Once upon a time, when airline food was “free” – when carriers such as Eastern, Western, Pan Am, and Braniff still reigned – airport food was a bland mish-mosh. At its best, it was nothing special. It was overpriced, and all but force-fed to a captive audience. Lots of folks preferred to wait to board before they ate.
Those days are gone. Street pricing prevails these days, and airport eateries work hard for your business. Many places reflect the roots of the communities they serve, serving up the kind of cuisine you’d expect to find in town.
Cases-in-point: Bush Houston Intercontinental and Houston Hobby Airports. If you like good Tex-Mex and bodacious barbeque you’re changing airplanes in the right places.
“Tex-Mex and barbeque are two staples in the Texas diet,” says Randy Goodman, concessions manager for the Houston Airport System. He contends a couple of new names at IAH and HOU “are going to help us enhance the Texas identity that we want to convey to customers as they pass through or visit Houston. It’s important to offer customers a sense of place.”
Indeed, because if they’re changing planes it may be the only sense of place they get – that and looking out the airplane’s window.
First, the Tex-Mex offering. Over in Terminal C at Bush Houston Intercontinental, Los Platos is changing its name to Mango Taco Truck, a moniker that sort of sticks with you. The menu is made up of authentic dishes, the kind you’d find in rural kitchens across Mexico.
Intercontinental is now United Airlines’ major U.S. hub. It used to be Continental’s before the two carriers merged.
At close-in Houston Hobby Airport, a major focus point for discount airline Southwest, Pappas Bar-B-Q is getting set to open up for business. Vegetarians might want to avoid this place. Aficionados of fine Texas barbeque should love it.
The great thing about Pappas Bar-B-Que is that it will be located “landside” – pre-security. That means you can have a quick meal with family or friends before boarding your flight. The new eatery is slated to open its doors in early November, in time for the Thanksgiving crowd.
Story by Jerry Chandler
(Image: stevendepolo)
