In-N-Out, Aaron Choose-inspired 99 Burger highlights new Yankee Stadium meals menu

Matt Gibson has all the time beloved burgers.

“An enormous burger man,” the Legends Hospitality senior government chef referred to as himself.

Particularly, he craved an In-N-Out Burger from his time on the West Coast, however he by no means found one which matched the style.

So he determined to craft a model of his personal for the menu at Yankee Stadium, the place the 99 Burger acquired its roots.

The creation comprises two patties with American Wagyu beef from Lobel’s of New York, New College American Cheese, a secret sauce, pickles and carmelized onions, all on a brioche bun with lettuce and tomato accessible as extra toppings.

It’ll value $19.99. Solely 99 of them will probably be accessible at every dwelling sport.

It’s a California-inspired meals merchandise named after the uniform variety of Aaron Choose, the Yankees’ California boy, and one of many new menu additions — together with a trio of recent companions — that debuts in The Bronx for the 2023 season.

“The core is all the time gonna be there,” Gibson advised The Put up on Wednesday throughout a meals and eating tasting occasion at Yankee Stadium. “Hen fingers, scorching canine and french fries — like tried and true, works. … Nothing loopy [with the 99 Burger]. Nothing tremendous fancy.

“The most effective merchandise that we will use, cooked contemporary, and we’re solely providing 99 simply to ensure that we preserve it coming contemporary.”

Gibson’s imaginative and prescient for the brand new companions — Fuku, Mac Truck and Meals Community chef Christian Petroni’s tacky, loaded garlic bread — and new menu objects such because the 99 Burger began quickly after the 2022 season ended.

He began to dine out, seeing what ideas had been well-liked and what names headlined {the marketplace}.

“Simply because their idea works at their restaurant, doesn’t essentially [mean] it’s going to work at Yankee Stadium,” Gibson advised The Put up.

Different added dishes embody the O.G. Spicy Hen Sando from Fuku, macaroni and cheese — with charred corn pico de gallo and crushed tortilla chips as a topping choice — and a Bronx Burrito.

For the 99 Burger, Gibson referred to as Mark Lobel to debate various kinds of meats.

Lobel’s despatched American Wagyu, and Gibson thought it was scrumptious.

The following step concerned Eric Greenspan and his cheese: aged cheddar, actual cream, actual butter and salt.

And on Wednesday, their burger was on show — a white 99 flag, with a baseball on the high, piercing every half — as staff prepped the sphere beneath the Yankee Stadium Audi Membership, the place Choose blasted a portion of his record-setting 62 homers in 2022.

In the course of the tasting occasion, Petroni, a Bronx native, reminisced about video games on the outdated Yankee Stadium, rising up quarter-hour away at 241st St. and White Plains Rd.

He and his household frequented a close-by restaurant and Petroni realized how a lot ardour went into its garlic bread — wicker baskets lined with foil, tacky garlic bread packed alongside heat marinara sauce.

That sparked the inspiration for his tacky garlic bread, which makes use of bastone from a Bronx wholesaler.

There’s mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. There’s oregano and marinara sauce.

There’s even pepperoni.

Gibson noticed Petroni’s garlic bread after he posted it on-line, and he messaged about attempting to make a partnership work. Petroni even has a tattoo tucked underneath his lip, with “THE BRONX” reminding him of his borough — and, not directly, all the pieces related to it, equivalent to its place in baseball historical past.

It was alleged to fade after two years, he joked, however about 20 years later, Petroni might nonetheless flash its ink, as he stood round different cooks and spoke about how the subsequent layer of his cooking dream grew to become a actuality.

“I’ve been crying for 3 weeks straight as I’m driving out and in of the stadium doing coaching with the crew,” Petroni mentioned. “I can’t consider that is even actual life.”