Star

The San Juan Daily Star
Monday, March 21, 2016 25
Delta, in Alliance With Danny Meyer, Aims to Elevate Airline Food
By STEPHANIE STROM
It is no secret that airlines are waging an increasingly
pitched battle for the biggest-spending
passengers who fly in premium classes: The
carriers have deployed amenities like fluffy feather
duvets and spa treatments.
Now, Delta Air Lines is trying to gain an edge
with its food — a decidedly tall order.
The company has struck an alliance with
Union Square Hospitality Group, the food service
empire behind Shake Shack and restaurants like
Union Square Cafe, Blue Smoke and Gramercy
Tavern.
The goal is to serve food in its Delta One cabin
on international flights from Kennedy International
Airport that is as just as good as the food
set on the table in Union Square’s restaurants.
“We want passengers to say, ‘This is great
food’ — not, ‘This is great food for an airline,’ ”
said John Harenda, vice president for operations
at Union Square Events, the group’s catering service.
Delta shares the sentiment. “We really want
to change the conversation around what airline
food is,” said Allison Ausband, senior vice president
for in-flight service at Delta.
It will not be easy. Galley space on most airplanes
has shrunk. Plates and containers are
small. Altitude dulls the taste buds, so recipes
must be adjusted.
“There certainly were hurdles — but none that
made me throw up my arms and say, ‘Why am I
doing this?’ ” said Carmen Quagliata, the Union
Square Cafe chef who did the menu for Delta
One.
For one thing, Mr. Quagliata had already seen
the success of a menu devised by a colleague,
Mark Maynard-Parisi of Blue Smoke, which
started Union Square’s partnership with Delta in
2013 by offering its fare on just a few flights. Blue
Smoke’s barbecued meats also happened to be
foods that would work best on a plane, said Danny
Meyer, Union Square’s founder and chief. .
Many airlines have a relationship with a celebrity
chef. Alain Ducasse, for instance, endorses
several food and wine options offered in the elite
cabins at Air France. United Airlines’ partnership
with Charlie Trotter continues even after his
death in 2013, with alumni of his restaurant helping
with the airline’s menu.
In most cases, however, the food served under
a chef’s name on board does not approach the
standards of the food served in the chef’s restaurant.
“If someone had told me a few years ago that
we’d be serving our food on an airline, I would
have said over my dead body,” Mr. Meyer said.
Daniel Dilworth, director of culinary development
for Union Square’s catering business, had
much the same reaction. But after talking with officials
at Delta and LSG Sky Chefs, the food service
provider for Delta and other airlines, Mr. Dilworth
concluded that making tasty airline meals
would not be all that different from making the
food sold at Citi Field, where Blue Smoke has a
stand.
Mostly, it was a matter of understanding what
would not work.
“Meat can be served medium-rare on a plane
in flight, but if there’s turbulence, the hostess
can’t get up and take it out of the oven at the
right time,” Mr. Dilworth said. “So it’s probably
best just not to try to serve meat done to mediumrare.”
Delta wanted Mr. Quagliata to offer a pasta
dish from Union Square Cafe on the menu that
debuts March 1, but he was dubious, having eaten
one too many reheated pasta dishes on flights.
In the end, it was a piece of Delta’s china that
inspired him — what if he made a baked pasta
dish instead? “It now comes out all bubbly and
smelling fantastic,” he said. “What started out as
a hurdle turned out to be a great innovation — I
might even try it in the restaurant.”
Terri Joseph and Margo Cortinas-Lodin, flight
attendants who demonstrated how the system
works onboard, said learning how to serve the
meals prepared by Union Square was not too big
a challenge. “Both of us come from an era when
all meals on planes were served like this,” said
Ms. Joseph, a 28-year veteran.
She and Ms. Cortinas-Lodin, a flight attendant
for 36 years, first heat up Union Square Cafe’s signature
nut mix and then serve salads and appetizers.
When it comes to plating the main courses,
they pull off the wrap and, following the steps
they learned from training videos featuring Mr.
Quagliata, empty small paper cups containing
sauces and garnishes onto the plate.
There have been lessons learned along the
way.
Delta likes to pour soups from a silver pitcher
directly into a passenger’s bowl, but a chunky
vegetable soup served that way ended up as
much on their aprons and the floor as in the bowl.
“We learned the hard way that soups need to be
purées or clear broths,” Mr. Dilworth said.
Garnishes intended to top a meal are a challenge,
too, because they are loaded in the bottom
of a paper cup, then smothered with whatever
will rest beneath them on the plate. So the fried
sunchokes that typically crown a carpaccio are
now roasted rather than fried.
The flight attendants said passengers had responded
well to the Blue Smoke menu, as well as
meals from Marta, another Union Square restaurant,
which have been featured for the last year.
“About the only drawback I’ve seen so far is that
everyone wants to try everything on the menu,”
Ms. Cortinas-Lodin said, “and that we can’t do.”