Philadelphia is a truly special place for so many reasons—three of the greatest features of the city are the food, sports, and the people housed within. Tailgating combines all three of those traits into what has grown into the ultimate fan experience.
Whether it’s the Phillies, Flyers, Sixers, or Union, the best of Philadelphia’s faithful show up in full force for each and every home game. Tailgating at Eagles games, however, is a different animal.
Ahead of the Eagles’ true home opener against the Atlanta Falcons, Metro Philadelphia stopped by the M Lot outside Lincoln Financial Field to take in the sights and sounds of a proper Birds tailgate. Hosting one of the premier stops in the M Lot, as he does during every Philadelphia home game, is the tailgater extraordinaire known as Dylan, or by some, The Maestro of the M Lot.
Dylan has become a staple on the scene over the years, serving up delicious meats and great vibes at select Phillies and Flyers games and even Wrestlemania. However, where he has truly made a name for himself is at Eagles games. In between cooking and serving some of the most mouth-watering food on the scene, Dylan spoke with Metro Philadelphia, detailing his adventure in tailgating over the years.
What does it feel like to be back in this environment?
Nothing like it. I know that there’s a lot to be made of. We’ve got some fairly fun teams; the Phillies are pretty fun, but there’s nothing like the Birds. It’s an atmosphere. It’s kind of a vibe. It’s a whole different thing. It’s its own different beast, and it’s something that’s, I think, a lot more communal than some of the other sports. And it’s just great to be back here again.
How many years have you been doing this?
We’ve been doing this since probably 2022. We got more or less started at the end of 2021 and then really hit our stride in 2022.
Do you remember your first tailgate ever? The first one you ever went to?
So the first proper tailgate I went to, I brought a bag of Herr’s chips. It was my girlfriend, Jess, her friend group has this home opener tradition where they basically bring, like, some burgers, some hoagies, and everybody’s drinks, and it’s a good time. And so I brought, like, a little flask of Jim Beam and Herr’s crisp and tasty. And so it was a good time, and then we kind of snowballed.
As you’re going through the summer months, what’s your prep work like?
You obviously look at the home games, and then you see a team like the Falcons, right? And so before Nick Foles was announced as being retired, the whole idea was, ‘We’ll do something Atlanta themed.” And so we had ideas like lemon pepper wings and all that type of stuff.
But once Nick Foles was going to do the retirement ceremony, it kind of shifted to obvious stuff regarding sausages and hogs and stuff like that. So a lot of the prep work over the summer is identifying the teams and then trying to figure out what the theme is because I like to kind of cook stuff that relates to the opposition and stuff that kind of relates to any sort of special moments that would mark that type of week.
Are there any other marquee matchups on the schedule that you’re particularly excited about?
The Jags. The year that Doug came back, it was a rain out, at least out here, so it wasn’t that great. So this is kind of our opportunity to kind of give Doug a nice send off and maybe do some theme dishes around Doug. I don’t think you can cook a jaguar, but you know, there’s got to be something from Jacksonville that’s not just Gator that we can kind of lean into. So we’re really looking forward to that.
I always like the Dallas ones because you know we do a lot of barbecue too. And I like to invert that expectation. So those are always fun but the Jags is the one that we’ve kind of got circled as something that’s gonna be pretty special.
The Philadelphia Eagles will face off against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, Nov. 3 at 8:20 p.m. Lots open up seven hours ahead of kick-off and fill up quickly, so if you’re planning on heading down, Lot M—where you will find Dylan—comes strongly recommended.
