Airport dining

I’ve had to work all weekend over the last three, and now this one, too. I am getting really tired of this grind, so I hit WLDG for a few minutes before getting started, to clear my head.

I mentioned a couple of thoughts while traveling this week in my previous post in the Friends and Fun section, which really didn’t have much to do with wine. So, I will put this one more in the spirit.

In previous posts I have chronicled dinners I have enjoyed on the road. A type I really love is the sidewalk cafe venue, whether on a sidewalk of a big city, or in an upscale mall, such as the Somerset, near Detroit, on the second floor, out from a little French bistro, in the grand entrance atrium, around a grand piano. Last week, I found a Gallagher’s Steakhouse in the Newark Airport with such an arrangement: just a low, picket-wrought iron railing separating you from the throng. There is probably a name for the fenced, patio-like structure, which juts out from the establishment proper into the space usually reserved for perambulation; but I can’t think of it. In the Airport, you encroach into a corridor with zillions of people of all ages, sizes, sexes, and degrees of interest, motion and beauty, - or not, walking around and past you - some glancing, catching a glimpse of connection, while you sip your wine. It’s a surreal way to dine.

The best treat in such an atmosphere is a huge hamburger in a brioche bun, a la the $5,000 Vegas Fleur Burger. Gallagher’s has one. It is huge and succulent. You start out with a couple of glasses of cool California Chardonnay and then order any ol' (as opposed to old) bottle of Bordeaux. It is a great way to spend a couple of hours during a delay. About as much fun as anything I can think of. Do I need to get a life, or what?

[Jenise]

The only thing wrong with the scenario you describe is that it's in an airport at all--flying these days is an anxiety ridden activity, and where yeah you're still people-watching, the people you're watching are more oblivious to what's immediately around them than would be, say, the strollers past a Parisian sidewalk cafe on a sunny Spring day.

That said, you could do worse than a Gallaghers.

Our favorite spot at SeaTac is a new little winebar called Vino Volo. They serve a few snacks, but not meals per se, and always have about a third of the 100 or so wines they have for sale retail available by the glass or in tasting flights. Heck, you can also order a full bottle if you bring friends (or a wooden leg). For ambience, the music is jazz, the art on the walls is modern, and the furnishings rather like a nice men's study--low, leather and comfy. Sometimes the owner's in and serving, and he has wines hidden away. One slow night we were in there killing the two hours between our flight into Seattle and the commuter flight home, and Bill, impressed with my commentary about the tasting flight we'd ordered, poured me something he had hidden under the counter. Guess, he said. So I sniffed, swirled and sipped, and finally decided that I was drinking a California pinot noir about 10-12 years old. Close--it was actually a '91. But hey--there we were in an airport drinking very good wine and playing geek games! And all of this AFTER going through Security. LAX, for one, has nothing like it.

On the flip side:

Does Las Vegas airport have ANY decent dining facilities? The closest thing they had to a real restaurant in the secured area of the airport, at least that I could find, was a Chili's. I was grateful that I could find a couple of items on their menu that I would consider putting into my mouth, and the food as delivered was edible (my previous experience with Chili's was going into their place in Nashua and then leaving after about five minutes because there wasn't anything on the menu I would want to eat).

At O'Hare you have Woflgang Puck's and several other decent places.
At Charlotte you can get real barbecue.
Why are there zero decent places at Vegas airport?

-Paul W.

Why are there zero decent places at Vegas airport?-Paul W.

All the slot machines take up the space that could be used for a nice eating establishment.

There's also a Vino Volo in the 'A' Terminal of Sacramento Intergalactic Airport. They tend to have some pretty nice stuff available by the glass there. I hope the concept works and they put these into more airports.

[Jenise]

There's also a Vino Volo in the 'A' Terminal of Sacramento Intergalactic Airport. They tend to have some pretty nice stuff available by the glass there. I hope the concept works and they put these into more airports.

It's a franchise. Maybe we should start our own!

There's also a Vino Volo in the 'A' Terminal of Sacramento Intergalactic Airport. They tend to have some pretty nice stuff available by the glass there. I hope the concept works and they put these into more airports.

It's a franchise. Maybe we should start our own!

Don't you need an airport, Jenise?

[Jenise]

There's also a Vino Volo in the 'A' Terminal of Sacramento Intergalactic Airport. They tend to have some pretty nice stuff available by the glass there. I hope the concept works and they put these into more airports.

It's a franchise. Maybe we should start our own!

Don't you need an airport, Jenise?

Details, details.