Win Son, Lose Some

The International Hits

SCHEDULE:
8:30am | Juniper Valley // $Free
10:15am | Win Son Bakery

There are no courts we play more idyllically named than Juniper Valley. This large city park in the middle of Queens, which no one from Manhattan has ever heard of, anchors the quiet middle income neighborhood of Middle Village. The tennis courts and surrounding park are like an insider’s secret, a IYKYK kinda place, and feel much further than the few miles away from the city skyline visible in the distance. Juniper Valley’s history over the last century is also a quintessential New York origin story. Long story very short, it was swamp and farmland purchased in the 1920’s by notorious mobster and gangster Arnold Rothstein, infamous for fixing the 1919 World Series, who tried unsuccessfully to scam the city into buying the land to build a major airport there. Then after a few years as a large horse, dog and motorcycle racing track, the land was eventually acquired by the city after Rothstein’s murder and developed by Robert Moses into the park it is today.

Does it live up to its bucolic, trip-to-the-countryside, martini-drinking sounding name? Not so much. Although there are some nice old trees and open fields, the tennis courts themselves are what our daughters might call mid. There are seven of them, all hard and weathered. One is unplayable with a large, moist, ever expanding sinkhole occupying the deuce side servers box, and the others are lightly to heavily cracked. The nets are better now than a few years ago but still less than ideal, uneven, and with many missing their center strap.

Given all this, we still sorta love this place. Why? Well, in addition to the often quick ride out, easy parking, and excellent food option (more on that later), we are suckers for a vibe. And Juniper Valley has it. We’re definitely not in “the city” anymore on these courts. This is a real Queens neighborhood park. Most mornings there is music coming from different corners of Juniper Valley, either the relaxing flutes and soft percussions wafting from the Tai Chi-ers, heavy beats booming from the muscle heads around the fitness equipment, or classic rock over at the packed party vibing racquet- and handball courts. On some mornings it’s all drowned out by hundreds of screaming school kids having recess out in the park. The tennis courts can be busy too, with little kids, lessons, and a range of players who all appear to be smiling and having fun and are definitely easier going with much less edge than other NYC Parks courts we play on.

We hadn’t hit out at Juniper in a bit but last week we did, and brought along a VIP all the way from LA—honorary Play Boys member, world famous actor and devourer of tennis balls and egg sandwiches—Josh Stamberg. There were three of us so the game would be Canadians, something we’ve done a lot with Josh over the years. Although tennis purists roll their eyes, Canadians is actually fun and requires thinking and strategizing differently than traditional tennis, particularly when you’re on the singles side. We played three games of no-serve 11s, with Dave the only winner on the singles side, followed by another game to 11 but with serving. Josh jumped out to an early lead in this game with some heavy serves, only to stall at game point, allowing Paul and Dave to catch-up in an endless back-n-forth which Dave eventually won. It’s not an uncommon theme amongst this threesome, where Paul and Josh compete to see who can hit a harder forehand or serve, while Dave keeps his head down, stays patient, quietly slicing and dicing his way to victory.

Over the years Juniper Valley has been one of our favorite early morning courts. Not just because of the enchanting name, colorful history, or music offerings but because we easily combine it with one of our favorite and definitely most unique breakfast spots, the increasingly over-popular over-run Taiwanese inspired Win Son Bakery in East Williamsburg.

When we debate our favorite egg sandwiches, the one at Win Son is always in the top three if not the top one. Win Son’s may not even be a sandwich…is it technically a wrap? Don’t know, but it’s a type of dan bing and is a frigging delicious egg, havarti, and either mortadella and pickled peppers or beef tongue wrapped in a scallion pancake. With a “ginger deluxe” sauce on the side that’ll change your life. The other breakfast item you must get, which we always do, is the fan tuan. It’s a Taiwanese cylinder-shaped sticky rice roll stuffed with egg and either pork or tofu. Plus again that magic “ginger deluxe” on the side. There are some other things on the menu but if you look around pretty much everyone is eating these two items off of the small metal cafeteria trays they’re served on. And for good reason.

The gaodian, or pastries, are overshadowed by these egg “sandos” but they really shouldn’t be. Taiwanese baking is apparently traditionally a mixture of Chinese, French, and Japanese influences and Win Son is clearly this, but with some hip Brooklyn flavor added as well. We tend to switch between one of the mochi doughnuts, either glazed or cinnamon, or something with custard, like the warm vanilla crème bun they’ve had lately or the excellent banana cream pie. To wash it down we usually stick with a cold brew or cappuccino but if you don’t mind sweetened coffee drinks there are some fun kinda crazy options, like the xiao guai guai, a shot of espresso poured over a smooth five spice crème anglaise and sprinkled with powdered ginger.

We usually split the above but with Josh and his appetite in town, and with Paul left to his own devices at the packed counter to place our order—which is always risky—we doubled up on everything instead. Tennis and the final score were pretty far from our minds as we rolled out onto the street happily overstuffed and groaning like old men, because there’s definitely only winning at Win Son.

SCORELINE:
11s no serving: David 3, Paul 1, Josh 1
11s with serve: David 1, Paul 0, Josh 0

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