U.S. Open 2024 food and beverage: 44 dining options serve up more than 2,000 items to try

With a powerful appetite and resources to match, a visitor to the U.S. Open could probably spend most of a day at the tournament’s food court and skip the tennis.

Starting alphabetically with Aces, the reservations-only seafood restaurant, and ending with Van Leeuwen, the high-end ice cream chain, there are 44 dining options, according to the Open website. Together they sell about 2,000 different food and beverage items, according to Chris Studley, the managing director of event services for the United States Tennis Association.

“People come for the tennis, but it’s also a food and beverage festival wrapped in,” Studley said.

There are also 19 stores, according to the Open’s interactive map, many selling clothing or sporting goods.

A food sampling: chicken arepa at La Casa De Masa, with slow-roasted chicken, black beans, cheese, pickled onions and cilantro, $21. Maine lobster roll at Red Hook Lobster Pound, served chilled with lemon mayo and slaw on the side, $34. Nine-inch all-beef hot dog at Carnegie Delicatessen, $10.50. Margherita pizza at San Matteo – baked in a pizza oven built onsite – $19.

To wash it down, a small bottle of Evian water is available at most eateries for the standard price of $6.75, or you can get a large for $8.75. Water is also free at fountains and bottle-fillers scattered throughout the grounds; beer and champagne, unfortunately, are not. Heineken is available at many eateries for a standard $15.50. A flute of Moet & Chandon champagne costs $32.

For dessert, chocolate and vanilla bean ice cream in a waffle cone with cookies and cream crumble at Van Leeuwen, $16.50, though simpler and cheaper options are available. The ice cream store appears to be one of the few dining options to list a calorie count on its menu; a two-flavor super cone like the one described contains 720 to 1,010 calories, nothing that a few hours on court won’t burn off.

One of the most popular food destinations this year is Coqodaq, in Arthur Ashe Stadium, Studley said. It is a Korean-inspired fried chicken restaurant and among its dishes are six-piece chicken nuggets, $24, or chicken nuggets with caviar, $100.

Studley said tournament organizers tried to build an interesting array of choices while ensuring that some were affordable to fans on a budget, citing sandwiches and pizzas that cost about $20. Fans can also bring food “within reason,” he said.

At lunchtime, Kathryn Reinhard, 45, an Episcopal priest from Bronxville, and her husband, Ian Kinman, a professor of religion at Fordham University, chose Casa de Masa for its gluten-free dishes. She had the chicken arepa and a seasoned ear of corn; he had a chicken empanada. They each had a cup of sugar-free Hibiscus iced tea. Her bill was $42; his was $27.

“Tastes fresh, seems healthy,” Reinhard said. Kinman said he was looking forward to some Korean barbecue later in the day. “Just based on the sheer diversity of food options, I don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed,” he said.

After eating, shopping. On Thursday morning, the U.S. Open Collection Store outside Louis Armstrong Stadium got so crowded a line formed to enter, with staff letting people in a few at a time. Inside, another crowd formed, ironically enough in front of shelves of baseball-style caps. They came in minimalist white, maximalist pink glitter and dozens of styles in between, most for $40.

Elsewhere inside the store at Forty-Love Tennis Jewelry, Jerry Kaplan and Nikki Wang stood over a case of tennis-themed earrings, bracelets and necklaces. One of the most affordable pieces was a sterling silver necklace with a tiny tennis racquet, $89; one of the most expensive was a 21-diamond gold necklace, $1,250. “I don’t do junk,” said Kaplan. Forty-Love debuted in 2015 at a tournament in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and now does business at half a dozen majors worldwide, he said. Forty-Love is on track to sell about 1,500 pieces at this year’s Open. “This tournament is phenomenal,” Kaplan said.

Roger Federer may be retired from professional tennis, but he lives on in marketing. At the Oliver Peoples sunglasses booth in the Open Collection Store, “High-performance details meet luxuriously crafted glasses co-designed with Roger Federer,” according to the Oliver Peoples website. A salesman said the glasses on display cost $390 to $502. If you looked carefully at the frame stems, he said, you could see a crisscross pattern like that of a racquet string bed.

Federer was also “heavily involved in the creation, design and playtesting” of the RF racquets for sale at the Wilson Store, Michael Schaeffer, Wilson’s global product director for Racquet Sports said in emailed answers to questions. Schaeffer said that, before his retirement, Federer had intended to play with a version of the racquet on tour.

Dozens of unstrung frames hung from a rack on the wall. They were black with two pencil-thin silver lines running the length of the throat, leather grips and the Great One’s initials, rather than the traditional Wilson W, on the butt cap.

The RF 01 Pro weighs a hefty 335 grams strung and sells for $299, according to the Wilson website, whose text proclaims the product “embodies the qualities of a fine-point paintbrush” but does not guarantee the user tennis immortality.