First things first: I won’t be addressing the tragedy today surrounding MH17. It’s a horrific event and nobody in the world needs a snarky food and travel writer such as myself weighing in. Back to our regularly scheduled programming… Have you ever been to Japan to experience the Tanabata Star Festival? I haven’t, but I…
LeBron Poll Results are IN! Who’s Your Favorite Frequent Flyer Program?
On Saturday, I launched a poll to find out who would win the title of favorite current frequent flyer program. Framed under the question “Who’s the LeBron of Frequent Flyer Programs?,” I wanted to get a sense of where all the FF programs stood after major changes from the biggest carriers. From the beginning, the…
Infographic: Say Goodbye to Jet Lag
We’re in the thick of summer travel season and if you’re headed overseas (or even across the country), you’re going to want to check out these tips for ditching jet lag: via Thomas Cook
The Most Amazing Butcher in the World
You have to be a pretty serious food geek to know who Dario Cecchini is. I first learned of him by reading Bill Buford’s excellent book Heat (Heat: An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany) where Buford learns the secrets of butchering and more from…
Reminder: LeBron Poll Ends Tomorrow
Hey! Did you vote in my “Who’s the LeBron of Frequent Flyer Programs” yet? If not, head on over here and cast your vote! I never initially set an end date and it seems like tomorrow is as good a time as any to end the polling and announce a winner. All you have to…
Hotel Hack: Use Buffet Waffle Iron to Make Hash Browns
Let’s be honest: if your hotel buffet doesn’t have a waffle iron, it’s not really trying. Whether self-serve or manned by a chef in a tall paper hat, that waffle iron is a godsend if the other options are tiny boxes of cereal and a cantaloupe/honeydew/watermelon medley that was frozen for a decade until being…
Would You Sit on a Bike Seat in Economy?
It is absolutely ridiculous to write a question like “would you sit on a bike seat in economy,” but thanks to Airbus and a new patent application they filed in June, it’s something we’re now going to have to consider. The LA Times broke the story yesterday and if you thought the current lack of…
Waffle Donuts, Cronuts, and the Hybrid Dessert Craze
If you have any doubt that we’re living in a globalized world, look no further than Dominique Ansel’s “Cronut,” the croissant-doughnut hybrid that set the food world (and regular world, really) abuzz a little over a year ago in Ansel’s Manhattan Bakery. What’s a cronut? First of all, we need to get some internet in…
Hotel Tipping, Eating Free in Lounges, and Best/Worst Fast Food
This has been, without question, the most successful week in Fly&Dine history. More people visited Fly&Dine than ever before and I am grateful for that. What did they come to read? Check out the stories that grabbed everyone’s attention this week: First, we addressed the question of gratuity while you travel in… Tipping at Hotels…
Who’s the LeBron of Frequent Flyer Programs?
With the giant “LeBron James Back to Cleveland” announcement yesterday, it seems like all anyone can talk about is LeBron. As an NBA fan, I’m one of those people. He may not be the Greatest of All Time — that would be Michael Jordan — but he’s the best basketball player on the planet right…
Consumer Reports Names Best & Worst Fast Food Restaurants
I try to stay away from fast food as much as possible, but I’m a sucker for a good survey and Consumer Reports just released their 2014 list of best and worst fast food restaurants in America. As a Chicagoan, I’m proud to see Portillo’s at the top of the sandwiches list and wholeheartedly endorse…
Gordon Ramsay’s Plane Food Brownie Recipe
When celebrity chefs and airport restaurants collide, the results can be quite polarizing. Some times (*cough* Wolfgang Puck *cough*) it’s just another branded marketing opportunity for the chef to get rich without actually being ever being present. Other times, though, these celeb chefs raise the entire level of airport dining with thoughtful additions to terminals…
Flight Food Review: AA’s Chicken Cobb Sandwich
For as much as I tout the developments of the in-flight eating experience, it’s very clear to me and pretty much everyone else in the world that the on-board food options for domestic carriers in the United States are pretty substandard. Remember that awful microwave pizza I had in AA First Class a few months…
Frontier Pilot Buys Pizza for Whole Plane
There are good people in this world. The proof can be found in Wyoming on Monday night where a Frontier plane got diverted from its Washington Reagan (DCA) to Denver (DEN) flightpath due to thunderstorms and had to land in Cheyenne (CYS) to wait out the storm. Pilot Gerhard Bradner didn’t want his passengers to…