Long Beach Airport - Tacos

Taco Beach Cantina - I left out of Long Beach Airport on a trip to Boston. I got to the airport early and headed past security to find something to eat for dinner.

I try to leave out of Long Beach if I can for two reasons. One is I like to fly JetBlue. The other is Long Beach is small enough to be a pleasant  way to start off a trip, No long lines, nice friendly people.

This time I tried Taco Beach Cantina. It's not bad, a little overpriced, but hey, your in an airport.

The do give a pretty good portion size, and the tacos were good. They come with black or pinto beans and rice. You get to pick your toppings kind of like at a Chipolte Mexican Grill. 

If your leaving out of So Cal, give it a try.

Cowboy Ciao - Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport - How It All Began

Some of my friends wondered how I came up with the idea for this blog. This is the burger that started it all.

I was having a rather lousy flight from California to San Antonio and got stuck in the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport for hours (like 6).

I wandered aimless thru the airport for hours (upside - made my step count for the day pretty quickly). I looked in every concourse for a place to eat and finally settled on Cowboy Ciao.

Grabbed a beer and looked over the menu. I almost didn’t order food, but one burger caught my eye.
The “Lester’s Burger Bonanza” described as: “green chile pork (osso buco style), atop wagyu beef, Oaxaca, bacon and avocado, served on a challah roll with roasted jalapeno aioli and housemade chips.”

Now my first thought was, “this is either going to be great, or it’s going to really suck.”
I took a chance (and popped down $20) for the burger.

The Lester's Burger Bonanza at Cowboy Ciao

It was love from the first bite. I really don’t know how to describe how good it was. Maybe I was just so bored that anything would have seemed great.

The pairing of the pork, the bacon and wagyu beef was fantastic, and who knew that jalapeno aioli was a thing. A really good thing, almost bacon ketchup good.

Later as a walked around, my mind began to wander. I thought why isn't there a place where you can go to learn about restaurants in airports?

Now there is. If you want to share your favorites, head over to FoodOnTheFly on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/FoodOnTheFlyusUS/

Legal Seafood - Logan International Airport, Boston MA

I have been to Legal Seafood many times. I’ve been to the Danbury location, Washington Dc and others. Every visit has been great, until now.

I made the mistake of eating at one of the Logan Airport locations before I flew home to California.
I had a cup of clam chowder and blackened Ahi tuna. The chowder was passable, not great, not bad, could have used some salt and pepper. 

The tuna was almost in editable. One of the worst things I have ever eaten.

I first had seared Ahi tuna at the Yardhouse in Long Beach, CA. It was great. I have since had it at dozens of different restaurants, and have never had a really bad experience with it.

When I got the plate, everything looked wonderful, the tuna was just kissed by the grill, slightly brown on the edge and bright red in the center. When I took the first bite, I almost spit it back out.

Now, I love Cajun spice mix, I often use it in several things I cook. The secret is to use it sparingly. The cook at Legal Seafood buried the Ahi in blackening spices. It was so overpowering that my tongue was numb for several hours. It left a bad taste in my mouth for the entire flight home.

Ahi tuna is a very delicate fish, it cannot stand up to incredibly strong spices. What a waste of a really wonderful ingredient. Legal Seafood really ought to rethink this one.

Matt's Big Breakfast - Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport

Matt's Big Breakfast wasn't the inspiration behind this blog, but it did have a big part, more on that in another post. 

I stopped in at Matt’s twice during a recent trip to San Antonio. Both times because of lay-overs flying American Airlines. The first trip was just for a beer while on a six hour visit to Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. The second visit was on the return trip, after being diverted to PSH after DFW wasn’t an option anymore. 

Now I have to point out, I wasn’t the happiest traveler at this point, in fact one could almost say I was a little grumpy.

I was pretty lucky to have the same server both trips, a nice lady named Tracy R. She had a great attitude and was a bright light in two really bad days.

On the second visit, I had a bowl of chili. It was pretty darn good, with just the right amount of heat. 

I confess, I ate a lot of chili on this trip, I just couldn't get enough. Every bowl was different, each had its good points. I did have some real Texas Chili (no beans in the real deal), and it was quite good.

The chili at Matt's is not Texas style, but to be honest, I liked it better.

So, if you’re stuck in Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, keep Matt's in mind, it might help you keep yours.

Gevin's Sports Bar, San Antonio Texas

I ended up sitting in Gervin’s Sports Bar at the San Antonio airport because of a flight delay. My flight was delayed two hours and when I got here to check in, found out that I couldn’t make the connecting flight. Then they re-scheduled, and I had to hang out for three hours. What fun.

So after wandering the terminal I found Gervin’s. It’s great to sit at the window and watch all the people walk by. The down side is your sitting in a fish bowl and it’s a bit odd when sports fans stop and look past you to watch the TV screens over the bar. 

That said, it’s a good place for a snack and a beer before your flight or while waiting on American Airlines to get their act together.

Greek Food in Long Beach

The Long Beach Airport is one of the airports who have really stepped up their game when they remodeled the terminal.

Most of the flights in and out of Long Beach are JetBlue Airlines. Long Beach is a great alternative to LAX, one of the most awful airports in the country. Long Beach is a pleasure to fly to and from.

Unfortunately, they closed one of my favorite airport restaurants, which overlooked the airfield. One wall was all glass and offered a 180 deg. view of the airfield. And it was outside of the secure area, so you could eat there without being a ticketed passenger.

Among the new additions inside the secure area is Georges Greek Café. Georges is pretty good. 

The have the vertical rotisserie cooking a beef and lamb combo. Served with pita bread and a salad it makes a great pre-flight meal.

If you like Greek food, it’s pretty good for an airport.

Tip - think about sharing, we ordered one each (there were three of us) and no one was able to finish theirs.