He Said: Arizona Diamondbacks’ Tot Dog is a must-order at Chase Field

Each year, Chase Field and the Arizona Diamondbacks trot out some new options to the food menu to entice us to come enjoy a baseball game.

They seem to get more and more ridiculous every year — and by ridiculous I mean amazingly tantalizing. I won’t lie, it almost feels like they are challenging us.

Last year, we tried out a few of their new items and mostly all got thumbs up. This year, I ended up buying tickets to Opening Day and, among all the pageantry and excitement of what turned out to be an amazing game, I had to try one thing. It caught my attention from the moment they previewed it in the media.

I’m talking about the Tot Dog.

Don’t worry, we have plans to hit another game and give you a bigger look at lots of different items but, for now, it’s all about the classic ballpark item kicked up a notch — D-backs style.

Everyone knows a hot dog is the perfect ballpark food, which is why I enjoy how Chase Field continues to push the envelope on the staple.

In the past, they did their D-Bat corn dog, which was easily a meal for two to three people and cost as much to boot.

This year, the Tot Dog is built for one — a very hungry one — but one none the less. I made sure to have little to no breakfast so that I could fully consume the foot-long dog and, while my stomach had plans for other items in the park, I found this dog filled me up completely for the day.

The hot dog is indeed a foot long. It is covered in chili, green onions, cheese, sour cream and, the highlight of course, is the tater tots.

It sounds like a lot of food — it is — but I look at it as a chili dog with a side of tater tots. Plus, sometimes you just ignore the calorie count so nicely listed next to it in the menu.

I’ll let you enjoy that glorious detail yourself if you choose to look. You can pick up your Tot Dog at the BigDawgs stand in section 126.

The interesting thing about this dog is that, not only do you command jealous looks from people as you walk by, but cost-wise it turned out to be a “deal.” I use the quotes because most food in ballparks is overpriced, but when you consider the plain footlong hot dog was $10, the Tot Dog was only $11.

You essentially are getting a side of tater tots and chili for $1. Prices may change, but that works itself out in my brain to a deal.

After taking the walk back to my seat — and being stopped four times by people wanting to know what I was eating and where they could get it — I sat down and started the fun task of how to eat it. I recommend cutting it in half while you’re at the hot dog topping cart and have the flat surface for support so you can focus on not getting it all over you and your seat.

No matter how you do it, it is worth it, and I hope it becomes a staple in the future.

Follow @wsweaz