This morning I awoke from a food coma brought on by trying to eat every meal for the last two weeks at the now shuttered M. Wells. Stepping outside I noticed a dirigible lazily traversing the skies above and I knew it was that time of year. Time to talk about what to eat during the U.S. Open. Here then, a list of Seven Things to Eat During The U.S. Open. Most of these places lie along the 7 line or are a short walk from the stadium. For a complete guide of where to eat along the 7 line be sure to check out World’s Fare 24/7 in the fall issue of Edible Queens. You'll find plenty there to keep you busy long after the Open ends.

Anyone for crawfish?

1.  Ma la xiao long xia at Sliced Noodles in New World Mall No. 21, New World Mall Food Court, 40-21 Main St., Flushing
Fresh lobster can be had at the stadium, but when’s the last time you ate a lobby at a sporting event? For a championship level crustacean experience take the 7 train to Main Street. Head over to Sliced Noodles in the New World Mall Food Court and order the ma la xiao long xia, or spicy little lobsters. Just under $10 buys a small mountain of crawdads bathed in chili sauce shot through with ginger and Sichuan peppercorn. If you simply must have lobster an outfit aptly called Live Seafood will gladly oblige with whole lobster prepared in a variety of styles, including spicy and ginger scallion.

A Colombian kitchen sink burger will fuel hours of tennis watching.

2.  Super Especial Hamburger at La Dulce Vida
107-22 Corona Ave., Corona, 718-271-3033
Skip the stadium's burgers and take a trip to Colombia instead. That country takes an everything but the kitchen sink approach to the humble hamburger. Find La Dulce Vida not far from the action in nearby Corona. The Super Especial Hamburger ($7) is topped with all manner of things. Some are conventional: bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mayonnaise. And some are not: ham, garlic sauce, pink sauce, Russian sauce, and potato chips.

Why get just lemon ice, when you can have spumoni.

3. Spumoni at the Lemon Ice King of Corona
52-02 108th St., Corona, 718-699-5133
If you have room for dessert after that burger cross the street to the Lemon Ice King of Corona. Get a signature lemon ice. Better yet, try a spumoni new for this season. Head over to William F. Moore “Spaghetti” Park where locals play bocce late into the night. Watch a few frames and feel lucky to have had the chance to take in two great sporting events in one day.

4. Mixed Grill at La Porteña, 74-25 37th Ave., Jackson Heights, 718-458-8111
Cowboy steak can be had at the stadium’s Champion Bar & Grill. For a cowboy experience Argentine style take the 7 train to 74th St. and dine at La Porteña. Order the mixed grill ($18.95 for one, $29.95 for two). It’s a carnivorous combination of skirt steak, short ribs, pork sausage, blood sausage, sweetbreads, and tripe.

Perfect for a midnight snack.

5. Sandwich de media noche at El Sitio
68-28 Roosevelt Ave., Woodside, 718-424-2369
This Cuban spot—with its sunny orange counter—is as old school New York as it gets. Get the sandwich de media noche ($4.40), essentially a Cuban sandwich on darker, sweeter bread. With a cup of café con leche ($1.50) it makes for a perfect midnight snack or prematch meal.

Game, set, crunch: Crispy papaya salad.

6. Thai home Cooking at TCP
63-19 39th Avenue, Woodside, 718-651-6888
Sure you could go to the wildly popular (and excellent) Sriprapahi just down the street along with dozens of other tennis fans. Instead head to TCP or Thailand’s Center Point, a mom-and-pop outfit that recalls the old days when Sripraphai was but a humble hole-in-the-wall. Aom “Annie” Phinphatthakul prepares such dishes as crispy papaya salad ($8.50), a riff on the classic som tum and crispy thousand egg with basil sauce ($10), three batter-fried preserved eggs were set atop ground pork in basil sauce. Shop for Thai ingredients afterwards at TCP’s adjoining grocery store.

Mixed khatsa combines the flavors of Tibet and with those of Sichuan.

7.  Tibetan-Chinese at Phayul, 74-06 37th Rd., Jackson Heights, 718-424-1869
There are so many Tibetan and Nepalese restaurants in what’s still known as Little India that I’ve taken to calling it Little Tibet. Phayul, where the chef offers what he calls Tibetan-Chinese, is one of the best. There are excellent momo here ($4.99), the crescent-shaped beef dumplings that are Tibet’s national dish. Tibetan-Chinese offerings include mixed khatsa ($8), wobbly strips of tripe and creamy bits of tongue dressed with chili, garlic, cilantro, and sesame seeds, and Sichuan peppercorns. If you’re lucky you’ll get to watch a few Tibetan hip hop videos while dining.

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Guess the mystery food and win a fabulous culinary surprise!

Congratulations to World's Fare reader Veronica for winning Name That Food: Round 14. She correctly guessed that the mystery food was the Tibetan steamed bread tingmo. As JO correctly noted in the comments I scored the twisted roll at Phayul in Jackson Heights.

Think you know what this week's dish is? Place your guess in the comments below. First correct answer wins a fabulous culinary surprise from New York City's most delicious and diverse borough. If you've won in the past month, please sit this one out kids. This week's round ends next Friday at 12 p.m. at which time the winner will be notified via e-mail. Good luck!

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The entrance to Phayul is lodged between an Indian spot and a beauty parlor.

Whenever someone asks me to recommend an Indian spot in Jackson Heights, I usually ignore their request. Instead of suggesting one of many buffets and kebab joints I steer them toward one of a dozen eateries specializing in Himalayan cuisine that have sprung up in the last decade. So if you're looking for an Indian in the hood allow me to suggest Phayul, the latest addition to Little Tibet. The restaurant, which serves grub from the rooftop of the world, lies at the rooftop of one of the busiest corners in Jackson Heights.

Mixed khatsa combines beef tripe and tongue in a fiery sauce.

Drope khatsa, ribbons of beef tripe in a fiery chili sauce, is one of my favorite Tibetan dishes.  When the waitress suggested mixed khatsa ($8), which upped the offal quotient by adding tongue I enthusiastically agreed. Served cold the wobbly strips of tripe and creamy bits of tongue dressed with chili, garlic, cilantro, and sesame seeds was quite good. For a moment I thought I detected the tingling sensation of Sichuan peppercorns, but I chalked it up too much time consuming a similar Sichuan dish in Flushing and letting my mind play tricks on my palate.

The hot version of mixed khatsa.

On a subsequent visit, the tongue and tripe dish was served hot. It had slightly less chilies and more garlic as well onion and green pepper. The stir fry of tripe and meltingly tender tongue tasted like something one would find on Main Street in Flushing, not a week-old Tibetan joint in Jackson Heights. I also tried tsep tra shogo trama ($8), toothsome fried lamb chops with French fries. Sadly chili chicken ($8) was disappointing. It was tasty enough, but lacked the gravy of cooked down ginger, garlic, and chilies that is a hallmark of this Indian-Chinese classic.

Blocky laphing noodles awash in a soy garlic sauce.

Laphing ($4), a tangle of cool potato starch noodles amid a lake of garlic-spiked soy sauce, is crowned with a dollop of chili paste. The slippery noodles are as refreshing as they are hard to pick up.

Tsak sha la kor, a mellow short rib and radish soup.

Tsak sha la kor ($6.99) is a mellow short rib and daikon soup. Floating in it are whole dried chilies and a scattering of what my dining companion Ernesto referred to as the Tibetan equivalent of herbs de Provence. It's actually a Tibetan mountain herb called thangyal.

Is that a Sichuan peppercorn on top
of Tibetan blood sausage? Why yes, yes it is.

Gyuma ngoe ma ($7.99) is Tibet's answer to black pudding. The fine-grained rounds of blood sausage are sprinkled with more of those mountain herbs and Sichuan peppercorn. Upon tasting the combination I immediately realized that the tripe dish did contain Sichuan peppercorn after all.

Chef Chime Tendha is as passionate about the Mets as he is freeing Tibet.

On my last visit to Phayul I spoke with Chef Chime Tendha as he tucked into a late afternoon lunch of momo. He explained that some of his dishes, particularly the tripe preparations, are what he likes to think of as Tibetan-Chinese cuisine. He also expressed a fondness for the Sichuan dish fu qi fei pian, which consists of tendon, tripe, and tongue bathed in chili oil and dressed with Sichuan peppercorns among other things.

Tendha also told me Phayul means fatherland in Tibetan. He wears his national pride on his custom Mets cap. It's further born out by the Tibetan hip hop videos he plays, including a hilarious one called Shapaley, that involves respect for one's elders and beef patties. Tendha offered me one of his momo; the dumpling was more delicate than any in recent momo memory.

On that same visit I asked him about an ornate wooden bowl on the counter which is also depicted on Phayul's logo. "It's my tsampa bowl," he said as he opened it to reveal a heap of the roasted barley flour that's a Tibetan staple. "Are you sure you want to try it? Some people get a stomach ache the first time," the waitress said when asked for some tsampa. After I convinced her of my sincere desire to try it, she poured some tsampa into a yak leather pouch. To this she added a good splash of butter tea.

After a few minutes of kneading in the sack the tsampa was ready to eat. And eat I did. I wish I had taken her advice though. Not that I got a stomach ache. It's just that the rustic wad of barley dough was rather bland and austere. Thankfully that's not the case with the rest of the food at Phayul.

Phayul Restaurant, 74-06 37th Rd., Jackson Heights

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Beef, pear, cukes and egg/atop fiery mountain/edible AC.

The amount and authenticity of Asian food in Queens is truly amazing. There’s savory Tibetan momo, juicy Shanghainese xiao long bao, Korean barbeque, crisp Indian dosa, Malaysian curry, and loads of regional Chinese, including Sichuan and the seldom-seen cuisine of Qingdao. What’s even more amazing is that the aforementioned are just some of the cuisines that will be represented under one roof at Monday’s Asian Feastival, at the Sheraton Laguardia in Flushing.

In addition to tastes from two dozen restaurants there will be workshops, including a kimchi demonstration by one of my favorite Korean food personalities Maangchi and an Asian farmer’s market. The day ends with me leading a walking tour of 20 Taste Hunters through downtown Flushing.

By now you’re probably drooling and wondering how to win a pair of tickets. It’s simple. Write a haiku like the ode to naeng myun above. All entries must reference Asian cuisine. Extra credit for mentioning both Queens and Asian food. (Bonus points for use of Mandarin, Malaysian, or Korean, just kidding.) The best poem wins the tickets plus a spot on the Taste Hunting tour. Deadline’s Sunday at 5 p.m. Sharpen those pencils and dip those quills kids.

[UPDATED 9/2/2010; 5:45pm] And the winner is .....Sairis who manages to mention three Asian cuisines as well Queens itself! Please email edit@ediblequeens.com and give us your full name so we can leave your tickets at will call! CONGRATULATIONS! And thanks everyone for contributing so many lovely haiku. See you at the Asian Feastival!

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