Executive Travel : Air Travelers’ Food Options Improve

It used to be that the only cuisine worse than airplane food was airport food.

But in an accelerating trend, air travelers now have a hard time finding those shriveled hot dogs and soggy sandwiches. At many airports, eating has risen to the level of the mall food court--and in Southern California, it will soon go well beyond that.

“The options are better now,” said Lori Depweg as she finished up a Pizza Hut vegetarian pizza recently in a terminal at Los Angeles International Airport. “There used to just be popcorn and pretzels.”

Depweg and others say they prefer food prepared by franchises because they are familiar with the offerings and prices.

“If a restaurant has a name, it usually has better quality,” said Jim Parodi, a field service engineer who flies six to 10 times a month on business.

At LAX, concessionaire Host Marriott Corp. operates TCBY frozen yogurt stands, Dunkin Donuts shops, a Burger King and a Starbucks coffee stand in addition to the Pizza Hut restaurants. A new food service agreement reached in December will bring seven more fast-food purveyors to LAX, including McDonald’s and Creative Croissants.

“Our emphasis has been to provide the traveling public with more variety,” said Carlos Bernal, general manager of Host Marriott concessions at LAX. “Our customers are comfortable with brands they recognize, and they know the quality of those menu items.”

Also on the way are three full-scale restaurants at LAX: a Daily Grill, a Wolfgang Puck pizza restaurant and a Rhino Chasers microbrewery.

“Los Angeles is way behind the rest of the nation in upgrading food service in its airports,” said Bob Spivak, president of Grill Concepts, the Brentwood-based parent company of six Daily Grills.

Boston’s Logan Airport, for example, has a restaurant run by local favorite Legal Seafoods, and airports in Newark, N.J., and Denver have similar arrangements.

“This is part of a strong, growing trend of local operators getting into airports,” Spivak said.

At Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport, the cafeteria approach was abandoned 2 1/2 years ago in favor of a traditional sit-down eatery. Restaurateurs Steve and Jeffrey Mora opened the Air Hollywood Bar and Grill to provide a full-service menu for travelers with at least 20 minutes to devote to a real meal.

“We find that people appreciate sit-down service rather than a run-of-the-mill airport cafeteria,” Steve Mora said. Cafeteria lines are particularly unpopular with travelers who “have to drag their bags and balance their luggage,” he said.

Popular items at the bar and grill--designed in a 1940s motif--are Chinese chicken salad, homemade Italian sausage with garlic mashed potatoes and Caesar salad with dressing made from scratch, he said.

“All our items are prepared so they can be served within 15 minutes,” Mora said. “And nothing on our menu costs more than $7.95.”

Enjoying a meal at LAX’s new Daily Grill will take at least 30 to 40 minutes, Spivak said. The Daily Grill will open later this year in the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX, where passengers are often asked to check in two hours early.

For those in a hurry, the Daily Grill will sell boxed meals that can be taken aboard, Spivak said. Those meals will be similar to the picnic dinners the restaurant sells for Hollywood Bowl performances, which include such choices as Cobb salad, sandwiches and swordfish.

The Long Beach Airport is home to the Prop Room, a second-story restaurant and bar overlooking the runways, airport spokeswoman Tracy Jameson said. The airport also has a snack bar and lounge that sells sandwiches, fruit and pastries. The Ontario Airport features fast food by Taco Bell and Pizza Hut and Haagen-Dazs ice cream, along with two Host Marriott cocktail lounges and snack bars.

Diners at Orange County’s John Wayne Airport can choose from Pizza Hut pizza, Mrs. Field’s cookies and TCBY frozen yogurt at a food court between the airport’s north and south concourses. Each concourse is also served by a McDonald’s restaurant and a cocktail lounge operated by Host Marriott.

Adjacent to the food court is the Orange Grill, a full-service restaurant. The menu features express items such as salads, soups and sandwiches that can be prepared in 12 minutes or less.

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Travelers trying to avoid airplane food and passengers on low-fare carriers who have only peanuts and soda to look forward to often arrive at the airport in time to eat at the Orange Grill, airport spokeswoman Pat Ware said. At lunchtime, business meetings take place at the restaurant in order to accommodate the schedules of executives with departing flights, she said.

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