In the News: Behold, Tom Bradley Terminal’s Glorious Dining Deck
Image by Elizabeth Daniels
la.eater.com reports on the unveiling of the new Tom Bradley International Terminal. Menemsha Solutions was selected to perform general contracting services for over 20 restaurant concepts in the new terminal including ink.sack, 800 Degrees, Umami Burger, Vanilla Bake Shop, Starbucks, Coles French Dip Sandwiches, La Provence Patisserie & Cafe, Border Grill, Chaya, Campanile, Real Food Daily, 8oz Burger Bar, LA Gourmet Street Truck, Larder, James Beach, Lucky Fish, Three Forks, Drink LA, Petrossian, and Scoreboard LA.
Behold, Tom Bradley Terminal’s Glorious Dining Deck
Thursday, June 20, 2013, by Matthew Kang
Today LAX unveiled its stunning new Tom Bradley International Terminal retail and dining area, available to in transit and departing passengers. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa introduced the world-class building, designed to draw tourists and visitors from all over the world, especially Asia. Representing the city are 17 local concepts and brands, from sandwich purveyor ink.sack by Michael Voltaggio to the fast-fired 800 Degrees pizza. At the moment, construction is still in progress for most of the eateries, though the retail shops are generally organized.
There’s a huge Larder at Tavern that sports sandwiches, salads, charcuterie, picnic baskets, and other grocery items from chef Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne, as well as a mini version of Border Grill from chefs Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken. LAMILL will brew espresso and coffee while Petrossian plans to dole out pricey caviar and Champagne. Tucked into the farther corner is a mini 800 Degrees pizza, and behind that is an Umami Burger. The mezzanine level hosts an expansive Lucky Fish by Sushi Roku while a generic sounding wine bar called Vino Volo serves small places and wines by the glass. Chaya will be doing their blend of Euro-Asian dishes with local ingredients, too.
For something sweet, Santa Monica’s Vanilla Bake Shop will vend cupcakes, and a scaled down version of Short Cake by Eater Young Gun Hourie Sahakian and Nancy Silverton will sell additional baked goods. The largest full-service restaurant is an outlet of III Forks, a Midwestern steakhouse chain that’ll span over 6,000 square feet, featuring sizzling steaks and more.
Over at ink.sack, it turns out that the new egg sandwiches at the original Melrose location were a test for the all-day service expected at Tom Bradley. Owner Michael Voltaggio along with 800 Degrees’ chef/owner Anthony Carron did say that most of the ingredients would be identical to the ones offered at the standard brick-and-mortar locations, while spots like Short Cake and Vanilla Bake Shop would actually be baking their items and then delivering them daily versus making them on site. It gives the representative food options here a lot more authenticity than, say, a licensing agreement.
Milliken said that it was great to finally have an airport dining destination much like the ones in San Francisco and London. Depending on the day, food and beverage options will initiate an hour before the first departure and conclude one hour after the last plane of the evening departs, which could be well beyond midnight since most flights to Asia take off around that time. The terminal should be opening within the next 6 to 8 weeks, about late August if construction continues on schedule.