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The big-name tennis players like Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal are not the only draw for crowds at the US Open in Flushing Meadows this year. The status of the renowned chef today is highlighted by their attendance at the country’s premier tennis event.
Headlining the bill of top chefs, who are setting up in Queens to feed the 700,000 fans expected to attend the Grand Slam event is World Central Kitchen founder and Nobel prize nominee José Andrés, “Top Chef” judge Tom Colicchio of Gramercy Tavern, and world-famous chocolatier Jacques Torres.
They will join US Open stalwarts like chef David Burke, who this year has revamped US Open regular, Mojito. It has been transformed into a new Cuban-Asian-American fusion restaurant. He will also bring back his Fish Shack stand at the Grandstand Food Village, which is the US Open’s concession stand.
Hungry tennis fans will be spoiled for choice at this year’s US Open with five restaurants, 60 concession stands and food for 90 suites to choose from.
Chef Andrés and ThinkFoodGroup will launch Butterfly, with tacos and tortas, at Food Village and Arthur Ashe Stadium’s Club Level, while Colicchio’s Witchcraft will sell sandwiches and salads.
Continuing the growing trend of #sponcon restaurants and food partnerships sportswear brand Champion link up with Benjamin Steakhouse with a spot called, rather unimaginatively ‘Champions by Benjamin Steakhouse’.
For lovers of seafood, Lure Fishbar by Chef Josh Capon, while the Aces, the Open’s premier seafood offering will be run by Michelin-starred chef Ed Brown and “Iron Chef” Masaharu Morimoto.
With so many A-list attendees at the nation’s most glamorous sporting events, the food offering is a fundamental part of the tournament’s prestige and allure.
“Food is taken extremely seriously here, more than anywhere else in the world, literally,” said Brown, who is also food and beverage consultant to the US tennis governing body. “This is a world-class event. Five star is a must.”
Asian flavours are in attendance also with the likes of JJ Johnson’s Fieldtrip, with its globally inspired rice bowls, and David Chang’s Momofuku fried chicken spin-off Fuku.
