leek wrote:Can you bring food from outside security if it's not a gel (yogurt)?
Like if you go between concourses, outside of security, etc.

Whether you can take food through the airport security line depends on the individual TSA-hole.
I've had a jar of peanut butter confiscated ("It's a gel"). Usually pizza and sammys get through, but I know other things have been confiscated too.

This is all United flying. At SFO, in the rotunda area, the Chinese place has a more than respectable won ton noodle soup. Won tons were basically all shrimp, fresh tasting. The dim sum items are more hit and miss, generally well done but sometimes sitting around for a while. VERY expensive, double what you would pay in Chinatown. Also second the Legal Seafoods recommendation (oysters and anything fried), although at DCA and BOS, it's outside security. At LGA, have had a couple of okay meals at Figs, but this was at least a couple years ago; mostly am running for my flight, only to sit on the plane for 4 hours. I rarely have to eat at ORD, as I try to eat beforehand, but have succumbed on more than one occasion to the Wolfgang Puck pizza, which is a guilty and very greasy pleasure, of sorts.

I like the salads from Wolfgang Puck at ORD. They make them right then, if you wait (there are already made ones in the cooler) and you can say "more this" or "no that" and they'll do it (within reason).

A hellish flight home from Frankfurt led to a welcome respite in the Philadelphia airport, Vino Volo. The chain presently has 8 airport locations. It serves wine flights or by the glass, and small plates. We had a cheese plate and a plate of macarona almonds and olives. It's about as expensive as a wine bar in the city, but is blessedly quiet and out of the usual airport hurly-burly. You can also buy bottles of wine if you're so inclined.

leek wrote:Can you bring food from outside security if it's not a gel (yogurt)?
Like if you go between concourses, outside of security, etc.

I think if you leave security, you can't take it back in. Between terminals, it's okay. I tried to bring yogurt in from outside and it got tossed. Strawberry jam is also not allowed, even if it's frozen (had to check the bag - no way I'm throwing out homemade jam!)

When I lived in Florida, one flight back from Wisconsin included a suitcase full of Mom's homemade strawberry jam in my luggage. I was very happy when all 6 jars made the trip without being broken or stolen!

I suppose, being the Mom in my case, I will not have to worry about this sort of thing...but it's an amusing window into Sparky's future...

Yes, yogurt or jam is not allowed, but what about a sandwich or salad from outside?

With the peanut butter incident I mentioned above, I asked, "If I spread all this peanut butter onto sandwiches, would it be OK?" and the answer was "Yes."
Moronic.
Part of their "security" is to prevent larger containers from boarding... except that you can go buy a 1L bottle of water just past the screening area.

JoelF wrote:Part of their "security" is to prevent larger containers from boarding... except that you can go buy a 1L bottle of water just past the screening area.

In theory, they know that the 1L bottle inside security is water and not whatever chemical you chose to put in a bottle. The rules are more about preventing people from bringing in substances which could be mixed to create an explosive or other hazardous substance in enough volume to be a problem.

That doesn't make the rules right. Here's a recent article by Bruce Schneier, who is really smart about this stuff. Fortunately, I can post it to LTH Forum because it is entitled

Airport Pasta-Sauce Interdiction Considered Harmful

An article in today's New York Times runs down the reporter's quest for good airport food in several hub cities. O'Hare fares the worst, but there are a couple of good suggestions. He found good BBQ in Dallas and ate with cabbies at their cafeteria in Atlanta, where he had African-inspired food. In LA, he found a nearby In-N-Out. At O'Hare, he was not impressed with the Chicago-style dogs or the Billy Goat outpost.

He should have checked this thread before going!

I recently had a very respectable lunch at the Sky Asian Bistro in the Philadelphia airport. I had a bento box that included:

Seaweed salad
Pork dumplings
Spicy shrimp salad (grilled shrimp served over greens with some spicy Japanese mayo)
Smoked salmon handroll (shockingly good)
White rice (terrible)

Soooo much better than a lot of other crappy airport food that I've been eating lately.

The sushi at Sky Asian Bistro is generally fresher and of better quality than a lot of what you get in town. ("Town" here being Philadelphia, although Chicago works just as well.) Not cheap, though.

I thought I posted here about the ramen place at Detroit Metro, but apparently not. Okay: there's a ramen place at Detroit Metro. It's good.

Just had an excellent batch of fish 'n chips, plus a very nice glass of Muscadet, at Reagan's exemplar of Legal Seafood. Definitely worth a re-visit next time I'm in Our Nation's Capital.

Geo

Geo wrote:Just had an excellent batch of fish 'n chips, plus a very nice glass of Muscadet, at Reagan's exemplar of Legal Seafood. Definitely worth a re-visit next time I'm in Our Nation's Capital.

Geo

Yes, if you're stuck in DCA, Legal is solid. In fact, RAB and I once arrived at DCA and ate at Legal before leaving the airport and heading to our D.C. home. If it's still on the menu, I'm a huge fan of the ground tuna burger. The only bummer is that it's outside of the terminals. So, if you have a flight to catch and there are long security lines, it may not work.

Ronna

I don't know why ORD food would be downrated, other than perhaps because it was the NY Times doing the rating. As the original poster said, the more I travel, the more I like O'Hare. That may have to do with being local, rather than transferring through: I can get there as early as I want and enjoy a meal before a flight. Lately my ritual has been the rosemary half chicken and potatoes (oh no - did I just give myself away as a Highland Park native there? ) at Wolfgang Puck.

I like Legal Seafood at DCA but the service is often slow, and I/we end up having to track down our server and push to get a bill so we can make our boarding time. So my preference, and practically a ritual, is the sushi place, Matsukase. Hope I spelled that right. Nothing like treating yourself to a lovely meal of miso soup and a sampler of sushi and sashimi before flying home to people that you dearly love and greatly missed, but who don't like sushi.

I don't think I've seen AUS mentioned, so here goes: At Austin Bergstrom the brisket tacos from Salt Lick are quite nice and my first choice when spending time waiting for a delayed flight. They have some cabbage on them and a little bit of creamy sauce. Eat them with a Shiner for a satisfying snack. Definitely stay away from Matt's El Rancho. Very mediocre. The nachos were stale when I had them. Their salsa is pretty good, but that's about it.

At the airport in Montego Bay Jamaica there is a place called Jamaica Bobsled. They serve a jerk chicken plate that by airport standards is really pretty good food. The chicken was cooked and spiced nicely, the sauce was tasty with a little heat. It was served with fries and some sort of coleslaw like salad, vinegar type dressing only, no mayo in it. I thought it was better than anything you would get a Chilis, Applebees or somewhere similar.


At the Memphis airport, Neely's Interstate BBQ was not great. The pulled pork was underwhelming to say the least, the smoked sausage was ok.

When I extended my trip in JA and had to go from non stop Mo Bay to Chicago to Miami and then Chicago instead I was actually somewhat happy. I knew I had a good Cuban sandwich in my near future.



La Carreta has a few locations in MIA international airport. The whole menu actually looks pretty nice as you can see alot of the items in the display case its similar to Manny's cafeteria style set up with the trays but with good Cuban food. Better than anything I have found at the airports on my travels.

Well, I took one for the team coming back from San Diego.
I didn't have a lot of time at the hotel waiting for the shuttle to the airport, so I took a pass on their rather boring sounding $9.95 burger (I later heard from someone that I'd probably have missed my plane if I'd tried), figuring that there'd be fast food in the concourse.

Wrong -- the American Airlines concourse at San Diego airport had exactly two options for dining: Pizza Hut and Margarita's. I really, really didn't want a bad pizza, so I decided for a burger at the latter. They had some interesting toppings including a "Jack Fiesta" which included jack cheese and salsa, plus an extra $1.79 would get you guacamole.

I should have known I was in for trouble when they wouldn't let me order medium rare. I begged, pleaded and offered to sign a waiver. It was nearly inedible, and I'd have sent it back if I didn't have a plane to catch. Grey through and through with no sign of a crust. How did they cook it? There was no browning on the outside at all, it could have been microwaved or done sous vide for all I can tell. A thick burger (anything over 1/4 lb) shouldn't be done medium rare -- if they'd done two thin patties instead, it might have been edible. Tasteless jack cheese was atop it, and the salsa looked like pico de gallo that had sat under a heat lamp for fifteen minutes. I had hoped the guac would be the saving grace, but no luck: flavorless green paste, that had a mouthfeel of being barely thawed.

The onion rings (another upgrade) were very good, though.

Avoid, avoid, avoid.. Buy a McD's outside security instead.

JoelF wrote:Wrong -- the American Airlines concourse at San Diego airport had exactly two options for dining: Pizza Hut and Margarita's. I really, really didn't want a bad pizza, so I decided for a burger at the latter. They had some interesting toppings including a "Jack Fiesta" which included jack cheese and salsa, plus an extra $1.79 would get you guacamole.

Seems that nothing has changed. The last time I flew out of SAN, the Pizza Hut place was under construction and the only options were some room temperature sandwiches. Fortunately, we had plenty of time and my wife agreed to go outside of security and bring some food in.

I wish that these airports with NO serious food option inside security have the decency to warn you about it in advance.

I have flown United to and from Las vegas several times in the last few months. Right before one reaches the rotunda that houses the United Gates, beyond security, there is a David Burke takeout that features among other things pretty good burgers, excellent fries with asiago and truffle oil (just like Primehouse), some pretty good soups, and Burke's signature cheesecake lollipops.

A great option compared to most in that airport.

Occasionally, even the worst can have a silver lining.

Stuck at O'Halre due to an inexplicably canceled flight, I sat down for a long delay in Chili's. I knew what I was in for: overcooked burger, plastic tomato and limp lettuce from the boring end of the corporate menu (no chipotle bleu burger). So I said, "No mayo, please, but could I get some bleu cheese dressing?"

Very swiftly the burger arrived, little tub o' dressing on the side... But when I opened it up, there was pale goo on the bun. I flagged down the server, "I'm sorry, but I asked for no mayo."

"That's not mayo, that's some more of the bleu cheese dressing." And what do you know, it was!

So what looked like a screw-up, was somebody going the extra mile. Very pleased. If you're in terminal 3, you can get a little extra care at Chili's.

Two weeks ago I spent a very pleasant 45 mins and under $10 at Chef Jimmy's bistro in Concourse A at Denver Int'l. Ordered the burger, medium rare, which it was, which cheddar. Excellent bun, very good, fresh meat, nice and juicy, NOT a pressed-burger. The trimmings were very fresh—crisp lettuce and pickle, ripe (!) tomato—and not skrimpy. And the fries—skinny matchstick types—were perfectly cooked. Service was expert and fast, and the space was not crammed. The whole experience was surprizingly good, and I haven't had very many burgers that good ANYwhere, let alone in an airport. There were some interesting items on the menu; I'd not be in the least averse to trying any of them, based on what I experienced.

Geo

JoelF wrote:pale goo on the bun

This would NOT be a good band name.

I've lost count of how many times I've gotten stuck at MIA overnight and been given a voucher for La Carreta at exactly the time of the middle of the night where not feeling hungry intersects with seething hostility toward AA for losing your luggage, losing your plane, and thinking you can be bought off with nothing more than a voucher for a sandwich ... and of course nothing else in the airport is open that time of night. Someday I'll visit a La Carreta in prime time and enjoy one of their sandwiches with the requisite good attitude.

Katie wrote:Someday I'll visit a La Carreta in prime time and enjoy one of their sandwiches with the requisite good attitude.

You should. It's one of the few airport meals that's actually worth seeking out.

My recent trip to Holland and Belgium included a brief stopover at Philadelphia (flying US Airways). I despise that airport - nastiest employees I've encountered in any airport - but they do have Chick-fil-a!

On my way back, my flight from AMS was actually early and I spotted a flight to Chicago that was just about to leave. Instead of having a 2+ hour layover, I was able to basically walk straight from customs on to my flight to Chicago - which was all well and good, but it meant no time for Chick-fil-a on the way back. I *almost* took the later flight just to get a chicken sandwich and waffle fries...

-Dan

On my most recent flight out of O'Hare, I discovered the Skybridge Grill in Terminal 2 near gate F-8. It's a real, honest-to-goodness gyros place run by real Greeks. I had a bacon egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast that was outstanding by any measure, not just "good for airport food". While the prices are a bit high, considering this is in the middle of the O'Hare Terminal they are not too bad. They even have a gyro spit rather than the pre-cut foodservice gyros you might expect. (want to make friends on the plane? Get a gyros to go and eat it at 20,000 feet).

Skybridge Grill - ORD Terminal 2