What’s in a burger? How The Field crafts Penn State coaches’ creations
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- The Field Burger & Tap has a new burger named for Penn State football coach Matt Campbell.
- The restaurant works with Penn State coaches to make burgers using their favorite flavors.
- Some burgers might stay on the menu long after coaches leave Penn State.
Would Penn State’s newest coach like to be the namesake of a Chicago-style hot dog? Or maybe a burger topped with beer cheese?
That’s the kind of question often running through the mind of Bradley Hansen, the executive chef of The Field Burger & Tap. For nearly a decade, his restaurant at Toftrees Golf Resort has developed an ever-changing roster of burgers named for Nittany Lions coaches that are crafted using flavors and ideas from their pasts and upbringings.
The Field’s latest addition, Coach Campbell’s Roman Burger, honors new football coach Matt Campbell. Hansen said his team hit the ground running shortly after the former Iowa State coach’s hire became official and cast a wide net to develop some options.
“With every coach, I try to come up with a bunch of ideas — maybe where they’ve coached before, where they grew up, their favorite foods,” Hansen told the Centre Daily Times. “With Matt being from the Akron area, we tried to pull in some food ties from there, whether it’s a Polish Boy sandwich, seafood or whatever is popular there.”
Ultimately, The Field and Campbell chose a play on the Romanburger, the top-selling sandwich from Mr. Hero, a regional chain based in Cleveland. It features a hand-formed burger patty topped with salami, mortadella, white cheddar cheese, arugula, tomato, onion, mayonnaise and Italian dressing, all piled high on a brioche roll.
Though The Field’s newest creation draws inspiration from a Cleveland delicacy, they’re not identical. The Mr. Hero burger is served with two smash burger patties and Swiss American cheese on a sub sandwich roll.
Still, the flavors provide a unique addition to The Field’s existing burger lineup.
“With the flavors from the Italian meats, the mayonnaise, the Italian dressing, it all comes together to provide a lot of different flavors in every bite with that burger,” Hansen said.
Creating a burger for a Penn State coach requires plenty of research, the executive chef said. The Field’s team often brainstorms ideas, travels to coaches’ hometowns and presents several options for coaches to sample before landing on a pick for the menu.
Hansen said coaches receive the final say — as long as their pick is practical enough.
Often, the restaurant can find other uses for ingredients that are brought in for new Coach’s Corner burgers. The cold cuts that top the Coach Campbell Roman Burger, for example, are also used in some Toftrees event catering packages.
Who makes the cut?
Currently, just five Penn State coaches have their own burgers on The Field’s menu. Men’s hockey coach Guy Gadowsky’s “The Big Gadowsky” burger is topped with Lancaster bacon, pierogies and sour cream, while women’s soccer coach Erica Dambach’s namesake, “The Dambach-ery,” resembles a cheeseteak-burger hybrid.
Hansen said the “Coach’s Corner” menu is reserved for high-profile Penn State coaches.
“Usually, they’re well established in the area, hopefully with some wins under their belt,” he said. “[Penn State’s] athletic department helps us choose, and we have room on our menu for only so many coaches’ burgers.”
With only so many spots available, The Field’s team has crafted coach-branded items elsewhere on its menu. These include Kraft’s Patty Melt, named for athletic director Pat Kraft, and the Kamper Shake, a milkshake topped with a Boston cream donut and named for women’s hockey coach Jeff Kampersal.
Former football coach James Franklin got the ball rolling nearly a decade ago when The Field introduced his namesake menu item: a turkey burger featuring arugula, tomato, olive tapenade and goat cheese served on a whole-grain bun. Since then, The Field has maintained a strong relationship with Penn State’s sports programs while expanding its Coach’s Corner menu.
The Field also serves as the home of Penn State’s Coaches Show, a weekly broadcast featuring interviews with Penn State coaches, broadcasters and other personalities. The show is broadcast live inside the restaurant’s dining room at 6 p.m. on Thursdays.
What if coaches leave Penn State?
Just as Penn State coaches came and go, so do the burgers named after them. James Franklin’s longtime turkey burger is no longer available after the former football coach was fired in October.
If a Coach’s Corner burger is popular enough, it could stick around on the menu long after the namesake coach leaves Penn State, Hansen said. That’s the plan for Coach Kieger’s “Juicy Lucy,” named for women’s basketball coach Carolyn Kieger, who was fired last week after leading the program for seven seasons.
The “Juicy Lucy,” featuring Eleven Oaks wagyu beef stuffed with American cheese and topped with candied bacon and chipotle aioli atop a pretzel roll, is one of The Field’s top-selling sandwiches. Hansen said it offers the best flavor combinations on the menu and remains his first pick to bring to cooking competitions (and often win them).
Hansen said the restaurant’s Coach’s Corner menu has helped The Field branch out and experiment with new flavor profiles and styles.
“It gets us pushed out of our comfort zone a bit,” Hansen said. “If you would have told me I was crafting a Juicy Lucy without any push behind it, I probably would’ve said no because it sounds like a real pain. But that was what [Kieger] wanted, so we made it work, and now it’s one of our top sellers.”
The Field, located at 1 Country Club Lane in State College, is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Fridays, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturdays and 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sundays. For more information and a look at its latest menus, visit thefieldburgerandtap.com.
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