A $38 sandwich is taking over the US Open — why fans say it’s worth the price and the wait

Walk onto the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, and you’ll eventually find your way toward the food court area, where on most days during this year’s U.S. Open you’ll be met by a long line of fans waiting to get their hands on a $38 sandwich that has been the talk of the tournament. 

So what has compelled U.S. Open goers to wait on line — for some, that has been a 15-20-minute investment of their day at the tournament — to get their hands on the prime rib sandwich, topped with onions, aioli and provolone? That depends on who you ask. 

For 64-year-old Brooklynite Rob Carlson, the decision to hop on the line has been due to the buzz he’s heard from other people. 

“The thing is that when you hear about somebody who had it, say, ‘You know what? It’s really good,’ and then you see the line, [those are] two facts that actually say, OK, you know what? It’s worth the wait,” he told The Post after just getting off the line. “When people really like it and they want to wait in line and you see other people validate it. Sure, why not [wait]?”

Allie Struda, 24, and Emma Barrett, 28, both live in the city and are familiar with the “lore” of Salt Hank’s, they explained moments after securing their French dip sandwich. 

For those unfamiliar, Salt Hank — real name Henry Laporte — gained fame on social media during the COVID-19 pandemic through his viral cooking videos. It led to followers, brand deals and a cookbook before last year, when he opened up his own brick-and-mortar shop in the West Village. 

The shop became an instant success, serving just the French dip sandwich that is now a hit at the U.S. Open. 

“We’re from the city, so we know the lore of Salt Hank’s and how good it is,” Struda explained. “We have not had the chance to try it, so we’re like, why not?”

“Sometimes the line draws you in,” Barrett added.

“Social media is the reason,” Barrett went on, noting the constant social media posts about the sandwich. “Literally, that’s it, and I’m f–king hungry.”

While the USTA doesn’t have a total count of how many sandwiches have been sold through the U.S. Open thus far, Daniel Zausner, the chief operating officer of the national tennis center, has said that Salt Hank’s has sold threefold daily what they would sell out of their West Village shop on a given day. 

“It hasn’t surprised me that the interest was going to exceed everyone’s expectations,” Zausner told The Post. “What I’ve been very pleased about, not surprised, but pleased, is that doing for them three times the volume of what they do in their space, they’re able to maintain that consistency and that quality of the 1,500 sandwiches as good as the first one is during the day.” 

Zausner and the USTA would certainly like to have Salt Hank’s back after this year’s tournament, but he also hopes that it has worked out for them as well.

Salt Hank’s closed its West Village shop for the three weeks of the U.S. Open to focus on the stand on the grounds of the tournament.

“I’m at the stage now where I just don’t want them to feel like they made a mistake to give up that commitment to their flagship location,” he explained. “Because I’d like to see them come back. We just want to see them be really successful, feel really good about what they’re doing.”