The Guardian was naturally horrified and called what’s happened at US Open the ‘Coachella-fication’ of the last Grand Slam of tennis. With celebrities, influences, social media overdrive and fashion and food trends on the periphery, tennis over the last 20 days at New York has been about assorted other things than just Sabalenka or Alcaraz winning titles.
The talk of the mammoth town is however chicken nuggets garnished with caviar for $100, and a vodka-infused cocktail called Honey Deuce that’s proclaimed itself to be the signature drink of the US Open.
Any comparisons to Wimbledon’s strawberry and cream culture, would be dubbed wannabe, except it’s just New York being New York and having a blast with food.
With a Korean fusion chef responsible for the sales dizzying up.
It all started last year at the US Open when Simon Kim, a Michelin starred chef who runs New York’s Coqodaq, a Korean steak house, received a call from authorities to stop posting pictures of his sandwich on his social media. He told CBS, “I was told I gotta stop posting on social media because people were trying to breach security to get to club level. (US Open has different tiers of access to restaurants depending on ticket price). But now we are at the Food Village this year where we serve everybody,” said the Korean who wanted to break down the elitist barrier.
He recalled to CBS, “We have this chicken sandwich, Gangnam style, classic chicken crispy sandwich but pumped up with a sweet soy sauce glaze and American coleslaw. Slightly Korean,” he explained.
Not quite buying into elitism though he serves a high end clientele at his establishment, Kim decided to open it up for all. “We thought hard about US Open. Tennis is for everybody. Tennis can be bourgeois or for everybody so chicken nugget is the most common food. It’s low brow. And caviar is highest brow. So we mix the low brow & high and made something special that’s available to everybody,” he explained to CBS.
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Expensive food
The result is food kiosks serving up expensive food in particular caviar topped chicken nuggets. “For 100 USD, you can get 6 chicken nuggets with a side of caviar from a Korean inspired spot. Those who’ve tried it say they love it. Others say they need to hit the lottery before indulging,” the CBS reported.
The network reported that other hits included Mahi mango tacos, ramen shrimp scampi and rye cookies.
It was a conscious decision by US Tennis Association to make gourmet food available on stalls, egged on by the Korean’s easy fusion, said meat supplier Pat Lafreida of the steak sandwich to CBS. “USTA changed food program, so could be at Simon’s (Kim) restaurant or at the Open and have same product.”
“Food is reflective of city, such variety. You can see king of beef, chicken, pasta, ramen, Japanese – reflects city,” he added.
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The other staple priced like a bomb is the Honey Deuce cocktail.
Taylor Townsend, who lost women’s doubles final, went swiggin one of the signature drink at her final post match conference, and Jessica Pegula posted a selfie making light of her semis loss to Sabalenka, alongside the identifiable drink. It’s pink lemonadey laced liberally with vodka, and with three tennis ball like fronzen honeydew melonballs, lining the rim. It’s got grey goose vodka, fresh lemonade, raspberry liqueur and three frozen honeydew melon balls in a commemorative US Open glass, just like mint jelup of Kentucky Derby.
According to CNBC, in 2023 over 550,00 Honey Deuce sold at $23 a pop, amounting to 13 million $ in sales. It’s got six price hikes since 2012, the site added. CNBC dubbed it ‘Funflation’ where despite Americans complaining about prices of daily food and commodities, they are pushing themselves to spend on travel, experiences and concerts and sports events to “live” their life. Being seen puzzling a Honey Deuce is now a thing from the US Open.
Groups of Honey Deuce drinkers have turned US Open into a frat party, as per New York Post as they built ‘towers of cups’ of the alcoholic beverages, stacking empty glasses upon each other. The tipsy humans themselves climbed upon each other’s shoulders to construct the glass-stack. Collegians have turned day drinkers in the first week of opening of universities and gone around Louis Armstrong stadium with those empty Honey Deuce glass towers, like trophies.
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In a mildly cringe instance, visiting Aussie used a friend’s Nike sneaker to drink Honey Deuce from, calling it a rugby tradition called ‘shoey’. He told NY Post, “It tastes a bit like foot fungus, a bit of salt, a bit of sweat and it’s all protein.”
US Open always called the ‘People’s Slam’ went a little mental putting caviar on humble chicken nuggets. The Alcaraz-Sinner show was almost humdrum in comparison for the Funflationers.
