Surviving Airport Food
Surviving Airport Food
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Post #91 - November 14th, 2009, 6:00 pmWhen I arrived at O'Hare today, I was at a weird end of the airport--an American flight at a G gate instead of H or K or even L. I passed a place called Brioche Doree. I wanted to get home, so I didn't stop but the offerings look a heck of a lot better than Great American Bagel or Starbuck's. From what I can glean online, this is a French chain that's opening here in airports. The one at LAX didn't get much love on Yelp, but I'd be curious to see what LTHers think of this.
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Post #92 - November 15th, 2009, 3:52 pmI grabbed a pastry and coffee on my way out of town a couple of weeks ago (had the shortest line). Not impressive. Next trip I'm sticking with an egg & cheese bagel at Great American. Don't know what it is about airports that makes their food suck.
O'Hare is pretty far down the list as far as domestic airports. On the other hand, I've had more than acceptable food internationally. Aside from good eat-in options at Heathrow, they have delicious prepared sandwiches at Pret-a-Manger which blew the pants off my inflight meal options. I had the Scottish smoked salmon and capers on a whole grain baguette.
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Post #93 - November 21st, 2009, 5:55 pmI fly out of/into O'Hare each week--for me, the best food is found in the American terminal (terminal 3). Terminals 1 (United) and 5 (international) are mediocre.
Best airport meal I've ever had was yesterday at Heathrow in London--Gordon Ramsay Plane Food in Terminal 5 (new British Airways terminal). I went in expecting mediocre food--something like a Wolfgang Puck kind of thing--but this was fantrastic. Not cheap, especially with the low $ compared to the British pound, but truly gastronomic food and a nice wine list. The kitchen is behind glass and I couldn't believe the number of cooks there--reminded me of the kitchen at Citronelle in DC. Very impressive and the food was fantastic. A real surprise.
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Post #94 - November 21st, 2009, 8:45 pmAnother trip to San Diego: At terminal 2, eat before going through security. "La Salsa" made a very tasty shrimp burrito, and a choice of about six salsas.
Not airport, but airline: American Airlines served a Boston Market brisket sandwich with cheese and a mild giardinera on it. Quite good, could be spectacular if it hadn't been heavily refrigerated.. Normally $10 with a bag of chips, but the flight attendant was giving them away yesterday.What is patriotism, but the love of good things we ate in our childhood?
-- Lin Yutang
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Post #95 - December 8th, 2009, 4:45 pmYour wishes have come true:
http://gateguruapp.com/
"GateGuru serves as the leading light to locate the best food, shopping and service options within any airport at the touch of a button."
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Post #96 - December 9th, 2009, 9:56 amCCCB wrote:When I arrived at O'Hare today, I was at a weird end of the airport--an American flight at a G gate instead of H or K or even L. I passed a place called Brioche Doree. I wanted to get home, so I didn't stop but the offerings look a heck of a lot better than Great American Bagel or Starbuck's. From what I can glean online, this is a French chain that's opening here in airports. The one at LAX didn't get much love on Yelp, but I'd be curious to see what LTHers think of this.
Thanks for the post. I've got an early morning flight in that neighborhood in a couple of weeks. Did it look like they had breakfast items?Never order barbecue in a place that also serves quiche - Lewis Grizzard
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Post #97 - December 9th, 2009, 11:54 amDid it look like they had breakfast items?
Yes, they have a variety of croissant/pastry items.
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Post #98 - December 22nd, 2009, 7:13 pmYourPalWill wrote: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.
Just steer clear of the kobe beef hot dog. It was massive, but I'd prefer a good Vienna beef. It was very finely ground, not anything special and actually rather bland in terms of flavor and was topped with horribly greasy onions, boring relish and mustard. But I'm curious to try some of the other offerings so I'll give it another shot.
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Post #99 - December 22nd, 2009, 8:10 pmstevez wrote: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".
Hmm... stevez says "outstanding", New York Times says "miserable"... who wins? My (as yet nonexistent) heirs, as I nudge myself significantly closer to death by feasting on a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich at the Sky Bridge Restaurant. Not outstanding, but certainly not miserable, the egg was nicely fried, the cheese processed, and the limp bread severely undertoasted. Probably one of the better options, but more than 7 bucks for less than a dollar's worth of ingredients....
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Post #100 - January 16th, 2010, 1:50 pmPucca wrote:I'm still in the process of putting together all my notes and pictures from my trip to Hong Kong, but here is a quick blurb about their airport. After having to (unexpectedly) spend 10 hours at the Hong Kong airport, it actually wasn't too bad due to all the various shops and eateries. Hong Kong has the benefit of only being 5 years old, and as a result it's HUGE in size. There are restaurants in the departure hall and arrival hall with little overlap. Unlike many of the airports in the US, I didn't witness much of an upcharge at the restaurants and stores. The pricing at the local chains was the same as their branches outside of the airport. For lunch we dined at Hang Heung's Kitchen (Shanghai), a sit-down restaurant, w/our meal vouchers. We split an order of rice rolls with scallops, but it did not live up to a previous experience in Toronto. We also ordered soup dumplings, which of course was not as good as some of the other restuarants around Hong Kong. Finally we had baked rice with grouper and corn sauce. All in all it was good esp for airport food.
We then ate dinner in the food court. The good thing about Asian Fast Food is that you don’t feel like it's junk food! I ordered noodle soup with fish balls and fish cake at King's Palace Congee. My dad ordered shrimp “ravioli”/dumplings (I don’t know the proper English description) in soup at Noodle Pak Loh Chiu Chow Express.
Maxim’s also had a restaurant across from Hang Heung’s Kitchen, and Maxim’s bakery was just below. There was also an Ajisen Ramen, Café de Coral, and a couple of other US standbys. There were several Watson’s, designer stores, beauty stores, etc to keep travelers entertained.
Best thing I ever ate in an airport was the soup with hand-pulled noodles at the Hong Kong airport. They aiport also has beautiful mountain views. If you have to have a layover in Asia...I highly recommend the Hong Kong airport
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Post #101 - January 28th, 2010, 11:23 pmA few decent meals of late:
The best was a few days ago at the Nashville airport. Tootsie's Orchid Lounge has an outpost, and the daily special was BBQ chicken, mac and cheese, and turnip greens. Pretty darn satisfying with a Yazoo ale and some local musicians performing country covers for tips. A superlative airport meal.
There's an Obrycki's in Baltimore, way at the end of one of the terminals...out of the way and slow and $19 for the one crab cake dinner. I like crab cakes, even if you're not mistaking this for Faidley's. Never been to the original Obrycki's.
Finally, I must have made three full passes in the United terminal before settling in at Puck's. Rookie mistake--don't order in the food line and then go to the bar, you can just order your pizza from the bartender and drink you beer while you wait. Decent pizza.
Overall, airport food has come quite a long way, I think.
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Post #102 - August 4th, 2010, 6:26 amEncouraging news (I say that with my fingers crossed) from the New York Times for those of us who are forced to occasionally be present at LaGuardia.
Coming soon: a French bistro from the people running Minetta Tavern, a steak and seafood spot from Michael Lomonaco, a pizzeria supposedly overseen by the son of the owner of Di Fara, a burger spot run by Pat LaFrieda, and some more. They can't come soon enough!
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Post #103 - August 4th, 2010, 8:27 amWhat will become of the Jet Rock Cafe and Famous Famiglia? Good news. I hope they also fix the AC, patch the leaky roof that leads to half the hallway being blocked by buckets and boxes lined with plastic bags when it rains, and widen the terminals. LaGuardia, like Midway, is one place where I won't mind some "gentrification."
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Post #104 - August 4th, 2010, 9:40 amJeffB wrote:What will become of the Jet Rock Cafe and Famous Famiglia? Good news. I hope they also fix the AC, patch the leaky roof that leads to half the hallway being blocked by buckets and boxes lined with plastic bags when it rains, and widen the terminals. LaGuardia, like Midway, is one place where I won't mind some "gentrification."
Since they're talking about the Delta terminal, sadly those of us flying United and American will either have to trek to Delta terminal (I will) or continue to suffer through Famous Famiglia (as wonderfully authentic as Sbarro, and yet worse) and the like. As for leaky roofs and other issues at LaGuardia, all problems . . . but the worst for me is the lack of an escalator as you exit a plan and head to ground transportation.
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Post #105 - August 22nd, 2010, 8:54 pmDoes any other airport in this wide world of ours equal the paucity of edible food options that is the San Juan airport? Because today was just frightening: Domino's, knockoff Domino's, restaurants with "Islands" or "Playa" in their name yet only served food-service hamburgers, the candy stand selling the same wrapped sandwiches as the supposed sandwich place, et al.
Did have a really nice dried fruit and nut mix from a stand called Pachy, though.
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Post #106 - August 22nd, 2010, 9:07 pmchezbrad wrote:Does any other airport in this wide world of ours equal the paucity of edible food options that is the San Juan airport?
Hows about you try the AA terminal at LAX... TODG and I landed from Brisbane at 07h last Tuesday morning. The *only* place open was the Chiles Too. I got the Breakfast Burrito, figuring, 'how can they screw THIS up?' Folks, they screwed it up *royally*: the tortilla was so overdone as to be uncuttable, the scrambled 'egg' was, like, totally curdled, no flavor, and, get this, no freakin' hot sauce to bury the *§¶!! thing under.
A limited menu of awful offerings. Simply the worst AM menu I'd ever seen. Damn, and I was soooo hungry after twelve hours in the aluminum tube from Oz.
GeoSooo, you like wine and are looking for something good to read? Maybe *this* will do the trick!
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Post #107 - August 23rd, 2010, 7:02 pmIn San Juan it depends on which terminal you are in - there are definitely differences.Leek
SAVING ONE DOG may not change the world,
but it CHANGES THE WORLD for that one dog.
American Brittany Rescue always needs foster homes. Please think about helping that one dog. http://www.americanbrittanyrescue.org
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Post #108 - January 31st, 2011, 7:54 pmReviving this thread, although my query is Miami specific..
Arriving at Miami airport - 9:45 a.m.
Departing for final destination - 4:45 p.m. Ugh!
What to do for lunch?
I've been to the Miami airport a few times, but with minimal delays between flights. I've never been to Miami proper.
Opinions? Should we store our carry-ons in a locker and venture out of the airport? Worth the hassle/cab fare? Or... should we just hang at La Carreta?
Thanks for any suggestions - Lynn
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Post #109 - February 1st, 2011, 7:05 amLast time I was in Miami airport, there was a place selling decent empanadas and some cuban fare near the baggage claim in the terminal that has American Airlines. It's outside of security, though.What is patriotism, but the love of good things we ate in our childhood?
-- Lin Yutang
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Post #110 - February 1st, 2011, 8:44 amJoelF wrote:Last time I was in Miami airport, there was a place selling decent empanadas and some cuban fare near the baggage claim in the terminal that has American Airlines. It's outside of security, though.
That's La Carreta, which is very good by any standards, not just "airport food" standards. I'm not sure that if I had an entire day in Miami I'd choose to spend all of it at the airport, but if I had to La Carreta would be a welcome distraction.
The problem you are going to run into is that that airport is far enough out of the areas of town you'd probably want to go to that a rental car would be necessary to get anywhere. The public transportation there is weak. If you don't mind renting a car, you could have a pretty good time between flights.Steve Z.
“Only the pure in heart can make a good soup.”
― Ludwig van Beethoven
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Post #111 - February 1st, 2011, 9:12 amstevez wrote:The problem you are going to run into is that that airport is far enough out of the areas of town you'd probably want to go to that a rental car would be necessary to get anywhere. The public transportation there is weak. If you don't mind renting a car, you could have a pretty good time between flights.
You should be able to score a cheap car for the day from Hotwire or Priceline. Beats spending 6-7 hours in any airport.Never order barbecue in a place that also serves quiche - Lewis Grizzard
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Post #112 - February 1st, 2011, 11:34 amTo, er, quote myself: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 flew home from DC a few days ago and, as always, made time for a stop at Matsukase and enjoyed it enormously. So pleasant and calming. I think I'd be really annoyed if I had to fly out of DC with no time to stop for sushi first."Your swimming suit matches your eyes, you hold your nose before diving, loving you has made me bananas!"
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Post #113 - February 1st, 2011, 1:33 pmAny recommendations for Charlotte? I've got a couple hour layover there on Sunday around lunchtime.
I've also got a layover coming back at the end of the week at Dulles (United) -- I know that's hopeless.What is patriotism, but the love of good things we ate in our childhood?
-- Lin Yutang
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Post #114 - February 1st, 2011, 6:23 pmIn Miami we had a layover, so we took our bags and went to the Versailles restaurant via taxi. We took a taxi back. It worked fine, no need to rent a car. I think Versailles has an outpost inside the airport as well.Leek
SAVING ONE DOG may not change the world,
but it CHANGES THE WORLD for that one dog.
American Brittany Rescue always needs foster homes. Please think about helping that one dog. http://www.americanbrittanyrescue.org
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Post #115 - February 1st, 2011, 9:48 pmthaiobsessed wrote:Pucca wrote:I'm still in the process of putting together all my notes and pictures from my trip to Hong Kong, but here is a quick blurb about their airport. After having to (unexpectedly) spend 10 hours at the Hong Kong airport, it actually wasn't too bad due to all the various shops and eateries. Hong Kong has the benefit of only being 5 years old, and as a result it's HUGE in size. There are restaurants in the departure hall and arrival hall with little overlap. Unlike many of the airports in the US, I didn't witness much of an upcharge at the restaurants and stores. The pricing at the local chains was the same as their branches outside of the airport. For lunch we dined at Hang Heung's Kitchen (Shanghai), a sit-down restaurant, w/our meal vouchers. We split an order of rice rolls with scallops, but it did not live up to a previous experience in Toronto. We also ordered soup dumplings, which of course was not as good as some of the other restuarants around Hong Kong. Finally we had baked rice with grouper and corn sauce. All in all it was good esp for airport food.
We then ate dinner in the food court. The good thing about Asian Fast Food is that you don’t feel like it's junk food! I ordered noodle soup with fish balls and fish cake at King's Palace Congee. My dad ordered shrimp “ravioli”/dumplings (I don’t know the proper English description) in soup at Noodle Pak Loh Chiu Chow Express.
Maxim’s also had a restaurant across from Hang Heung’s Kitchen, and Maxim’s bakery was just below. There was also an Ajisen Ramen, Café de Coral, and a couple of other US standbys. There were several Watson’s, designer stores, beauty stores, etc to keep travelers entertained.
Best thing I ever ate in an airport was the soup with hand-pulled noodles at the Hong Kong airport. They aiport also has beautiful mountain views. If you have to have a layover in Asia...I highly recommend the Hong Kong airport
Yes, the Hong Kong airport was an amazing place for a layover. I had lounge access, but couldn't pass up an opportunity to try the hand pulled noodles:
getting ready to pull
hand pulling the noodles
dan dan noodles - maybe not the best version I've had, but probably the best airport food I've ever had.Last edited by BR on August 4th, 2013, 9:20 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post #116 - February 2nd, 2011, 11:38 amleek wrote:In Miami we had a layover, so we took our bags and went to the Versailles restaurant via taxi. We took a taxi back. It worked fine, no need to rent a car. I think Versailles has an outpost inside the airport as well.
Versailles is in the airport but only serves coffees and possibly some sandwiches, if that. La Carreta is a full service restaurant where I've had terrific food, including black bean soup, roasted pork which had nice crispy skin, and excellent mojitos."I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day." Frank Sinatra
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Post #117 - February 4th, 2011, 9:47 pmWe have had several meals at Versailles in the airport. The prices compared to other food in airports is a steal. Ham Croquettes are like $2.50. The Cuban Sandwiches are pre-made and then pressed to order. La Carretta is great as well. My wife had some sushi from a place as well and she was pleased but can't think of the name. Miami is the only airport I am excited to get to! Actually we are going there in 10 days and we leave O'hare at 2 in the afternoon. I am going to Graziano's for Mr. G's that morning to have a picnic pre-flight!! Cheers!Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?...........Louis Armstrong
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Post #118 - February 16th, 2011, 9:09 amAt Chicago O'Hare Airport, Rick Bayless opened up a Frontera Grill in Terminal 1. In Terminal 2, Wicker Park Seafood and Sushi has just opened up and looks pretty good. I have not had the chance to try them yet, hopefully soon.
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Post #119 - February 16th, 2011, 9:36 am
I posted a review in another thread, but it's more appropriate here:Jim_Shorts wrote:At Chicago O'Hare Airport, Rick Bayless opened up a Frontera Grill in Terminal 1. I
I tried an egg and chorizo torta last week. I enjoyed it and would happily order it again. The chorizo was flavorful and just greasy enough. Hot sauces were solid, with the habanero actually packing a lot of heat.
The only problem was service. There were 4-5 folks working there, and few customers. I waited nearly 20 minutes for my sandwich, and only two customers were served before me. Most of the staff appeared to be standing around and chatting. Customers were circling the counter, glaring. They provided buzzers that rang when the food was ready - - Perhaps that was meant to be a message that we should go get comfortable and they'd call us when eventually the food was ready? In any event, it's set up as fast food and I can imagine they've already had to deal with some irate customers. My recommendation is to go, but only if you have ample time.
Ronna
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Post #120 - February 16th, 2011, 9:38 amThis is my biggest pet peeve about airport food (besides the general poor quality). Most people in an airport are pressed for time. Servers are generally oblivious to this.
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