Ontario International Airport, Terminal 2
The set up
I like regional airports. This one claims to be an International Airport, and it probably is (I can imagine daily flights to Cabo or Puerto Vallarta), but the low key vibe of Ontario International tells me its a regional airport. Security is pleasantly noninvasive. I have CLEAR, of course, which I take full advantage of. Once verified, the docent walks me past absolutely no one to the front of the line as a verified traveler. The only x-ray machine in service is the kind that doesn’t require you remove your computers from your bag. I cant remember what these are called but they are larger than the standard scanner and you can leave everything where it is to go through. I’m light and conversational with the TSA guy, my level of annoyance is low, this is a walk in the park. After the body scan, niceties are exchanged on the other side of TSA and I’m free. I have 3 hours until my plane boards.
There are several establishments to choose from. Not only are there 2 restaurant bars and a coffee shop, but they also have some really unique vending machines. The first one I come across may possibly custom decorate cupcakes or some other kind of cake dessert and the other one I found, tucked in a remote corner of terminal 2 makes ramen to order. Amazing, but that is for another time.
After wandering a bit more, I find the Cross Grain Brewhouse. Cross Grain Brewhouse appears well lit and well stocked with a half a dozen beers on tap and anything you could want on the back bar. The cuisine is unknown at a glance but based on the name you can take a guess that its probably New American Gastropub or some variation there of. The place is empty, which suits me fine, and as soon as I’m seated a bartender is there to get me started.
This week has been a colossal waste of time. I wont bore you with the gory details but suffice it to say I worked out of a hotel room for 3 days, didn’t meet any of the people I was there to meet and left a day early. After a week like that I’m ready for some beers and quiet contemplation.
While time has been passing, I’ve been enjoying the Sculpin IPA from Ballast Point Brewing in San Diego. This is an enjoyable beer, easy to drink with a bright flavor and citrus notes. I’ve had a few and the place is filling up. I better get my order in before the kitchen gets swamped.
The first thing I see when I grab the menu is a spelling mistake. I have proofed thousands of menu changes making this one of those things I can never not see. I have also approved menu changes only to find a mistake 10 minutes before opening, and then having to reprint them all, with the chef yelling at me. Anyway, there ya go, CHICHEN CAESAR WRAP, delicious I’m sure.
The Selection
The way this menu placement hits me is evocative of reconstructed comfort food. Two different types of cheese on a homemade country bread with bacon and Seville orange marmalade. Seville oranges are known for their intense bitterness. Normally, this characteristic would make for a very poor orange, however, in the case of classic marmalade, the enhanced levels of pectin found in this variety combined with the copious amount of sugar added to the recipe to produce the jam balances out the bitterness and makes this species the fruit of choice. World famous for their oranges, the southern crescent of the Iberian peninsula is the place to go to get the bitter citrus and the jam from which is made. Surely this detail will not disappoint.
The Presentation
There are few things that I find more objectionable than auctioning off food in a restaurant. There are so many service solutions to making sure the right person gets the right food invisibly and in a manner which gives the guest the impression that the establishment gives a shit about them or their experience. At a bar it is particularly easy, but the same idea would apply at a table of 20. GIVE THE SEAT A NUMBER. Put the number with the order. When the food is ready the runner can take it right to the seat, describe in pleasant terms the dish the guest is about to consume and then vanish.
Server: Grilled Cheese! Ive got grilled cheese for *guest name*
Me to myself: That cant be mine, I didn’t order anything togo
Server: Grilled Cheese!
Me: I did not order my food to go, but thats what I ordered.
Server: Oh, this is yours then
Me: But I don’t want it to go
Server: Well, this is how they gave it to me, they must not have any trays ready, here you go…
That’s it, that’s the presentation. The server’s ability to move right through my objection to dropping the cardboard box on the bar with a thud is impressive. In many cases, there would at least be the slight hesitation as thought of accommodating the request is a first considered before being dismissed, but not here.
What we have here is a box of warm French fries with a cold sandwich lacking melted cheese placed on top of it.
the bites
The first bite is a not so gentle reminder that no one cares about my sandwich. Cold and greasy and, of course, sticky from the marmalade squeezing out the bottom. The bread is cheap and may have been toasted yesterday. There is no balance to the flavors and somehow I am tasting each flavor separate and apart from the whole. Cheap, room temperature cheese, that used to be almost hot enough to melt, with congealed dairy fat glistening in the light and salty bacon unaccompanied by saccharine orange jam.
The second bite has quite a bit of bacon in it, which even cold, is better than no bacon at all.
The third bite is the last bite. This is just not a good sandwich.
The fries are unremarkable, I had a couple. The ketchup came from to go packets.
the score
In the end, this was a sandwich without merit. If anyone in the restaurant but me had cared about the quality of this sandwich, the quality of its ingredients and the presentation thereof, it may have improved. The execution was not good. The kitchen failed to make the dish with any discernable desire to be good and the servers lacked either the training that desire as well.I am going to give this dish 1/2⭐️ not doing me any overt or irreprable harm.
Airport and Bar 