit: 2727 Russell Street

Pictured are ribs with some of their side offerings and vegan nachos. As someone who just isn’t that big of a fan of ribs and is morbidly curious about jackfruit as a meat replacement, I went with the nachos. The texture of a jackfruit fits nicely, but the taste is a little overwhelming. It’s overly sweet, but it’s still interesting, and I gladly at the whole thing. 6.5/10

Crack & Sizzle

Location: South club section (section 211)
Location in Detroit: 2664 E Jefferson Ave

Hibachi-style food doesn’t exactly scream football concessions, but this is a club-level exclusive, so the entire experience is a bit different for them. Again, there are vegan options here, but I went with the steak and chicken offering, which had a small dollop of Yum Sauce that elevated everything. The steak, in particular, was seasoned perfectly. 8/10

On the Rolle Next Level Eggrolls

Location: North club level (around section 232), Section 134
Location in Detroit: Currently a food truck in various locations (typically in Twelve Oaks in Novi)

That’s a “beyond meat” eggroll and a Corned Beef eggroll. The vegan option includes “beyond burger,” rice, bell pepper, corn, asparagus, broccoli and a mixed cheese blend. The corned beef edition has beef, gouda, and swiss cheese. Both come with various dipping sauces, including thousand island for the corned beef.

I tried both. The vegan option was underwhelming, as the flavors just didn’t mesh all that well for me. The corned beef option was the best food item of the night. Admittedly, I’m a corned beef stan, but everything just worked in this, and the thousand island is a classic pairing. My only note would be to stuff some sauerkraut and/or coleslaw in there and just call it a Reuben egg roll. 10/10

Great Lakes Burgers

Location: North club level (around section 232)
Location in Detroit: 1224 Randolph St.

I stupidly forgot to take pictures of the offerings at Great Lakes Burgers, but you can see them at the 40-second mark of this video.

I tried both the burger and the truffle fries. It was a pretty ordinary burger, but the garlic aioli sauce was a very welcomed addition. The real star was the parmesan truffle fries, which was the second-best thing I ate behind the corned beef egg roll. I’d probably skip the burger but make the trip for the fries. 6.5/10

Beverages

Beer of the game

Location: Section 126

Like in previous years, the Lions are offering a Beer of the Game. Here is the 2023 schedule for that:

• Seahawks: Atwater Blocktoberfest
• Falcons: Founders KBS chocolate cherry & hazelnut
• Panthers: Golden Road belgian white
• Raiders: Atwater Pumpkin spice latte ale
• Bears: TBD
• Packers: Goose Island bourbon county stout
• Broncos: Atwater Christmas ale
• Vikings: Founders vanilla porter

NFC North rival cocktail

During rivalry games, the Lions will be featuring three themed cocktails

• Vikings: Purple People Eater
• Bears: Chicago Gummy Bear
• Packers: Lambeau Leap

Those games will also feature the Roarin’ Roary shown above. I tried the Lambeau Leap, which was fantastic. Whiskey is my preferred base for a cocktail, so it was an easy sell here, but it blended nicely with the apple pucker and pineapple juice. The Roarin’ Roary felt like a frat party drink. Overly sweet and doesn’t mask the vodka all that much. If you want something nice to sip on, go Lambeau Leap. If your main objective is FUN, go for the Roarin’ Roary.

Here’s a full schedule of the specialty cocktails for 2023:

90th season ultimate Bloody Mary

Location: Sections 112 and 222

The Bloody Mary has become a signature cocktail for Lions games, as they reportedly sell thousands during each game. This year, the Lions are taking it to a new level for their 90th anniversary season. Per their press release:

“An elevated Bloody Mary topped with a slider and cheese curds, garnished with celery, olives, cheese, pepperoncini, and a meat stick. Served with a shot of beer.”

I did not try this.