Who has the most epic Eagles tailgate spread? The mayor of Atlantic City.
The menu regularly features steakhouse standards like New York strip steak, filet mignon, ribeye, clams casino, and Champagne-leek oysters. “You name it, we have it,” says Mayor Marty Small Sr.
If you pulled up Marty Small Sr.’s Instagram profile recently, you’d be forgiven for thinking his primary occupation is Die-Hard Eagles Fan. There are plenty of Go Birds posts, Eagles hype videos, and Dallas memes (”What year is it? Nacho year”).
In fact, Small is the mayor of Atlantic City. Talk to him for a bit and you can tell: He knows how to have — and how to host — a good time. Since being sworn in in 2019, he has presided over the celebratory implosion of Trump Plaza, a bid to host the NBA playoffs, and the debut of Diner en Blanc Atlantic City.
So it comes as little surprise that Small, a longtime Eagles season ticket-holder, and a clutch of friends have been holding tailgates for nearly 20 years in Lincoln Financial Field’s lot M, where the smell of grill smoke hung thick in the air midday Sunday as Philadelphians revved up for the NFC championship game.
Small’s setup doesn’t look so different at first. There are two charcoal grills and a folding table, a cooler of Modelos, and a bottle of Woodford Reserve stationed to the side of a pickup truck.
But the menu distinguishes it from the rest. Weave through the games of cornhole, kids playing catch, and pockets of fans clad in every shade of Eagles green to see other tailgate spreads: tomato pies, Wawa hoagie trays, cheese plates and bags of Herr’s chips, burgers and dogs, and lots and lots of soft pretzels. At Small’s tailgate, “it’s more gourmet,” he says.
Chef Rasheed Ransome of Chef Sheed’s BBQ Shack in Atlantic City runs the show. He marinated about 10 pounds of steak — filets, New York strip, and shortrib — for three days. There are seafood boil skewers with and without sausage ready to go, trays of mac and cheese, jerk chicken, and Ransome’s “infamous seafood salad,” laden with shrimp and marinated lobster meat.
“I know that they love good food, so I just put it all out on the table,” the chef says.
Ransome goes to the game along with Small; Donald Harris, Atlantic City Public Schools director of secondary education; and Gene Allen, retired Atlantic City High School basketball coach. The crew has been tailgating together since 2004, and they travel to one or two away games each season. Now that the Eagles have made it to the Super Bowl, Small and Harris hope to go, if they’re lucky enough to score tickets.
“He just loves the Eagles,” Harris says of Small. “Look in his office, he has all Philly sports [stuff] around it. You would think he’s the mayor of Philadelphia. ... But he really loves Atlantic City.”
As the steaks and skewers sizzle on the grill, Ransome sprays them with a mix of pineapple and orange juice. He explains to a fellow tailgater that the citrus juice helps break down the protein. He won’t divulge all the ingredients in the spicy marinade on the meat. “I can’t tell you everything. If I do, I’ll have to take you with me.”
As for Ransome himself, he waits to eat. “I just make sure that they get all their food, then I go in the stadium and get some [junk]. I don’t really want to eat my own food,” he says. “They be saying, ‘Why you eating them french fries? Why you come in here and eat that stuff?’ I’m like, ‘I just want to make sure y’all good.’”