Homegrown food at the airport

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I'm sure the "bring the iconic city restaurants into the airport" trend has been happening intermittently ever since airports first got restaurants (c'mon Boudin's sourdough bread bowl at SFO!), but I'm loving this latest little bit of tasty breakfast nosh: Montreal's Air Canada lounge is stocking bagels from the iconic Fairmount Bagel, and Delta is (was?) offering a Russ and Daughters bagel plate on their in-flight menu. 



On the positioning flight for my Dallas – Sydney journey, Delta offered a Shake Shack burger and I gotta say it was pretty mid. The bun was sitting on the ceramic serving dish while it was being rewarmed, causing it to be sorta dehydrated, stale-tasting, and hard as a rock. I did get to witness a phenomenon I'd read about online: a grown adult having a meltdown because they'd pre-ordered a Shake Shack burger and there wasn't one for them in the galley. If he hadn't been such a toddler about it, I would have swapped him, but I don't reward bad behavior. I did whack my hockey puck of a bun against the dish and said "you didn't miss much, buddy, it's kinda shit."

Delta Shake Shack: definitely not worth a toddler-esque meltdown


Probably my favorite iteration of homegrown airport dining is Fukuoka Airport's Ramen Runway. Eight of the city's legendary tonkotsu ramen shops have outposts inside the airport so you can get one last bowl before you leave. 

lol a nice light meal before your flight


Frankfurt airport has lots of… Frankfurter carts with the iconic German condiment udders. In the mornings I've also seen fresh-baked pretzel carts, too. Perfect on-the-go airport snacks!

squirt!


Mexico City's airport has a proper trompo for one last tacos al pastor before departure. 

…now if only Aeromexico served Mexican food onboard!


As someone who grew up in the Pacific NW, I do/did love me an airport Ivar's clam chowder (SEA) or a Coffee People Black Tiger americano (PDX). I say this because I've noticed a lot of these airport outposts don't survive (pour one out for my Irish coffee from Buena Vista SFO...)

A couple of other honorable mentions: ANA's in-flight Ippudo ramen with Hokkaido butter, and LOT's "taste sorceress" chef.




Another memorable one for me was transiting Minneapolis and the snack shop selling a plastic cup full of cheese cubes - not a charcuterie or a piece of fruit in sight. Just a big cup of cheese. Seemed so perfectly appropriate for that part of the world :) 




It seems like a lot of these things are heavy and salty and fatty and precisely the opposite of what they tell you to eat in the sky, but I'll honestly take something with a touch of nostalgia over yet another Cibo/Hudson News soggy tortilla chicken club wrap.

I'll sign off remembering Portland's "famous" Rheinlander opening in PDX and telling my brother "yeah I'm having a sausage with sauerkraut and a hefeweizen right now" and him saying "oof! I pity whoever has to sit next to you for the next six hours!" 








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