Category Archives for Food.
American Airlines says it’s making a premium push, but a recent menu at the Austin Admirals Club tells a very different story—featuring “Sicilian” brisket in the heart of Texas and “angry pasta” that made me mad. It’s a small detail that captures a much bigger problem with how the airline thinks about product and culture.
Most travelers don’t seek out McDonald’s abroad for the food. The real value is that it’s a predictable place to stop, walk in unnoticed, and use a clean restroom—something you can’t always count on in parts of Asia, Africa, or even busy tourist districts. Menus change country to country, but the bathrooms are consistent, free, and easy to find, which makes McDonald’s a more useful travel tool than a meal plan.
CAVA is taking a page from airlines — launching a loyalty program that status matches you straight to its top tier. Even Marriott Silver and Spirit elites qualify in this surprisingly generous fast-casual move.
Bilt Rewards has opened a cafe on the ground floor of their headquarters. It offers really good coffee and pastries. But this is more of a to go place, there’s no space for lounging, and they don’t have staff to talk to you about their program or credit card. So I’m not sure what the value proposition is?
Customers no longer buy tickets just on schedule, price, and perceived reliability. Airline seats are no longer just commodity products.
Several spots that did make the list are overrated. It seems like they’re stretching because once they agreed to rate Austin they needed to rate restaurants in Austin and while the city’s food scene is across-the-board above average there’s actually very little that’s great. Some of the spots that made the list wouldn’t have come close in other cities that the guide rates.
Here’s what well-informed experts say, what they get wrong, and the tools you should really be using.
I first tried Chef Otto Phan’s sushi eight years ago, and it was a revelation – not because he was then serving fish that was better than what you might get at the best places in the country, but because each time I went back he’d gotten better. It’s the passionate drive to keep improving that makes a restaurant great. There are plenty of good restaurants, serving the same meals day after day, and those serve a purpose. But the places to really connect with are those where the chef is trying to accomplish something.
I’ve been known to take a trip just for a meal, like when I flew to Barcelona just to have dinner at El Bulli when that was the toughest reservation in the world. It also involved a two hour train ride. Ferran Adria more than lived up to the hype!
But I’m not sure I’d fly to Singapore for the chili crab – though I’d go for the food – and not sure a hop across The Pond makes sense for an authentic British afternoon tea. Corn masa tacos aren’t my number one go-to in Mexico. So here’s what I suggest.
Michelin-starred celebrity chef Aurélien Largeau, of La Table d’Aurélien Largeau at Hyatt’s Hôtel du Palais Biarritz in southwest France, has been fired after video spread online of hazing in his kitchen. A junior member of the kitchen staff (commis) was “tied to a chair naked for hours with an apple in his mouth and a carrot in his anus with all the chefs – known as the kitchen brigade – looking on, including Largeau.”
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
