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American Airlines is celebrating 100 years of flying. As part of the festivities, the airline has released a limited edition dish that can be pre-ordered on some flights. Today, I flew from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) to Tampa International Airport (TPA). While I appreciate American’s nod to nostalgia, some things are better left in the past.
The dish is described as follows: “This limited time pre order menu celebrates our 100 year anniversary with a 1920s classic: beef filet wrapped in flaky pastry with mushroom duxelle, served with roasted vegetables and Béarnaise sauce. Served with a Waldorf salad and pecan tart.” That sounds fancy, but if you got what I was served you won’t be too excited.
I started the meal with mixed nuts and a ginger ale. I love that American gives such generous portions.
The tray came with the Beef Wellington and Béarnaise sauce along with some vegetables, an odd Waldorf Salad, and pecan pie (which I loathe no matter who makes it).
The beef was so tough that the knife could not saw through it. The pastry was crispy and the mushrooms were fine, but this was way overcooked and lacked flavor. I doused a bit in sauce and even that was rather bland. I can’t comment on the taste of the salad or the pecan pie, but neither appealed to me.
Anthony’s Take: United failed with its 100th Anniversary dish (review here) and American’s is just as lousy. Both airlines are trying to serve dishes from a time when food quality was there and airlines invested in the on-board meals. This one was bad and I will not be ordering it again.
(Pre-Order Image Credit: American Airlines.)
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8 comments
Well, I liked mine! 😀
Both American and United’s catering are pretty appalling. The days of altitude testing meals for flavor, ability to reproduce aboard aircraft ovens at 30,000′ are long gone. Now it’s just an educated guess, thrown together with the cheapest ingredients they can source. It would be nice to return to the days when airlines maintained their own catering kitchens, but those days are long gone.
You didn’t review the salad or pie because you never like them and therefore did not even taste them. Yet, you submit this as an actual review of a full meal.
If it’s about tax expensing the trip, please provide an actual substantive review on another aspect to your readers. This honestly wasn’t of value. I think you were just in a negative mood.
That seems kind of harsh. As I noted I don’t think much of the appeal of the salad and don’t like pecan pie either. Neither Anthony nor I are picking on people who feel differently, we just don’t think much of those choices personally.
I wasn’t trying to be unkind. In context, I just thought it’s unfair to call a full meal YUCK in the headline when solely based on self-described dislikes which would apply wherever those items are served. Based on the menu description there’s no way AA could win because he just didn’t like the items anywhere. It’s not about judging – I’m also a self-described picky eater. Reviewing another aspect of the flight would have been more useful. It was the word choice YUCK that got me.
I’m not going to eat something I don’t like. Beets are a food I can’t stand. Home cooks through MICHELIN-starred restaurants have served them to me and regardless of preparation, they taste like dirt to me. Why should I eat something I know that I will not like? Pecan pie is pretty basic and the salad was a bowl of iceberg lettuce, mayo, grapes, and walnuts. Not hard to imagine what that taste like.
Unfortunate but interesting. Another review by a blogger was much kinder but in both cases it doesn’t really look like filet. The salad doesn’t look that great either, seeming to be an iceberg base.
Thanks for taking one for the team.
My daughter and I had this last night on AA1484 DFW-CLE. Although I can agree with the review that the beef was a bit tough, it is very hard to serve anything other than well-done meat when it’s been heated twice.
However, I will STRONGLY disagree with the rest. The accompanying vegetables (parsnips, carrots and asparagus) were yummy, especially with the hollandaise sauce. The waldford salad was the best salad I’ve ever had on AA (I’m lifetime EXP with 6M miles). So was the pecan pie