Twitter Pal Amber is back for her second (and third) tour of duty with RandBall guest posting. Somehow, you didn't scare her off last time. Amber has a ways to go in terms of being the RB Guest Poster who has provided the most content without us having ever met in person (that goes to Clarence Swamptown), but she has officially found her niche: Blog food critic. Stu has obscure bands. AZGopherGirl has pop culture found in People magazine. Fasolamatt has Cleveland knowledge. DaveMN has craft beers. Clarence has sports diagrams and outstate bars. Jon has "minor" sports. And so on. Amber attended her first two Twins games at Target Field last Monday and Tuesday. After reading various standard food critiques from the new ballpark, she had an idea to pit various foods against each other in a taste-off. We thought that sounded pretty good. But she ate so much we had to split this into two posts. So, Amber, without further rambling, tell us how our Target Field food tastes (Part I):

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If there are two things you should know about me, one of them is that I'm competitive (or a lot competitive). The other is that I have a really disgusting ability to eat large quantities of food. That being said, I naturally made it my mission to see just how much food I could try at Target Field. Fortunately for me, my arteries, and my waistline, I completely lucked out and snagged the opportunity to go to games two nights in a row. I've categorized my fare and let them duke it out to declare the vittles victors ...


War of the Worlds: Señor Smoke's Beef Burrito vs. Asian Wok's Vegetable Stir-Fry
Señor Smoke's beef burrito isn't too shabby. It's along the lines of being Chipotle's/Qdoba's less-attractive and boring cousin, but better than your frozen food aisle variety. Filled with very lightly-seasoned ground beef, pinto beans, and rice, its girth definitely beat out its flavor. When I asked for hot sauce all they had was some mild salsa and sour cream. On the plus side, I didn't have to wait long to get it, but failed to pay attention to whether or not it was premade.
I was pretty surprised by the vegetable stir-fry from Asian Wok. For starters, the portion is pretty significant; you get a takeout container-full. Plus, it actually had flavor. The noodles were pretty hearty and the vegetables weren't a slimy disaster. The real surprise here, though, was the nice gingery sauce (at least I think that's the flavor I was tasting). As a bonus, Asian Wok provides massive amounts of my coveted Sriracha. For those unfamiliar, it's that Asian chili sauce with the ahem...rooster on the bottle. The line here wasn't crazy long. Judging by the reactions of people I told, I suspect this may be because people are a bit thrown off by Asian food at a baseball game.

Decision goes to: Asian Wok's Vegetable Stir-Fry

Wiener Winners & Losers: 3rd Base Lounge Brat vs. Kramarczuk's Bratwurst & Polish Sausage.
I went for the trifecta on this one. Right off the bat (hardy har har), I should tell you the run-of-the-mill brat doesn't even belong in the running. If you're satisfied with flavorless meat encased in crispy intestine with your typical ketchup/mustard/sweet relish fixins, then okay. If not, don't even bother. The plus side is that if you're desperate the wait wasn't very long. I tried it, so I had to mention it. The real battle is between Kramarczuk's Bratwurst and Kramarczuk's Polish Sausage. I'm typically a brat girl (feel free to read that with both a short and a long 'A'), but I must say it pales in comparison to the Polish sausage. Both were delightfully juicy and thick, but the Polish sausage was a bigger flavor explosion than the bratwurst. For sauerkraut lovers, they keep a heaping chaffing dish front and center just for you. My only complaint is that there weren't any extra condiment options aside from the regular stations - some spicy brown mustard would've been amazing. Your wait here is going to be a little longer, but definitely worth it.

Decision goes to: Kramarczuk's Polish Sausage ----------- Part II coming up later this afternoon: The Dueling Delis and the State Fair Grand Standoff.