Airport Restaurants by Famous Chefs...
Anyone eaten at a Wolfgang Puck airport restaurant? Or Todd English's Bonfire? I've tried both - with mixed results.
The Puck establishments have been pretty consistent. We enjoyed fresh pizzas and entrees but I must admit, the aiports were not busy at the time and there was no "the kitchen is slammed" rush going on.
The English establishment was a real eye opener. After waiting to be seated for what seemed like an inordinately long time (plenty of visible empty tables), the food quality was extreme in all directions. Appetizer was beef tips on a guacamole-type cream with chopped tomatoes and bibb lettuce for wrapping - sublime. I ordered a portobello quesadilla which was humongous and delicious, not to mention perfectly garnished. BF ordered a chix breast sandwitch with cheddar on brioche with avocado. The chix breast was great but the bread was dry. The accompanying fries looked like the most perfect french fries I have ever seen - but they were stone cold.
It was the cold fries that spawned this revelation: I was lulled into a false sense of "this will be WONDERFUL" by the Todd English name, especially when compared to other available restaurants. (Let's see, Burger King v. Todd English?)
Overall - the experience was good but not stellar. The long, seemingly unnecessary wait time and the lack of "hustle" exhibited by the staff (at JFK, no less!), coupled with French fry-interruptus gave me pause.
Anyone else try these "famous name" airport eateries? Your experience?
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13 Comments:
We, too, have had good luck at the Puck establishment, and a rotten experience at the Todd English outpost. I'm thinking it was at LaGuardia, but perhaps it was JFK.
lemons at 9:47AM on 07/14/08
Lemons - is it new?? I don't remember seeing it the last time we were at JFK. What did you have? What went wrong?
English needs to get his people on the ball. While the Todd English name brought me into the place, I don't want my experience with his airport joints to sully the name.
therealchiffonade at 12:27PM on 07/14/08
I ate at Bonfire in the delta lounge and it was awesome. The Nachos were embarrassingly large, but beautifully arranged, and (well, ok, it's hard to f these up) the Kobe Beef Corn Dogs had a great presentation as well. I'm definitely eating there again, "airport" food this was not. Just my 2cents.
thebigguy at 4:38PM on 07/14/08
chiffonade said she had it at JFK. I don't remember what I ate, but it was definitely not recently, as I haven't flown out of NYC with Mr. Meatloaf in more than a year, and it for sure wasn't that trip but at least one before, maybe two. On the right-hand side as you are heading for American Airlines gates, whichever concourse that is. I really do think it was LGA; food wasn tepid and slightly dry, and generally underseasoned. Quelle disappointment.
lemons at 5:06PM on 07/14/08
@TBG - Sounds like you had a great experience! I saw the nachos to which you refer - a huge pile of food. I'd definitely try Bonfire again although the JFK unit stumbled a little. The good definitely outweighed the bad in our experience and wouldn't discourage me from giving Bonfire another try.
therealchiffonade at 5:16AM on 07/15/08
do you really need to eat an embarassingly large portion of nacho';s before you get on a plane?
spanman at 7:58AM on 07/15/08
When I fly United, they sometimes have Charlie Trotter dishes on the menus. The descriptions always sound wonderful, and when I see its made by Charlie Trotter, I get even more excited. But I've had his dishes on the airplane 2 or 3 times now, and I've never liked them. I wonder if theyre actually his dishes or not?
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 10:41AM on 07/15/08
Always walked by Puck's and never was interested... the best chain in a airport is Potbelly's in Chicago Midway Airport. Mmmm... cheap and tasty sandwiches.
foodinmouth at 12:23PM on 07/15/08
@FIM - try the Puck's if only for the pizza. You won't believe you're eating that pizza in an airport.
@spanman - maybe he was between planes and had a long layover? Or took some to go (as I did with my quesadilla)?
therealchiffonade at 12:42PM on 07/15/08
I've never eaten at a Todd English spot, but was amused to note that at the one I passed (forget where) something like 3 of the 6 monitors were showing Todd English DVDs.
The Gurgling Cod at 3:51PM on 07/15/08
Wolfgang's is half a level above California Pizza Kitchen, which is to say, barely edible, but for an airport, it will do in a pinch.
The best airport food I've ever had is in Minneapolis at the French Meadow. It's all local produce and organic. I've traveled quite a bit (Continental Elite) and this is the only place I've ever thought, "no, i'll wait to grab something at the airport..."
BirdDoggie at 11:00AM on 07/16/08
I suppose it all depends on what you walk in there expecting. Wolfgang Puck is indubitably a cut above the typical airport restaurant, but I don't expect truly fabulous food, and am therefore not disappointed. I guess I'm just used to setting the bar lower for airport fare :)
Pammeh at 3:08PM on 07/18/08
@BirdDoggie: ooooh, that French Meadow sounds fabulous. I'm always changing flights in Minneapolis (I LOVE that airport btw!), and that sounds like a good place to check out next time I'm there. Thanks!
Pammeh at 3:09PM on 07/18/08