The U.S. Open Food Tasting Preview

2014

Every August, New York City hosts the U.S. Open, the prestigious tennis championship. It draws players from dozens of countries and visitors from over 100. Big power-players like Masaharu Morimoto, David Burke, and Tony Mantuano cook up menus to feed up to 17,000 guests every day. Allegedly there are some sports-type people floating around too. Google tells me that Ana Ivanovic was standing next to me for about 20 minutes during the reception, but you can't always trust the internet.

I arrived with Emma right on time and we immediately grabbed the first cocktails we saw. After two of them Emma nudged me. "I think I'm getting drunk," she said. "That's quite a feat," I told her. "We've only been having non-alcoholic ones so far." I sought to remedy the situation and headed over to the Grey Goose station for some real drinks. Upon my arrival, Emma had flagged down a waiter with a platter of fried chicken sandwiches courtesy of Hill Country Chicken, one of the best fried chicken spots I know. For the next couple of hours forward, the food continued to come. Sushi from Morimoto, filet mignon steak sandwiches from Pat LaFreida, truffled grilled cheeses from Morris, caprese sandwiches, seared ahi tuna, oysters with caviar, flambéd shrimp, lobster rolls, tacos, slabs of bacon, charcuterie plates, blueberry cobblers, and key lime pies. To say that we ate well at this particular luncheon is to put it mildly and, I am sure, should you get yourself some tickets to the U.S. Open this year, you will too.