By Bill Parry
Studio Square in Long Island City will kick off Super Bowl week with Tailgate 48 Jan. 26.
The biggest tailgate party of the year will be hosted by Food Network chef Robert Irvine and celebrity meat purveyor Pat LaFrieda.
“Why should Manhattan get all the events for Super Bowl LXVIII?” Studio Square Marketing Chief Pete Mason asked. “What we’re trying to do is bring a piece of it to Queens.”
With outdoor seating for 1,300 and another 500 indoors, Studio Square at 35-33 36th St. has plenty of room for football fans, corporate types flying in for the game and media personalities in town the day before Media Day.
The massive event space will host an all-you-can-eat party from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. with an open bar with live entertainment. The 30,000-square-foot, cobble stone beer garden will be covered by a heated tent with classic football clips showing on the 10-foot-by-16-foot HD video screen. Irvine and LaFrieda will help serve up a gourmet twist on game day cuisine with Andouille sausage corn dogs, bratwurst sliders with poppy and mustard sauerkraut and special buffalo chicken wings.
Tickets are $125 with VIP tickets available for $175. The VIP tickets include a meet-and-greet and photos with Irvine and LaFrieda as well as custom-designed Tailgate 48 throwback football jerseys. All the proceeds go to military-based charities, The Gary Sinise Foundation and the Armed Forces Foundation.
“Pat is a huge supporter of the Armed Forces Fund because it helps veterans get housing and jobs, Robert supports the Sinise Fund because they help soldiers that were traumatized by war like Sinise’s character Sgt. Dan in the movie ‘Forrest Gump,’” Mason said.
He added that the veteran causes mean a lot in Queens because the borough has one of the highest enlistment rates in the nation.
“The wars might be over in the political arena, but there’s still plenty of work to do in the support of our troops,” Mason said.
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparry@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-.260-.4538.
