Play Ball Deli

Let's play two.

Think of the ballplayer who always shows up heavy for spring training, then hustles his way into your heart, and you'll have a handle on the Dominican chimi burger ($4.50). The pudgy patty is molded from ground chuck, peppers, onions, cilantro, and spices, flame-broiled, deposited on a thin, chewy roll, and dressed with sliced cabbage, more peppers, and "pink sauce." Soft in the gut, sure — a bench jockey would have worse to say — but I loved it in the clutch.

The short-order section at the front of this bodega-writ-large offers many sandwiches and specials named for past or present Mets (even the takeout menus are printed on colored paper, either orange or blue), and the half-dozen seats at the counter by the window are surrounded by MLB memorabilia — not high-ticket, perhaps, but heartfelt. Also shown below: a few distant stadium shots, roughly in order from oldest to newest.

Play Ball Deli
106-18 Northern Blvd. (106th-107th Sts.), Corona, Queens
718-429-4777

Comments

[Polecat]

Is there a sandwich named after Felix Milan, perhaps?
P.

[Dave Cook]

Should be, if there's a sandwich named for Shawn Green! Other namesakes: Wright, Hernandez, Reyes, Chavez, Seaver, Strawberry, Piazza, Delgado, Church. Try to field a team with that bunch — where do you play Delgado? And in the absence of Millan, who's on second?