I like to provide Marni with enough New Yorkness in California so that she’s not miserable from all the liberal hippy freaks here. I’ve found that one of the best ways to do that is to take her to an Oakland A’s game when the Yankees are in town, as they were this past weekend.

The seating selection was limited when I got around to buying tickets so I selected “Best Available” and wound up with something in the “West Side Club.” Sounded posh. The ticket also declared “Club Meal Included,” which sounded great because
we’d have to skip dinner to get to the stadium on time. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a single description of the “Club Meal” online anywhere. All I was able to find was an old Usenet posting complaining that recipients of the Club Meal were forced to eat behind the bar at the West Side Club.

So for those who are considering West Side Club tickets, allow me to explain how the Club Meal works. When you’re ready to eat, you go inside the West Side Club and find the consierge counter with the sign that says something like, “Redeem tickets
here for meal tickets.” They’ll mark off your ticket and give you a meal card. You have 4 choices for your meal, which may or may not be the same at all games. Our choices were some sort of BBQ pork sandwich (the guy who sat next to us advised us
strongly against this), some sort of Cajun/Jamaican chicken with rice and beans (pictured above), or a sandwich of some sort that we couldn’t find anywhere. All come with a bottle of Pepsi product. You can also use your ticket for $10 off at the
sit down part of the club, which has huge windows overlooking the stadium (nice!)

The chicken was pretty decent, though spicy. The best part though, was that contrary to what I read on Usenet, we were permitted to eat our free food in the sit-down dining area with the incredible view. I’m not sure if that’s always the case — we ate in the 6th inning, which was pretty late. But we didn’t get a second glance as we slowly moved to tables closer and closer to the window, ultimately watching the 9th inning from one of the best vantage points in the park.

So I’d recommend the Club Meal ticket — we had a good experience. Everybody in the West Side Club was surprisingly friendly, from the ticket guy to the servers. The food was good, even though Marni was sick for the next two days (I was fine). The
view was incredible. Feel free to check out our pictures from
the game including our encounter with The Intimidator.