FOR THE WIN

The 5 best things fans can eat at MetLife Stadium

Charles Curtis
USA TODAY

EAST RUTHERFORD - Even if the New York Jets aren't going to be very good this season, at least MetLife Stadium will offer some great gameday grub to enjoy while you watch Gang Green in 2017.

We were invited to the Jets' "upfront" event to sample some of the food offered at Jets games this fall and came away impressed … and stuffed. Here are the five best things we ate, along with an honorable mention:

1. The Fat Rooster Hot Chicken Sandwich

The chicken sandwich offered at Jets games at MetLife Stadium.

It seems a bunch of stadiums - including Citi Field, with the Fuku sandwich - are trying a crispy chicken sandwich, but I'm here to make a bold claim that one might be the best of the lot. It's crunchy, spicy, salty thanks to the pickles, has a vinegar kick with an apple cider slaw and it's served on a Hawaiian bun. Phenomenal.

2. Grater Mac Shop's "Mexi Veg" mac and cheese

There are four different mac and cheese offerings we could try: An all-cheese option, one with ground beef and onions, a "meat lovers" that included pepperoni and sausage and this one. It has corn, calabaza, hot peppers, scallions and cilantro, topped with crumbled tortilla chips. I was super intrigued and asked one of the servers for her favorite. She named this one and I see why - it tastes like soft nachos with heat. A surprisingly great combination.

3. The "Kitchen Sink" sandwich

This is chicken sausage, sweet sausage, hot dogs, peppers and onions, cherry peppers, fried potatoes and a red wine aoli. And it lives up to the name because it's got everything but …

4. The Barbecue Shack pulled pork platter

It's not the craziest stadium meal you'll ever have (pulled pork, sausage, cole slaw, pickles, corn bread and bacon), but the plate includes thick-cut slab bacon, which makes it a winner in my book.

5. A S'mores pie epanada

I love S'mores and I love empanadas. Put them together and you have heaven.

Honorable Mention: Virtual reality football

Virtual reality? You can't eat that! But there's a reason why I included it here. There's a VR football game fans can play outside the stadium on gameday, and I decided that I'd stop eating for a few minutes and give it a try.

It's quite cool - you really do feel like you're in a stadium, chucking footballs at targets. But as soon as I took the helmet off, I got a little nauseous - now I get why Keanu Reeves felt sick after his first trip into the Matrix - and had to take a minute or two to recover before the second part of my food-sampling tour.

My tip for football fans out there: Do the VR before you eat.