NYC restaurants are cashing in on marathon weekend…
Executive chef Hillary Sterling is aware of the NYC Marathon is around the nook when the crowds collect at Ci Siamo. Since the Hudson Yards Italian restaurant opened practically 5 years in the past, business has surged every Thursday and Friday before race weekend, particularly at lunchtime.
Last 12 months alone, Sterling and her crew served 716 bowls of tagliatelle and rigatoni to runners gearing up for race day, producing an estimated $18,000 in gross sales. Many stopped by en route to choose up their marathon packets at the close by Javits Center.
For marathoners, the appeal goes past a satisfying meal: Carbs replenish glycogen shops in the muscle groups and liver, serving to runners maintain endurance and delay fatigue.
Runners compete in the New York Marathon in New York City, Sunday, Nov. 3, 2024. AFP via Getty Images
Ci Siamo isn’t the only restaurant cashing in on the pre-race ritual. As runners and their supporters descend on NYC for marathon weekend, town’s pasta joints and pizza spots see a surge in diners fueling up for the big day.
In Park Slope, Pasta Louise is among those using the carb-loading craze.
Last 12 months, marathon weekend was a gold-medal efficiency for the Brooklyn restaurant: From Friday through Sunday, Pasta Louise offered 1,710 bowls of pasta, producing an estimated $30,000 in gross sales, plus another 125 kilos of housemade pasta for runners to cook at home.
Pasta Louise chef-owner Allison Arevalo, a marathoner herself, told The Post that most diners ask for double parts of pasta. (These days, though, she’s traded marathon training for her new ardour: Hyrox)
Ci Siamo chef Hilary Sterling. Christina Holmes
“It’s race weekend, so when you look around, you see lots of people with two plates,” she told The Post.
There are lots of big teams cheering runners on, too. They won’t all have bibs, but everybody takes the race as an excuse to carb-load.
“It isn’t just the runners who eat double the amount — everybody does, because they think they might as well. I love marathon weekend,” Arevalo added.
Pasta isn’t the only carb runners are reaching for forward of race day. Pizza spots get a slice of the motion, too, including Brooklyn’s Pizzeria Fornino.
“Marathon weekend is always a busy one for us,” Michael Ayoub, Fornino’s chef and founder, told The Post. “We see about a 15% increase in business the night before, particularly at our Time Out Market Dumbo location by the water.”
Marathoner and Pasta Louise proprietor Allison Arevalo poses with a plate of pasta at her Park Slope restaurant forward of the NYC Marathon rush. Stefano Giovannini for NY Post
The crowds come hungry, and it’s not onerous to spot the runners. “Runners and their families visit from all over, and you can always tell who’s racing the next morning by how much pizza they’re ordering. Any suggestion of sharing a pie is immediately shot down,” Ayoub said with a snicker.
For runners trying to combine up their carb-loading routine, pizza tours offer another method to get their fill. Scott Wiener, founder of Scott’s Pizza Tours, sees the pattern every 12 months.
In the week main up to the marathon, purchasers often ebook the $65 2.5-hour tour that makes pit stops at three different pizzerias throughout NYC to make carb-loading a little less monotonous.
Arevalo is offering both a pre-and post-race particular for runners this weekend. Stefano Giovannini for NY Post
“It happens every year,” he said. “If you were running the Boston Marathon, that would be different. But pizza is meant to power you over the landscape of this city — it’s the indigenous food here.”
His tours observe no set route, but he’ll make a level of steering marathoners toward Sicilian-style slices. They’re perfect for what he calls their high BSI worth — bread per sq. inch — and they’re lighter on dairy, too, another plus for runners.
In Manhattan, Varick Street’s Fermento is a favourite, as is Philomena’s in Sunnyside, Queens. On Staten Island, the selection is a no-brainer. “Joe and Pat’s is too thin — this is a Brother’s [Pizzeria] situation.”
For runners trying to fuel up without breaking the bank, restaurants across town are serving up marathon-weekend offers, too.
Michael Ayoub, proprietor and chef of Fornino. Fornino
At East Village Italian spot Olio e Più, runners who show proof of race registration can rating 50% off pasta for themselves and up to six pals on Saturday.
From Saturday through Monday, Pasta Louise is offering two marathon-inspired specials: a mild, protein-packed pasta with turkey and tomatoes to fuel up before the race, and a more indulgent Bolognese to rejoice crossing the end line.
And on Friday and Saturday, runners who flash their bibs can rating a half-price croissant at choose Épicerie Boulud places across town.
Meals and offers apart, lots of NYC runners are carb-loading at home, too.
FreshDirect, the favored grocery supply service, noticed a 5% week-over-week increase in dried pasta gross sales main up to last 12 months’s marathon.
For those cooking at home, Chef Sterling, an athlete herself, suggests making pasta with broth instead of water. “It adds protein, all the good stuff in the stock, that collagen. It’s good for your body, and it’s lighter,” she explained.
And for a fast pre-race carb, Emma Bengtsson, who runs the kitchen at Aquavit, has a less complicated suggestion: Head to a market, just like the one at Union Square, and choose up a loaf of sourdough. If you’re going to eat a complete loaf, after all, make it better than Wonder Bread.
“It’s baked in the city, and by people, not in a factory,” she raved.
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