How celebrity chefs create dishes for the US Open

Alex Guarnaschelli knew that when she brought the specialties of her famous New York restaurant Butter to her restaurant at the U.S. Open, she would have to simplify the recipes, even if just a little bit. After spending several years honing her art of serving at the fast-paced tennis event, she worked hand-in-hand with Levy, along with a number of celebrity chefs who offer a wide range of flavors throughout the grounds, to translate the unique concepts into repeatable recipes.

To capitalize on the popularity of celebrity chefs – at the 2024 US Open, this means chefs from the Food Village to the restaurants – it is necessary to hand over the stars’ ideas to a number of Levy chefs who can take those ideas and implement them.

“It’s about understanding their vision,” Ron Krivosik, Levy’s senior vice president of culinary, tells me about the connection between the chefs. “Cooking is cooking. Eating is eating. As long as you know what they’re looking for, that’s the easy part.”

Guarnaschelli tells me she brings her team to the US Open to work with the Levy chefs so that both sides fully understand the recipes and how to prepare them. For chefs who are used to running a traditional restaurant, the sheer volume and pace of the US Open can sometimes be overwhelming. For the Levy chefs, they have to learn an entirely new menu. “It’s so great to work together and support each other,” Guarnaschelli says of working together before the event begins. “We let the chefs cook.”

Krivosik says the most important thing new chefs at Open need to understand is the volume and pace of food. He says Guarnaschelli understands all of that, which helps create a restaurant that runs more smoothly once she passes that vision on to the team putting it together. “You can see it on paper, but once you work through it with Alex and her executive chef Michael (Jenkins), you understand what it is. It’s simple, great food.”

As Guarnaschelli knows, one of the key tricks to creating a dish that appeals to the masses and can be prepared quickly is to simplify the individual steps. For example, Krivosik says if chefs prepare a dish with eight steps, it just won’t work at the busy U.S. Open. “You have to consider volume and reduce the steps,” he says. “As long as we don’t compromise quality and can achieve the end result in five steps instead of eight, we will always serve top-notch food.”

He tells how a new chef once came in with a lobster roll and toasted the roll with each order. That slowed down the process, so Krivosik suggested pre-toasting dozens of rolls. The chef wasn’t convinced until he noticed that the lobster rolls were selling so fast that there was barely room for the roll. “It’s the little things like that,” he says. “We’ll still do whatever the guest wants, but you can save time.”

For Guarnaschelli, serving at the US Open and refining the recipes is worth the effort. “I love this event, I’ve been here since I was a child,” she says. “I have a US Open T-shirt from 1982. I came here with such dreamy eyes and felt like I was entering another world.”

That’s why Guarnaschelli wants her dishes to have a touch of New York City, despite their Mediterranean and Italian bent. Simplifying recipes, she says, is often about the quality of the ingredients. She works with families who have lived in Little Italy for over 100 years, making their own cheese and baking cheesecake in a century-old oven. “Serving those products elevates the food and gives us more time to curate everything around it,” she says. “We make it feel cohesive. People are hungry and fueled and adrenaline is high. We try to curate an experience that speaks to that mood. For me, the food and the venue have to serve that greater electricity.”

Around the site

From Fare by Alex Guarnaschelli to appearances by other celebrity chefs, the US Open is full of culinary experiences.

The US Open features seven on-site restaurants, 60 food vendors, 90 suites and 250 chefs and hospitality staff to provide a full program for the approximately one million fans who attend the games each year.

Key restaurants include Michelin-starred Ed Brown, Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto and James Beard Award-winning Kwame Onwuahci, who team up at Aces in Arthur Ashe Stadium. The restaurant is right next to Champions Bar & Grill, operated by Benjamin Steakhouse, which sold 4,684 steaks to over 11,200 guests last year. The popular steakhouse is known for its porterhouse steak for two, with the filet being the most popular single order. Steak fries are available on the side, and a Caesar salad is the most common entrée order.

Simon Kim is bringing his Cote Korean Steakhouse from New York to the US Open, serving upscale Korean-inspired chicken called Coqodaq. Known for The Golden Nugget, which will be served on the Ashe Club level this year, fans with deep pockets can get the black truffle and 24-karat gold nugget, for $100 for an order of six. The nuggets are also available without the special additions at a cheaper price.

Other returning chefs include David Burke’s Mojito and Josh Capon, who creates vibrant seafood at Capon’s Fly Fish.

The tournament also features new dishes and returning items from Pat LaFrieda Meat Co., San Matteo NYC, Dos Toros Taqueria, La Casa de Masa, Red Hook Lobster Pound, Fuku, Eataly, Crown Shy, Korilla BBQ, Poke Yachty, Hill Country BBQ, King Souvlaki, Stacked Sandwich Shop, The Migrant Kitchen, The Nourish Spot and Van Leeuwen Ice Cream.

The Carnegie Deli Group is returning to New York City. The pop-up food court of a restaurant that served the city for nearly 100 years offers a mix of options, most notably corned beef and pastrami sandwiches.

One of the most iconic alcoholic beverages in sports washes it all down. The Grey Goose Honey Deuce returns after selling 450,000 drinks at the 2023 US Open.