We tried the new TD Garden food offerings —and then we ranked them

After last year’s ascent as an emerging Eastern Conference powerhouse, and the offseason acquisition of rookie and veteran talent, the Celtics roster holds great promise, but fans’ expectations aren’t the only thing on Causeway Street that have been renewed for the upcoming season. After extensive renovation, the TD Garden has refreshed its concessions menu throughout the venue, offering new and experimental items with assists from some familiar names.

We visited the Garden to learn more about the new variety of foods available at this year’s Celtics (and Bruins!) games. And with the C’s climbing experts’ power rankings, we thought it only right to give fans a ranking of our favorite new food items.

5. Macaroni & Cheese with Cheetos or Lays Topping

A product of the Garden’s new Frito Lay Test Kitchen, which will continue to try out and gauge reaction to new snack-based concoctions throughout the season, hearty mac and cheese is now offered with a choice of crunchy toppings –— including Cheetos, Flaming Hot Cheetos, Jalapeno Cheddar Lays or Kettle Cooked Lays chips. Whether you want to spice up your comfort food or just give it a crispy extra layer of flavor, the mac-and-cheese-and-chips hits the spot.

4. Chicken & Rice Bowl with Yogurt Sauce

Perhaps the most sensible new option, the Chicken & Rice Bowl is a lean standard, available gluten-free, and comes with a rich yogurt sauce that adds kick perfect for those that cannot simply turn off their culinary conscience upon entering a sports arena.

3. Back Bay BBQ Sliders

If you have a cold brew in one hand, you’ll want these tangy barbecue sliders in the other, balancing your game day experience. It’s the second season the Garden has offered Back Bay BBQ, but the new mouth-watering pork sliders have a good shot at making your Rookie of the Year ballot.

2.Legal Sea Foods Lobster Roll

Patrons of New England’s stalwart Legal Sea Foods chain will recognize that many of their favorite options are now available at TD Garden. The clam chowder, crab cake sandwich, lobster bisque and every other offering are made on-site to the same quality as at Legal locations, but no option goes down better courtside than the lobster roll, which just might replace hot dogs and burgers as your new sporting event go-to eat.

1.Doritos Top-and-Go Walking Taco

“Magic in a bag” is what TD Garden Chef Kevin Doherty calls this Frito Lay Test Kitchen invention, which combines your favorite guilty pleasures in a way that only an industrious and ravenous college student in the middle of the night could conceive. The street-food inspired “Walking Taco” starts with an ordinary bag of either Nacho Cheese Doritos or Tostitos, but once its contents are doused in cheeseburger sauce that tastes so good you’d swear it came fresh off your grill, the new spin on familiar junk food transforms into championship-caliber event eats. Trust us.​