I confess I was distracted during a match I was watching at the US Open last year. I had been served a chocolate bar filled with knafeh and pistachio cream by FIX Dessert Chocolatier, the dessert company credited with originating the viral Dubai chocolate. I became obsessed with the silken and crispy interior, trying to understand how they managed to get the cream to ooze so gently under the dark chocolate exterior.
Cheers. Applause.
I’d missed a break point or some shot. But it was worth it. That FIX bar was just one of the fabulous things I’d eaten during the tournament. There was a refreshing ceviche. A buttery lobster rolls on the concourse. Crunchy tater tots shaped like doughnuts. And between the day and night sessions, escovitch shrimp at a pop-up Tatiana by Kwame Onwuachi inside Aces, just one of the NYC restaurants associated with the Grand Slam event. Food is so integral to how we watch and experience sports, hospitality investors position their new restaurants and bars along Formula 1 race routes, echoing the ultra-luxe dining in Las Vegas and Monte Carlo.
Sports venues are where many visitors experience a city’s culinary scene. At BMO Stadium, home of the Los Angeles Football Club, and its adjacent food hall, you’ll find Korean noodles and Thai chicken sandwiches, a gateway to the goodies familiar to soccer fans that can be found at regional grocery stores, eateries, and markets. In this month’s issue we head to bars where everyone watches women’s sports and visit ballparks for concessions that represent their cities. (Crab fries at Baltimore’s Camden Yards, anyone?) These snacks and novelties are part of what we find entertaining about sports.
To balance out all the city snacks, our senior service editor Kelsey Jane Youngman and Test Kitchen editors collaborated with nutritionists to develop six new recipes to enrich your health and well-being and to keep you moving in your neighborhood park or places like Atlanta’s Beltline, a system of pathways where residents walk, run, skate, and ride bikes around the city. Senior writer Pervaiz Shallwani reports on this area that connects to Mercedes-Benz stadium, home to the Atlanta Falcons and some of the city’s best bites. Antico Pizza Napoletana, the Westside classic, known for its celebrity after-parties and long lines, is located in The Battery Atlanta, just outside of Atlanta’s Truist Park. The pomodorini pizza is loaded with blistered cherry tomatoes and worth missing a field goal or two.
Food + Fitness
DISCOVER
Epicurious’s archive has dozens of recipes for protein-packed bars, including
Nut Butter Granola Bars and Sesame-Peanut Bars. Make a batch of your favorite to toss in your bag for between workouts.
COOK
Samin Nosrat’s second cookbook, Good Things, is a meditation on why we cook in the first place. Make her Grilled Summer Salad while produce is at its finest for sharing.
TRAVEL
Speaking of Dubai,
