There was a time when the Mets’ home stadium was better known for occasional bouts of good baseball than for its vast array of delicious foodstuffs, and back then — at Shea — about the only good thing to eat was the Mama’s Special from Mama’s of Corona (or Leo’s Latticini, in its Corona locale). So I’ve got a hell of a lot of respect for the Mama’s Special, not just because I miss Shea, but because it’s the O.G. good food option at Mets games and still manages to hold up as a solid choice in spite of all the fancy food brought in with the asymmetrical fences. It’s now available at the World’s Fare Market in right field:

The Mama’s Special is pepper ham, salami and fresh mozzarella on Italian bread. It’s huge, probably big enough to split unless you’re really hungry. It comes with red roasted peppers, which I’m all for, and pickled mushrooms, which are not for me. Everything’s pretty great here; the meats are salty and tasty, the bread is fresh, and the cheese is amazing.

The one minor issue is that it’s not dressed, so if you’re not using both the peppers and the mushrooms it could end up a bit dry. I counter this by swiping a packet of the Newman’s Own oil and balsamic vinegar dressing they have in the media cafeteria, which really completes the sandwich and makes the whole thing just unbelievably delicious. I figure the dressing must be available somewhere in the stadium, but I — regrettably? — must admit I have no idea where to purchase a salad around here.

The meatball hero is available at the Cascarino’s Pizza locations throughout Citi Field. I got mine at the one in straightaway center near Beer Island or whatever it’s called. Cascarino’s makes excellent pizza, but I rarely get pizza at the park because it seems like the difference in price between pizza in the stadium and pizza outside the stadium is proportionately higher than it is with other foods.

Anyway, here’s the meatball hero:

This is a tough one for me to judge because I am — as I have mentioned here before — enormously biased toward my mother’s meatballs. In terms of meatballs that weren’t made by mom, though, these seem pretty decent. And the sauce and cheese are good. But it was pretty clear that the meatball hero had been pre-prepared and under heat for a while, and that was a too much for the bread to withstand. The sauce soaked into its crevices, rendering it soggy and the sandwich very messy — less than ideal for eating at the ballpark.

I promised a while back to review every sandwich at Citi Field. It’s a huge undertaking and one I expect could take multiple seasons. Also, you’ll have to forgive me if the reviews are shorter than the traditional Sandwich of the Week fare; I’ve got a lot of these to get through.

I’ve actually eaten a few that I just haven’t gotten around to mentioning, so I’m about to drop three on you today. First is this afternoon’s sandwich: The Double Shack from Shake Shack, out in the food court area behind center field. Here it is:

The Double Shack will cost you $9.25 and a wait on line no matter what time you get there. I eat at the Madison Square Park Shake Shack with my wife all the time but rarely stop by the Citi Field stand because I’m usually here to work or enjoy baseball, not wait in line.

But if you get to the park early enough or there’s a rain delay or the game gets out of hand, man, this is a hell of a burger. It comes on a soft potato roll with American cheese, lettuce, tomato and a very Russian-dressing like “Shack sauce,” but the clear focal point — as it should be — is the amazing meat. Usually I order the single-stack incarnation of the burger, but even the two-patty high wall of meat on the Double Shack is juicy and delicious enough to plow through in moments.