"airport food" news and stories

Airline food is dead. Long live airport food, which is taking off so fast you wonder if the dining scene at LAX and O'Hare will soon resemble Vegas without the slot machines. Total hype? Sure, but today does mark a milestone with the opening of a new kind of "restaurant" at JFK's two Delta terminals.

Some 200 iPads have been mounted at coffee shop-style booths right by the gates, where passengers can now grab a seat and order a meal, checking stock quotes and playing games as they wait for food to be delivered. What kind of food? Maybe a Cobb salad or spinach quiche at Croque Madame (Gates 21 and 22), from Andrew Carmellini, the chef at Manhattan's downtown hotspot, Locanda Verde, or a panini from Bar Brace (Gate 15), from Jason Denton of New York's 'Inoteca and Lupa.

Next up: Crust, at Delta's LaGuardia terminal, where Jim Lahey, of Soho's Sullivan Street Bakery, will lend his baking prowess to pizza.) Big-name chefs, like Wolfgang Puck and Todd English, have had restaurant franchises at airports for some time now, but this whole park-me-by-the gate-and-hand-me-an-iPad expansion is a step in a new direction. And if you miss having a live server taking your order, you can always stare soulfully into your Apple screen and mumble, "you must be iPaddy, and you'll be my waiter today."

In a welcome respite from subpar airport fare, "Iron Chef" Masaharu Morimoto is partnering with hospitality and food service company Delaware North to provide fast-casual eateries serving Japanese bar food in airports across the country.

The bistros, appropriately titled Skewers, will serve an assortment of yakitori -- skewered grilled or deep-fried meats and vegetables -- served with rice bowls for portable consumption, as well as soups and salads. The restaurants' settings would take the form of two different models -- a take-out counter and a traditional sit-down approach -- and both would feature open kitchens.

According to Vito Buscemi, director of Concept Portfolio for Delaware North, the line has "great menu variety and great presentation -- all the meats and vegetables are grilled right in front of you. It's very quick, convenient and healthy, and we think it's going to have mass appeal."

Traveling this holiday season? If yes, chances are that your flight will be somewhat delayed and you will be stuck at the airport. For this reason, it's important to know your dining options. An article in this past Sunday's New York Times outlines different ways to explore these choices so that you're not stuck at Burger King. Firstly, you can go online to the airport's website to find out its dining options. Then, there are numerous online discussion boards, like Chowhound, FlyerTalk and AirlinePilotsForum, that will suggest certain places over others.

Whether or not your flight is delayed or you have a layover, air travel increasingly means that you'll be spending more time at the airport terminal. Many airlines suggest that you get there two hours early. With the possibility of eating well, perhaps you might get there even earlier. Nevertheless, certain airports, such as Chicago's O'Hare, are more hopeless than others. It seems as though the majority of decent dining spots are concentrated at the Jet Blue food court, Terminal 5, in New York's Kennedy airport.

After the jump, you'll find a list of restaurants with delicious foods recommended by the New York Times.

More people in the U.S. travel around Thanksgiving than during any other time of the year, all in the pursuit of a home cooked turkey dinner with family and friends. Unfortunately, that journey home typically takes the traveler past a number of dining options that aren't nearly as tasty as the Thanksgiving meal.

PlanetEye has put together a list of the best airport food options in the world, all in the hopes that they might spare a few lucky travelers the pain of having to eat a lousy sandwich or a pale, lifeless salad. Some of the domestic airports with tasty food include Boston's Logan Airport (you're never far from a Legal Seafood), McCarran in Las Vegas (try Moe's at Gate A) and O'Hare in Chicago, home to an outpost of Billy Goat Tavern (in Terminal 1) which was made famous in SNL's Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger sketch.

How do you handle food when you're traveling? Do you eat at the airport, bring a sandwich with you or do without?

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How many times have you traveled and been outraged at the limited airport food options and the few snacks provided onboard? After experiencing a recent two-hour flight delay at West Palm Beach Airport and being stuck with only fast-food chains, I got excited about a recent New York Times article, which focuses on a new trend whereby internationally recognized celebrity chefs are opening up restaurants at airport terminals around the world.

Earlier it seemed that there were just a few chefs, like Wolfgang Puck, who brought their food to airport terminals, but now there are a much larger number of celebrity chefs doing it. And, while chefs such as Wolfgang Puck brought fast-food versions of their food to airports, the current crop of chefs – Todd English, Gordon Ramsay, Nicolas Le Bec -- are opening bonafide, three-course meal, sit-down restaurants.

From New York's JFK to Geneva's International airport, you can now order foie gras (Gilles Dupont's Altitude), braised lamb (Ramsay's Plane Food), Kobe beef burgers (Todd English's Bonfire Steakhouse), and Valrhona chocolate fondue (Plane Food) while waiting for your flight. With the increase in flight delays and cancellations, this is sure to relieve a foodie's worst nightmare, which is being stuck at the airport for endless hours with no options but Burger King, Cinnabon, and Sbarro.