Hot take: I’m not a big fan of standard stadium food. I’ve had one too many $18 two-chicken-tender-and-a-handful-of-greasy-fries combos at stadiums across the South - and don’t you dare forget the absolutely necessary $7 souvenir cup you HAVE to buy so you can “have something to remember the game by” (I don’t think I’ve ever actually looked at a cup and thought that after buying it). Stadium food isn’t horrible, but I’ve never really looked forward to eating at a stadium; it’s more of a bug than a feature of going to games.
Or so I thought.
Here’s the scene: It’s March 20th, 2022. State Farm Arena. Hawks vs Pelicans. My Hawks are getting smoked. Valanciunas looks like prime Hakeem in the post. That’s beside the point. Halftime is about to roll around, and we’re getting hungry. A friend had already suggested we hit the Zac Brown Restaurant inside the arena for a more diverse menu and better quality food, which I of course was a fan of. I don’t listen to Zac Brown much, but I have no reason to think he can’t cook.
We left our seats in search of the restaurant - a quest that was harder than expected, and we ended up doing a full (probably 4,000 step) circle around the arena before finding the holy grail on the bottom floor. I was excited to see the different options this Zac Brown place had to offer - a rib sandwich, chicken nachos, a pimento burger (which I went with for the entree) - but my eyes were immediately drawn to one of the sides.
“Sweet Potato Tots”. Sweet Potato…. Tots? I’ve had sweet potatoes, of course, and sweet potato fries, but combining sweet potatoes and tater tots is a scary level of genius on par with the creation of electricity. I ordered a burger and the tots and was told I would need to wait 3-5 minutes; I’m generally impatient, but the game could wait for these. When I was finally handed the tots, I knew I had stumbled on something great off of LOOKS ALONE. Bright orange tots, dusted with some heavenly brown sugar cinnamon mixture; they looked amazing. Ordering these tots also gave me some instant status in the group; everyone who laid eyes on them gasped “what are THOSE”, and I got to explain the order like it was some secret menu item even though it was literally right there on the menu.
As you can probably guess, they tasted better than they looked. Good Lord. Simply amazing. I can’t tell you how much better they are than normal stadium fries. Crunchy, sweet, awesome. Zac Brown, Chicken Fried is a banger, but I think your greatest contribution to this earth is by far these tots. Thank you.
Bottom line - if you’re tired of standard stadium food like me and you ever pass through Atlanta for a Hawks game or concert, I have your solution. Zac Brown’s Social Club. Tell them JWad sent you. JK, don’t do that. But I promise it will be worth your while.
All hail the magic tots. They truly elevated my fan experience, and I want to hear if any other stadium foods have done the same for you. In the comments below, tell me a stadium item that you think can rival these sweet orange jewels. I’ll wait.
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