Airline dining has been synonymous with substandard eats forever, as multiple decades of prepackaged, lifeless meals have graced our flimsy fold-out tray tables. We've became collectively aware of a basic and undeniable fact: This stuff is absolutely terrible.
In response, airlines have taken three major tacks. They either charge you for it (meals that were once free, or at least included in your ticket prices, are now hidden in a cardboard box and offered at "affordable" prices); charge you a lot for it (airlines work with high-end celebrity chefs to come up with fancy menu items like onion carbonara and coriander-cured beef fillet); or completely ignore food and toss you a free bag of pretzels (by far the best option).
Stephan Pyles is teaming up with La Bodega, a wine shop buried in the A Terminal of DFW Airport, to offer meals for purchase before you board your plane. Containers and a specialized pouch promise to keep your meal fresh and tasty as you hurtle toward your destination at hundreds of miles an hour.
This video doesn't say much about the food itself, but if you blow up a screen shot of the menu you can make things out. Breakfast items include chilaquiles, chorizo potatoes and eggs and corn griddle cakes and cost $12-14. Lunch features a duck confit empanada and a lobster dish among others and runs $8-22. Wines pairings are listed for each dish, but airline policies regarding alcohol vary -- you might have to buy that Veuve Clicquot Gold Label on your plane if you want to enjoy it with your lobster with mango and basil dish.
Will the venture work? Some of the prices seem affordable given the typically high cost of food offered in airports. And certainly a papadum sampler with chaat masala designed by Stephan Pyles sounds significantly better than a bean burrito in a paper sack from Taco Bell.
