Beyond the Courts: CB’s U.S. Open Eating Guide

Each year in late summer, some of the best athletes on the planet converge on Flushing Meadows Corona Park to compete in the United States Open Tennis Championships. In 2018, the U.S. Open begins with practice sessions and qualifier matches on Tuesday, August 21, and concludes with the men’s singles final, scheduled for Sunday, September 9.

The tournament site does provide hungry fans with several cafés and casual bar-restaurants as well as a pair of “food villages.” But when in Queens – where some of the best food in the city is so close at hand – why would we confine ourselves to the boundaries of the tennis center? To energize ourselves beforehand or wind down afterward, here are a few of our favorite nearby dining destinations.

Flushing, the neighborhood immediately to the east of the tennis center and the park, is home to New York’s most exciting Chinatown, including several lively food courts. Among the two dozen vendors in the New York Food Court is Liang Pi Wang, where the namesake “cold skin noodles” – dressed with julienned cucumber and drizzled with soy sauce, black vinegar, sesame oil, and chile oil – are prepared before our eyes, all in three minutes’ time. A hot, handheld alternative is the jian bing, a griddled “Chinese pancake.” For a dainty change of pace, anything from Diverse Dim Sum, two stalls to the left of Liang Pi Wang, is worth a try.

Tianjin Dumpling House occupies a prime corner on the lower level of the Golden Mall, a warren-like gathering of small businesses, most owned by Chinese expats, most serving food. In addition to a small steam-table display that includes duck heads, beef tendon and smoked tofu, as well as sausages that might well pass muster at a Polish meat market, we’re always happy to split a dozen boiled dumplings filled with sea bass or, perhaps, lamb with squash. Down the street and under the same ownership, Dumpling Galaxy offers a hundred-plus varieties in a full-service setting.

The long, low-lit main dining area of Alley 41 is well suited to intimate conversation over classic Sichuan cuisine – sautéed vegetables, perhaps, and a shared order of tea-smoked duck. But we’re even happier in one of the restaurant’s large private rooms, where we can load up the lazy susan with new favorites such as pork belly in garlic sauce, golden pumpkin porridge, sizzling eel, spicy crispy tofu or spare ribs with garlic and salted duck egg yolk. These private rooms easily accommodate a dozen hungry diners; the only jostling might be for the last spare rib.

Chicken – grilled or fried, slathered in soy and garlic or doused with hot pepper – headlines the bill of fare at The Coop. This Korean bar-restaurant also serves a full menu of stews, stir-fries and grilled meats in a sleek, minimalist setting where sporting events, on a pair of flat-screen TVs, play silently against a musical backdrop of K-pop. Nestled on an upper floor of the One Fulton Square hotel and restaurant complex, The Coop stocks a full bar and serves drinks, and drinking food, till well after midnight.

To the west of the tennis center, Spanish is the local lingua franca. Many residents and business owners have Ecuadorian heritage, including the proprietors of Cafe Con Leche. It has the character of a luncheonette, but with a “blue-plate special” – the chuchucara – that’s likely to be loaded with roast pork, fried sweet plantains and toasted large-kerneled corn. In lieu of soda fountain classics, we might cool down with a cholado, a thick shake with fruit-salad aspirations, or a morir soñando, which has always reminded us of a Creamsicle in a cup.

Perhaps the city’s only Chilean restaurant, La Roja de Todos also bakes all its own breads. Even though we still don’t know our hallulla from our marraqueta, we appreciate a bread basket whose contents are warm, fresh and receptive to butter and house-made pebre, a condiment that evokes a garlicky pico de gallo. The baked empanada de pino, plump with beef, onions, raisins, olives and hardboiled egg, is excellent; the simply dressed ceviche is good, too. We also have our eye on the pastel de choclo, a casserole that’s filled much like the empanada but topped with a pillow of pureed corn. Think of it as a Chilean shepherd’s pie.

What La Roja de Todos does for bread, Tortillería Nixtamal Taquería does for tortillas – so much so that they’re served at scores of the city’s best-known Mexican restaurants [Editor’s note: We regret to report that Tortillería Nixtamal Taquería has closed]. But the corn flavor is never fresher than in the tacos at the tortillería’s own cafe, where they cradle flank steak, chicken, pork – maybe slow-cooked, as carnitas, or perhaps rotisseried and dressed with pineapple, al pastor – or nopales, tender grilled chunks of cactus paddle. (Minus the thorns, of course.) For the full hands-on experience, build-your-own-taco platters include tortillas, fixings and our filling of choice. For that purpose it’s near impossible to pass up barbacoa, steamed lamb scented by maguey leaves and guajillo chiles.

Just a half-volley away, the sandwich-making ladies of Leo’s Latticini (also known as Mama’s of Corona) still talk of a time when the neighborhood was largely Italian-American. Their celebrated Italian special is a throwback to that bygone era: cold cuts and fresh mozzarella are piled high, while hot and sweet peppers, mushrooms, and oil and vinegar are added with near-abandon. It’s a big sandwich, best shared with an equally hungry doubles partner. We’re happy to take a seat at the adjoining Mama’s Backyard Cafe, inside opposite the tempting pastry case (cannoli? pignoli? sfogliatelle?) or outside, in the back garden, when the weather is mild.

A meal at Park Side Restaurant, like the state of play on the single bocce court at tiny William F. Moore Park, is, to say the least, unhurried. At one of the city’s last destinations for red-sauce fine dining, the Italian-American menu is frozen in time – marinara, say hello to your cousin Fra diavolo – as are generous portions of scungilli and calamari, chicken piccata and veal parm. Although the waitstaff wear classic black-and-white, for customers, business casual is sufficient – but phoning ahead for a reservation is essential.

Despite the name, The Lemon Ice King of Corona boasts more than 30 flavors; many sport chunks of the fruit they were made from. Although this corner shop doesn’t offer tastes and doesn’t mix flavors, each serving is so inexpensive that it’s hardly a budget-buster to try one of the more exotic flavors (peanut butter? rum raisin? licorice?), then follow it with a second, palate-cleansing cup of lemon. Let’s be clear: every summer, dozens of flavors compete for the attention of local and visiting customers alike, but lemon is the undisputed, all-time champ.

Editor’s Note: In an effort to promote Queens food businesses near the U.S. Open courts, Culinary Backstreets – with generous support from the Queens Economic Development Corporation – has created a printed local dining guide that will be handed out at the tennis tournament. Look out for the QEDC’s kiosk at the Open, where you can pick up a free copy.

Published on August 23, 2018

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