WASHINGTON 鈥� Put “breakfast鈥� in front of any popular grab-and-go food and people go nuts. Breakfast pizza, breakfast burrito, breakfast sandwich 鈥� the list goes on.
Soon, local fast-casual favorite will join the morning-meal craze with its layered Mediterranean breakfast bowls. But if you want a taste, you鈥檒l need a ticket 鈥� a plane ticket, that is.
Cava Grill is one of several new and locally owned restaurants destined for a D.C. airport.
With plans to open Aug. 31 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Cava Grill will join Ben鈥檚 Chili Bowl, &pizza, Lebanese Taverna and Taylor Gourmet. Mike Isabella鈥檚 Kapnos Taverna and Richard Sandoval鈥檚 El Centro D.F. will arrive soon after.
It鈥檚 all part of a multiyear plan to renovate about 85 percent of the food and beverage offerings at both National and Dulles International Airport.
The overhaul is in response to demand from passengers. Steve Baker, vice president of business administration at the聽, says the growing number of travelers who聽pass through the region鈥檚 airports want to see more and healthier food options.
鈥淲e had a tremendous untapped, or unfilled, demand for food and beverage at both airports,鈥� Baker says about the concessions at National and Dulles before the redevelopment.
But that鈥檚 changing.
When several food and retail leases ended, the Airports Authority went back to the drawing board. Each concourse became a blank canvas, and a new plan prioritizing passenger experience was sketched out. The objective, Baker says, is to achieve a better experience by 鈥渆nhancing the sense of place.鈥�
鈥淪o that when people come to the airport, they get a sense of 鈥榊es it鈥檚 the nation鈥檚 capital, yes it鈥檚 the capital of the free world, but it鈥檚 also a community,鈥欌�� Baker says. 鈥淎nd we wanted people to feel that community.鈥�
And what better way to get a taste of the local community聽than through its growing cadre of creative chefs.
From the boulevard to the terminal: What it鈥檚 like to open a restaurant in an airport 聽
Mike Isabella exploded onto Washington鈥檚 restaurant scene after appearing in the sixth season of Bravo鈥檚 hit TV show 鈥淭op Chef鈥� and being crowned runner-up on 鈥淭op Chef All-Stars.鈥�
Since then, the former Zaytinya executive chef has opened a number of successful restaurants, including Graffiato, Kapnos, Kapnos Taverna, G and Pepita. This September, he鈥檒l add another to his growing collection when he brings to National Airport.
Isabella, who travels frequently, says he鈥檚 always on the hunt for quality food in airports, and he knows he鈥檚 not the only one.
鈥淧eople know about food nowadays; people want to eat good food and people want to eat healthy,鈥� Isabella says.
So when he was approached to bring Kapnos Taverna to National Airport, he didn鈥檛 hesitate for a second. 鈥淥ne-hundred percent; I鈥檇 love to bring my Greek food there,鈥� was his response.
However, Isabella quickly realized that constructing a concept in an airport is not the same as building a restaurant on D.C.鈥檚 14迟丑听Street or Arlington鈥檚 Wilson Boulevard.
For starters, the space is much smaller 鈥� thousands of square feet smaller. And by default, so is the kitchen and thus the menu.
At Kapnos Taverna鈥檚 airport outpost, Isabella says he鈥檚 keeping 鈥渢he dishes that made us who we are 鈥� the spreads, the pies, the lamb and the chicken.鈥� But in the process, he鈥檚 nixing a few popular items, such as the shellfish tower and the raw bar.
Expanded hours of operation are often a wake-up call, quite literally, for chefs new to the airport game. At National, Kapnos Taverna will be open for breakfast to accommodate the airport鈥檚 early travelers, as well as lunch and dinner. Isabella says he plans to serve some of Kapnos Taverna鈥檚 brunch items during the morning hours.
Many airport-based food concepts, however, don鈥檛 have the luxury of drawing from their brunch menus to fulfill the breakfast requirement.
Local pizza joint &pizza, which has a second airport location planned for Dulles, created a breakfast pizza when it opened at National in 2014. Even Chipotle deviates from its standard line of items and serves a breakfast burrito at its Dulles counter. And when Cava Grill decided to open its concept in National鈥檚 Terminal B, it had to create a breakfast-friendly menu too.
鈥淲e wanted to have something that wasn鈥檛 just a lunch option,鈥� says Brett Schulman, chief executive officer of Cava Grill. He viewed the hurdle as an opportunity for chef/partner Dimitri Moshovitis to get creative in the kitchen.
The result is a build-your-own breakfast bowl that includes ingredients such as eggs, roasted potatoes, and sausage, in addition to Cava鈥檚 staple toppings of harissa, crumbled feta, greens, Sriracha Greek yogurt and more.
鈥淲e love the idea of taking what we do at lunch and dinner in a health-based format, and then applying it to breakfast 鈥� because it is the most important meal of the day,鈥� Schulman says.
The breakfast program will also feature a Greek yogurt bar and freshly brewed Compass Coffee.
鈥淚 have three kids myself, we all travel and we鈥檙e dying for healthier options,鈥� Schulman says. 鈥淲e thought it鈥檇 be a great way to accommodate the on-the-go traveler with a healthier option.鈥�
Airports provide new experiences for experienced chefs
One level below National鈥檚 bustling ticket counters and hectic security checkpoints, trucks carrying bags of onions, potatoes and flour pull into a dock to unload. Every day, these trucks bring the food and supplies needed by the restaurants operating in the terminals above.
Baker says anything headed post-security 鈥� from food, to plates, to kegs 鈥� is scanned, offloaded and put on pallets to be transported to its final destination. And it all happens before 3 p.m.
鈥淲hich means [the restaurants] need to make sure they have everything they need to get through the evening hours by 3 o鈥檆lock,鈥� Baker says.
Limited storage space and time-controlled inventory are challenges to which Schulman and his team are adjusting.
鈥淲e have to be really careful about what we have on-hand and make sure that we鈥檝e got a good schedule set up to be able to pull the food so we don鈥檛 run out of food,鈥� he says.
There are additional growing pains for restaurant operators not used to running an airport location. Speed of execution is one: Concession lines ebb and flow, based on the arrival and departure of planes, and travelers expect quick service so they can make it to their gates on time.
When &pizza first opened at National, Baker says the restaurant鈥檚 employees were challenged by the fast-pace nature of the airport 鈥� but they quickly adjusted.
鈥淭hey now can produce a pizza in four to six minutes, and that鈥檚 something they hadn鈥檛 done off the airport before,鈥� he says.
The concept is even looking to redesign its pizza box specifically for its airport locations in order to make them easier for passengers to carry on planes.
Building during permitted hours of construction, obtaining security clearances for employees, and designing spaces that are functional and comfortable for travelers with carry-on bags are a few other considerations. It鈥檚 a lot to deal with, but Isabella says it鈥檚 well worth it.
鈥淚t puts your name in people鈥檚 heads,鈥� he says about being at the airport. 鈥淚t鈥檚 also a chance to show off some of our food out there to people who have never had it.鈥�
The future of flying, with a focus on food
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is doing more than giving its concourses and terminals a culinary face-lift 鈥� it鈥檚 redesigning aging spaces to meet the demands of the modern traveler.
Passengers flying out of Terminal A at National Airport are now greeted by a futuristic-looking structure, decked out with white beams, thin TVs, long counters and iPads at every seat. The new concept, called Page, is a hybrid restaurant/lounge from D.C.鈥檚 own Carla Hall of 鈥淭he Chew鈥� and 鈥淭op Chef鈥� fame.
The 110-seat eatery, which opened in July, serves Southern classics such as pimento cheese, cured ham and biscuits, Virginia she crab soup and Chesapeake oysters. Travelers can also check the status of their flights and surf the web at their leisure.
The halls in the same terminal will soon be replaced by a mixed food-and-retail model that allows customers to grab what they want as they walk toward the gates and pay for their selection at the end.
In National鈥檚 other terminals, coffee stands by the gates will be replaced with a four-part concept (a bar, a concession for grab-and-go food items, a news stand and a quick-service counter), plus additional room for seats and charging stations.
Baker says by the end of the multiyear renovation, National and Dulles will be well-equipped to meet the diverse needs of those flying into and out of D.C.鈥檚 airports 鈥� whether that need is a nice business lunch, an inexpensive and healthy meal for families, or a charging station for a depleted device.
And by incorporating sit-down and quick-serve concepts from local chefs and restaurants, it will also give travelers a taste of what life is like in the District.
鈥淭his is the metro region鈥檚 airports, and people come in and they see themselves. They see things that are local, they see people who they know operating businesses, they see people who they know built these businesses,鈥� Baker says.
鈥淚t really is a story about a community creating an experience for ourselves, but also for the people who are coming to visit us.鈥�
