Restaurateur Simon Kim vividly remembers the lunch boxes of colorful gimbaps that all his fellow students’ mothers brought to share on undonghwe, or “field day”—the outdoor sports festival that South Korean schools hold once a year. Some had SPAM, fishcake, or spinach rolled inside the rice and roasted seaweed wrapper. But his mom’s gimbap, stuffed with thinly sliced bulgogi, crunchy carrots and danmuji, were the best. This year, at New York’s annual tennis tournament, the US Open, he’s bringing her recipe to Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at a new food stand, KIMBOP. This latest stand joins his returning concepts COQODAQ (of caviar-topped nugget fame), and CQDQ, its take-out spin-off. But KIMBOP is just one of the handful of new food attractions at the tournament for 2026.
The food options at this year’s US Open in Flushing, Queens, are a testament to just how far stadium concessions have come since the days of hot dogs, peanuts, and Cracker Jacks. Fittingly for New York City’s most ethnically diverse borough, you’ll find falafel, souvlaki, hot pastrami on rye, tacos, hand rolls, lobster rolls, Neapolitan pizzas, poke bowls, kimchi rice bowls, and, new to this year’s tournament, jambon-buerre.
“It’s obviously a tennis match first but it’s also a food fest second,” says Robbie Felice, chef-owner of pastaRAMEN, the Montclair, New Jersey, restaurant that’s bringing its mazeman-style shrimp scampi ramen back to the US Open for the second year, along with a new chicken teriyaki ramen and spicy tuna crispy rice.
Wondering what the most appropriate meal for a late-summer day of outdoor sports-watching might be? Kim thinks gimbaps are a good option: They’re easy to pop in your mouth on the go, satiating without being greasy (KIMBOP will serve a vegetarian version along with the bulgogi), and they can be served at an ambient temperature. On the other end of the spectrum, fried foods and overstuffed sandwiches are a classic attraction for sports fans. The US Open, which runs August 23 through September 13, has it all.
Pro tip: Go during the free “fan week,” the first week to watch the qualifying tournament. Free admission means you can spend everything on eating to your heart’s content.
Where to eat a fried chicken sandwich:
This year’s US Open once again features a top-tier matchup between Fuku’s spicy fried chicken sandwich with pickles and mayo on a potato roll, and CQDQ’s “Gangnam-style” fried chicken sandwich with soy garlic glaze, Kewpie mayo, and coleslaw on a brioche roll. You’ll find both in the grounds’ Food Village. Cut them into halves to compare with your pals.
Where to eat a healthy substitute for French fries:
New to the Food Village in 2026 is Miznon, the global Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant chain from chef Eyal Shani. Don’t miss the green beans dressed with lemon, olive oil and garlic in a paper bag. Miznon’s chief of operations, Liad Balki, hopes they’re “the perfect handheld snack to carry between matches.” Miznon also offers hearty pitas filled with roast beef, schnitzel, tahini, matbusha, and pickles.
Where to get a healthyish rice bowl:
Rice bowls abound at the US Open. Food Village will serve options ranging from Dos Toros Taqueria’s grilled pollo asado bowl with black beans, rice, and corn salsa to Korilla BBQ’s roasted chicken or tofu bowl with kimchi, kale salad, and corn to Poke Yachty’s spicy tuna poke bowl with wonton crisps and creamy togorashi.
Where to get a salad:
If you’re going grain-free, fill up on the fattoush salad at The Migrant Kitchen, a sumac-and-pomegranate-topped mixture of lettuce, cucumber, red pepper, tomato, radish, and feta. The Upper West Side restaurant and caterer partners with the nonprofit Migrant Kitchen Initiative to deliver meals to the food-insecure, and its menu—including a chicken shwarma bowl and lamb torta—reflects the communities it often serves.
What to drink after a Honey Deuce (or two):
The US Open is a feat of endurance—even to attend—with best-of-five-set matches and late-summer heat. It’s best to pace yourself with its iconic Grey Goose-lemonade cocktail, the Honey Deuce, followed by a pick-me-up of cold brew from the Lavazza stand, which is coming back to the tournament for its 12th year.
Where to eat a fancy sit-down meal:
Celebrity chef-driven restaurants are aplenty at the US Open, so take your pick. There’s Fare by Alex Guaranschelli, which plans to serve up a paccheri pasta with ricotta salata and yellow tomato. Heineken Red Star Patio Café by David Burke is bringing a warm lobster Cobb salad to the tournament. Morimoto by Masaharu Morimoto is serving hand rolls and nigiri. Enrique Olvera’s Cosme is taking over the former Mojito space with some mole duck flautas. Inside the exclusive club level of Arthur Ashe stadium, visit Champions by Benjamin Steakhouse for good old-fashioned dry-aged porterhouse with creamed spinach and Benjamin steak sauce.
What’s at the Dobel Tequila Club:
This bar is once again partnering with Oyamel, the Mexican restaurant concept from José Andrés. Now in its second year, the Dobel-Oyamel team-up has tacos (or nachos) chilorio, a Sinaloan-style shredded braised beef with guajillo chiles, on the menu. Joining the tequila-based cocktail menu will be a Cucumber Slice made with Dobel Tahona Organico tequila, elderflower, and serrano in addition to the black lava salt-rimmed Ace Paloma.
Where to eat a viral French dip sandwich:
Can a small Greenwich Village sandwich shop from a TikTok star replicate its success in Flushing’s biggest tennis venue? Salt Hank’s is here to prove that this year. The restaurant, founded in 2025 by content creator Henry Laporte, serves hefty (and heftily priced at over $30) French dip sandwiches. Its stand at the US Open will also serve its signature sub of thinly shaved prime rib, caramelized onions, provolone, and horseradish-chive aioli.
Explore Queens Before or After the Open
Outside the Stadium: Where to get breakfast before you go?
Located in Flushing, Queens, the US Open is in a mecca for food lovers, with a dizzying array of international options surrounding it. Get off the screechy 7 train at 111th Street for a comforting Dominican breakfast before heading over. Classics like mofongo, chicharrones, and rellenos (stuffed plantains) are served up in a cheerfully adorned dining room at Morena’s Kitchen. Walk it off to the arena for 15 minutes before starting your day session.
Outside the Stadium: Where to get late-night eats?
Done for the day as a spectator and still hungry? You’re in luck. Just another subway stop away and you’re at Flushing-Main Street, where regional cuisines from around Asia can be found. There’s trendy hot pot and face-numbing Sichuan spots, as well as relative newcomers like the excellent Thai spot Zaab Zaab. But if you’re eating late, head to a crowd-pleasing standby like Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao, which serves colorful soup dumplings flavored with the likes of loofah gourd and scallop, and other Shanghainese staples like pan-fried rice cakes, until 1 a.m. on weekends. For more options, head to our Guide on Where to Eat in Queens, New York.
Where to find a competing roast beef sandwich:
Another sandwich war is afoot: longtime US Open vendor Pat LaFrieda will offer a steak sandwich au jus, made with Black Angus beef, caramelized onions, and Monterey Jack cheese. Which sandwich will emerge victorious? You might have to wait in both lines to find out.
Where to drink a refreshing N/A beverage:
Arthur Ashe stadium’s COQADAQ outpost will be busy serving up caviar-topped chicken nuggets along with a new duo of functional beverages in the Finesse, a tall elixir of coconut water, raspberry, caffeine, and taurine, and the Dropshot, a smaller green vial of matcha, pineapple, and Korean red ginseng. “I love a martini more than the next guy, but when I’m at the US Open it’s hot and I opt not to drink,” says Kim, who plays tennis weekly and co-chairs a tennis tournament for City Harvest. The pair of drinks, he says, were inspired by a couple of tennis stars: Riley Opelka, the 6’11” American athlete for the towering Finesse and Tommy Paul, the current world No. 24 (and shorter) American player for the Dropshot.
Where to get a secret-menu jambon-beurre?
In addition to gimbaps, KIMBOP will be serving up a classic jambon-beurre sandwich on a baguette. This is apparently a sleeper hit served as a secret menu item at Bar Chimera, Kim’s Midtown cocktail bar, and he hopes it’ll be a great complement for those looking for something simple, executed really well. Good ham, a crispy baguette, and Normandy butter can be so much more than the sum of its parts.
Where to eat noodles:
People kept asking me, “where did you get that?” pointing at my bowl of buttery shrimp scampi ramen one windy day at the US Open in 2025. It turns out people at the US Open really want noodles. The answer: pastaRAMEN, an incumbent Food Village stall and brick-and-mortar restaurant specializing in Italian food meets ramen in Montclair, New Jersey. What started as a pandemic-era pop-up has become an unlikely fan favorite at the US Open, and the brothless style of ramen meets pasta suits the fast-casual moment, says Felice. He’s doubling down with a teriyaki-and-piccata-inspired ramen topped with chicken katsu, and new sides include a crispy rice topped with Italian tuna and curly fries with nori crema.
Where to get something similar to actual Cracker Jacks:
New to the tournament, the Ridgefield, Connecticut–based nonprofit Prospector Popcorn will be selling bags of its sweet-and-savory popcorn in flavors like caramel, cheddar caramel, and spicy caramel made with habaneros and ghost peppers. The organization’s mission is to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities, and 75% of its employees identify as having a disability. It started as a nonprofit movie theater concession and makes its debut at the US Open’s various concession stands.
Where to sate your sweet tooth:
The honeycomb fudge slam has been Van Leeuwen’s exclusive ice cream flavor at the US Open since 2023 after usurping Ben & Jerry’s for the coveted partnership in 2022. The local shop turned global chain added fudge swirls and caramel candy bits to its signature honeycomb flavor to make sugar-heads even happier. You will be too.
Source: www.bonappetit.com
