Photo: Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images
It’s the time of year when New Yorkers put on their visors and take the 7 train to Flushing Meadows to watch tennis well into the night. Surrounding all the play, the grounds basically double as a (very expensive) food-and-drink festival with surprisingly solid options among all the stalls and celebrity-chef-backed restaurants. I spent a couple of afternoons during last week’s qualifiers scoping out the on-site options to determine the best things to eat and drink at this year’s event.
Sure, you have to have at least one to get the collectible cup, but Honey Deuces are about as strong as an expired juice box. A Mexican espresso martini from one of the Lavazza cafés delivers a real buzz that can fuel you through a long-running night match. Made with tequila, cold brew, and coffee liqueur, it’s one of the more potent drinks available, though you might want to skip it if you show up in your tennis whites.
Robbie Felice’s Montclair, New Jersey, wafu restaurant PastaRamen is new to the Food Village this year and worth a stop for a comforting bowl of shrimp-scampi ramen on a cool evening.
The Italian players should be pleased with the char-dotted crusts on the personal pies from Neapolitan spot San Matteo, considering there’s an actual wood-burning oven behind the counter. The pizzas range from $19 to $22, which seems fair for the equivalent of about two slices at a sports event.
At Aces, the (reservation-only) seafood spot in Arthur Ashe Stadium, the oxtail-and-crab rangoons are just as crunchy as you’d find at Tatiana. This is Kwame Onwuachi’s third year as a featured chef, where the menu also includes his barbecued collard greens, shawarma half-chicken, and Laos rib-eye skewers.
Coqodaq is back with its nuggets and caviar in the stadium, and this year it has expanded to the Food Village with CQDQ. The group’s new chicken sandwich involves a juicy breast lacquered in a sweet garlicky glaze. While you’re there, get the frozen yogurt with white peaches, which comes in a large enough cup to justify the $19 price tag.
You will look quietly dignified if you get caught on-camera eating San Carlo potato chips and sipping prosecco from the Eataly stall.
Pat LaFrieda says he started preparing meat to dry age for the U.S. Open two months prior. His three Pat LaFrieda Meat Co. stands — in Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong stadiums as well as the village — have burgers, jerky, and the prime-rib sandwich that he introduced last year. Get the sandwich. The meat is thin sliced and served properly medium-rare on a roll with peppers for $25.
When money and time are no concern — and you possess one of the high-level luxury tickets necessary for entry — the stadium steakhouse Champions Bar & Grill is the move. (A friend of mine is pretty sure she saw Alec Baldwin eating there last year.) The 400-seat restaurant inside Arthur Ashe is the only establishment that brings in its own products instead of using the center’s supplier, as well as staff from its Manhattan locations, so it knows how to treat you like a local. The menu is straightforwardly steakhouse, but the meat is truly top-notch.
