Soccer fans line up outside various food trucks during the Hearts of Pine game against the New York Cosmos on Saturday, July 11. (Daryn Slover/Staff Photographer)

The tantalizing aromas of a Hearts of Pine soccer match hit you well before you enter Fitzpatrick Stadium.

Crossing the Deering Avenue bridge, you first detect familiar stadium fare — grilled meats, and definitely some fried stuff. But it gets more nuanced and harder to place the closer you get to the gate.

That’s because Hearts of Pine concessions aren’t the usual hot dogs, burgers, fries, and nachos with canned cheese sauce. We’re talking handmade Bolivian empanadas from Empanada Club; falafel pita sandwiches and shawarma-dusted fries from Falafel Mafia; smoked ribs and brisket from Alabama’s BBQ; oyster mushroom Cubanos from Ugly Duckling; Brickyard Hollow pizza; and Eighty 8 Donuts.

Sure, you can also get burgers and dogs, but they’re up to the discriminating standards of local foodies, including wagyu smash burgers on brioche buns from Miller’s Market in Gorham, or lamb, pork and beef dogs dressed with the likes of beet-horseradish spread or remoulade and crispy fried onions from Gunnar’s Icelandic Hot Dogs.

Lady Shuckers raw bar even offers oysters on the half shell. A few sports venues around the country do too, mostly major league stadiums like Camden Yards in Baltimore or Petco Park in San Diego. But do they also sell crème brûlée like Brûlée Bike does at Fitzy? (They do not.)

Concessions at Hearts of Pine games — from about 10 food trucks and several local partner restaurants, caterers, brewers and distillers — far outshine typical stadium fare. It’s only fitting for a city that prides itself on a world-class food and beverage scene.

Locals love it. “It’s so wonderful to come to a place where the food in here mirrors the quality and variety of what we have in the city,” said Jeanne Marie Halleck of Portland. “The personality of the city is part of the vibe here, which is such a unique way to do this.”

Visitors are smitten. “The food here is much more upscale and delicious, a lot more highbrow than other stadium food I’ve had,” said Kate Fenwick, of Woodside, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. She savored Ugly Duckling’s Seoul Tots with pulled pork, kimchi and roasted garlic aioli, while her daughter devoured a grilled cheese and bacon on When Pigs Fly sourdough from Cheese the Day.

“I think one of our best attributes is the food here,” said Lisa Frates, Hearts of Pines’ senior manager for marketing and communications. “Almost every single review (from fan surveys) we get is that people love the food options. And that’s why people come early. They come just to get food and hang out.”

Toasted chicken tacos, left, and spicy braised beef brisket tacos from the Meet On The Street food truck during the Hearts of Pine game. (Daryn Slover/Staff Photographer) A 360-DEGREE DINING EXPERIENCE

When the Hearts secured Fitzy as its home field in 2023, franchise leadership turned the limitations of the high school stadium into one of their game-day strengths.

Larger sports stadiums and arenas have concessions stands and high-volume kitchens built into their infrastructures. They may include some local vendors, but most food is usually handled by master concessionaires like Levy and Aramark.

Fitzpatrick Stadium, which primarily serves Portland public schools, has a concessions hut, but it’s not equipped to handle the 6,000-plus fans who crowd the bleachers and VIP sections for the Hearts’ sold-out home games. Brickyard Hollow works out of the hut, Bissell Brothers Beer Garden and Après Lounge operate at opposite ends of the field, and Highroller Lobster Co. and $3 Deweys offer exclusive menus for ticket-holders in their premium pitch-side seating areas. The food trucks, carts, and bikes around the perimeter round out the 360-degree dining and drinking experience.

“You’ll see that people sort of walk around in circles to see what’s going on,” Frates said. “You don’t want to miss out.”

Kristin Rofe of Gorham grabs a Bissell Brothers Hearts of Pine Pale Ale from Britney Jones to go with her lobster roll and shrimp from Lady Shuckers. (Daryn Slover/Staff Photographer)

“Food trucks and carts were always our vision,” said Hannah Sirois, vice president of fan experience for Hearts of Pine. “To keep consistent with bringing local (offerings) in, we never really wanted the Aramark-type concessionaire.”

“I think they did a really good job bringing in food trucks to make up for the lack of concession stand infrastructure,” said Jesse Scaglion, general manager of the Portland Sea Dogs. “I love the way it’s set up, and I wish the infrastructure were set up for all of us to do it that way.”

U.S. Foods supplies most of the food at Delta Dental Park at Hadlock Field, and as many as 250 Sea Dogs staffers prepare and serve concessions in-house, rather than using a master concessionaire. Besides a wide variety of Maine-made beverages, local offerings are limited to items like veggie burgers from Veggie Life and the beloved Sea Dog Biscuits (ice cream sandwiches) from Gifford’s. “It’s tricky sometimes to find locally sourced products that stay within a certain price range that’s affordable to us,” Scaglion said.

The Sea Dogs don’t use food trucks, since that would eat into their own concessions sales, which account for as much as 40% of their total revenue. But for minor league franchises operating out of shared venues without adequate concessions infrastructure — like many teams in the United Soccer League — food trucks are the answer.

Vincent Oden of Alabama’s BBQ Catering holds a slab of ribs. He was also serving jerk wings. (Daryn Slover/Staff Photographer) FOOD TRUCK REVOLUTION

“The food truck has revolutionized what you can make available at ballgames,” said College of the Holy Cross economics professor Victor Matheson, who specializes in sports economics. “It’s expensive to offer gourmet options, especially at a small venue, because you’ve got to build and operate multiple kitchens. But food trucks have completely solved that problem economically.

“Everywhere that hasn’t spent tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to build a full-blown stadium, everyone is getting in on this food truck idea,” Matheson added.

Food trucks pay the Hearts franchise between about $250-$800 per game to set up shop at the stadium. “It’s certainly at the top range of what I’d want to be paying to be anywhere,” said Peter Grebowski, owner of Gunnar’s Icelandic Hot Dogs. “But it’s something we’re happy to be part of, and it’s just good business for us.”

Vincent “Phat Vinny” Oden, owner of Alabama’s BBQ, said it’s one of his more lucrative gigs. “It’s a great account to have, and a great organization to be involved with.”

Bill Marshall, owner of the PB&ME food truck, said while it’s not one of his highest-earning events, he sees a worthwhile “tradeoff” that goes beyond game-day sales. “Last year, I got like seven catering jobs just from people seeing me here.”

Fans seem delighted to be able to buy local. “We’re a community that cares about not only the food we have, but where it comes from and being able to support local businesses,” said Halleck.

“You feel like you’re being served by Mainers, not big brands that have come in to sell,” said Paul Hadjiyane of Portland.

It helps that in Maine, local food is synonymous with superiority. “The quality is so good, and it’s relatively inexpensive for Portland,” said Libby Tuttle, who travelled from Costa Rica to visit family in the city.

Matheson said there’s been a movement afoot since the early 1990s, likely starting with Camden Yards, to seriously up the food and beverage game at sports stadiums nationwide. “It’s not just about the sport anymore,” he said. “It’s about the amenities that come with it. The old world of a hot dog and a beer is not going to cut it in a world where you’re spending a lot of money for tickets. You expect a better experience.”

THE SCRUMPTIOUS SOUL OF GAME DAY

The experience at Hearts of Pine home games is more like a fair or festival than a simple sporting event. “You want it to feel more like you’re in a village and not just in a high school stadium,” said Frates.

“Because the stadium is a shared venue, it’s like a circus that needs to pop up and get torn down that same night,” said Peter Bissell of Bissell Brothers.

Die-hard fans mostly stay in their seats during the game to give the team their full attention. But plenty of folks roam the perimeter, browsing merch, sipping and nibbling, while kids play games and jump around the bounce house behind the far goal.

Julie Higgins of Westbrook bought a falafel pita from Falafel Mafia at halftime. She’s vegan, and appreciated that she could also find tasty options at Meet on the Street, among other vendors. She said other sporting events “will just have a veggie burger, which can be super processed and not fantastic.”

While the concourse also has ample gluten-free offerings, fans are free to bring in whatever food they like, whether they have dietary restrictions or not, a marked difference from most other stadiums. “Or if you have small kids who are picky like I do, you can bring in your peanut butter sandwich and 9,000 snacks,” Frates said. “We encourage folks to bring in their own food and make a night of it.”

Late in regulation on a recent Saturday night game, midfielder Diego Gonzalez tied the score with a goal inside the near post, sending fans into a frenzy. Shortly after, some were also cheering about their meals. A Gunnar’s customer walked by Grebowski’s cart after finishing his dog. “Ten out of 10,” he reported.

Grebowski thanked him, then smiled, telling another guest, “We get that all day long.”

Local food has become so intertwined with the identity of Hearts matches, Frates said she couldn’t imagine them with ordinary concessions. “They’d still have the heart of the team, but they’d be missing the soul.”