SFO777

I readily admit, and those that know me from the DL food thread understand, that I LOATHE most DL food... in particular lunches, snacks and sub-1,500 mile dinners. Indeed they are an embarrassment and simply the absolute worst food in the domestic skies. BUT... I cannot believe what I just experienced and am now writing about. The title says is all. I just experienced the BEST DOMESTIC PREMIUM MEAL since 9/11. Better than any AA meal including three class transcon F, and it put my recent UA p.s. F meal to shame.

DL appears to have "promoted" Michelle and now features a real chef, Michael Chiarello of Napa's wonderful Bottega (as well as The Food Network and Bravo) on the transcons where he has the title Delta BusinessElite Transcontinental Chef. What a sensational experience today.

JFK-SFO
DL 1765
10:15a-1:56p (sked)
10:10a-1:25p (actual)
International 757-200
January 27, 2012
Lunch

Great JFK-based crew today headed by Senior FA Dawn and her front cabin colleague Alex. Multiple PDBs. Dawn stopped by to introduce herself to each seat pair individually, explaining today's flight, service, location of lavs and hand out menus. She then returned prior to push back to take our main course lunch selection.





PRIMO

Antipasto Misto: Smoked prosciutto, san joaquin cheese and fennel-spiced crostini with roasted butternut squash spread.

Pickled Mushrooms, fresh arugula and parmesan dip with warm bread.

SECONDO
Choice of:

Braised Beed Short Ribs
with polenta and sauteed spinach

Fusilli Michaelangelo
corkscrew pasta, sun-dried tomatoes, sauteed mushrooms, fresh arugula with pine nuts, fed chili flakes and grated parmesan

Chicken Milanese
thinly pounded crispy chicken breast with salsa rosa, brussel sprouts with pancetta, and fresh arugula with an olive oil and lemon dressing.

DOLCE

Selection of Old World Fine Cheeses
prima donna, cambozola and robiola offered with fresh fruit

Gelato
figgy pudding

WINES
Selected from the BusinessElite wine cellar by Delta's Master Sommelier, Andrea Robinson

Mer Soleil Silver Chardonnay 2007/2008
Medium Bodied. The no-holds-barred pineapple-mango fruit in this wine tastes like trip to Hawaii in a glass. Great for just sipping and with salads, smoked salmon and spice fare. SFO777 Note: $58 on WL at Lark Creek Steakhouse last night. http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=907077

Meiomi by Belle Glos Pinot Noir 2008
This wine shows alluring scents of sweet balsamic, dark cherries, hoisin sauce and baking spices that are a sensory treat on their own or with pastas, meat dishes and cheeses. SFO777 Note: http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=724363

Post-depature, our crew spring into action with hot towels, table cloths, drinks and warm mixed nuts in a ramekin.



Service was terrific but a little rushed at the beginning as the PRIMO trays were distributed while most still were enjoying cocktails and nuts.

The PRIMO tray was a culinary orgy of wonderful flavors, all paired well with the pleasant Mer Soleil.









All mains appeared to be assembled and plated by ingredient in the galley as opposed to three hours earlier in the catering kitchen. Although just a tad dry, the chicken was really good, and the brussel sprouts and pancetta with salsa rosa all excellent and of in-restaurant quality. FAs were clearly having trouble figuring out what to do with the massive amount of arugula (an entire plate full of arugula stuffed into a paper cup) that was presented with both the chicken and the pasta main. I realize that arugula is part of the Milanese but the quantity was simply unnecessary.





Cheese plate or Gelato, or both in my case.





The figgy pudding gelato was excellent. Yo, AC, this is how you serve gelato...



Not like this...



And about 90 minutes prior to landing, warm chocolate chip cookies...



What an absolutely complete surprise this was. The BE 752 cabin and seat were most comfortable with quilted blanket, soft full size pillow, amenity kit.



According to FA Dawn, DL loads 22-23 BE meals (the extra 6-7 going to crew depending on the load) which explains why every pax got their first choice main and I did not hear "sorry we are out of that" DL has now leaped to the front of the pack in the JFK-SFO/LAX market. The only negatives are the dumpy JFK terminal and their ridiculous unwillingness to process upgrades prior to the day of departure, and usually at the gate. Today's BE cabin had been 3/16 for a week. I was #1 of 27 on an L fare (connecting from BTV) but no upgrades until the gate. And then upgrades are processed en masse and you get a random seat without the ability to select a specific seat... although I was probably processed first and my profile gave me 3B that I would have likely selected anyway.

Bravo DL on raising the bar and improving domestic food and service. This is now a flight that I might considering actually buying a BE ticket, although at $1,500 or so OW, it is probably still a little too high to fill the cabin consistently with revenue pax.

irfan23

Thanks for that report. Very exciting to know, and puts the JFK-SFO run near the top of my to-do list for the near future.

One question (though, given the time of your flight, you probably didn't indulge): how were the wines in-flight? The description looks good but just wondering how well they held up at 35K.

orlandodlplat

I'm surprised, being based in SFO, that you haven't yet had the pleasure of a DL transcon flight. The menus have been like this on the SFO and LAX flights for several months. Next to the current AZ "Magnifica" offerings, I believe this is the best food in SkyTeam right now. And I don't fly any other domestic carriers, but I bet it's the best domestic premium food offering as well.

will2288

Great pictures. That does look very impressive.

SFO777

I did sample the wine. Hard to tell whether altitude was a factor since I don't recall having either before. The Mer Soleil was especially good with food. I tried a couple of sips of the Pinot but really didn't like it. It could be the altitude or maybe I've been spoiled by other Pinots.

Jimbo7

Darn.. with a review like this, my upgrade chances on these routes just went down the drain..lol

I was lucky to receive a few of these upgrades (lax-jfk) in last few months and it truly was great food and service.

SFO777

For whatever reason, I'd always favored AA on this route. Probably more because I like to get my confirmed upgrades in advance and not wait until the gate and take my chances as a PM. Now as a DM, I figured the odds were pretty good when I booked into the virtually empty BE cabin. DL really needs to move beyond that crazed "wish and prayer" that 12 people will walk up and buy BE seats on the day of departure.

orlandodlplat

The Mer Soleil Silver is a nice wine. They have been interchanging it with Patz and Hall Dutton Ranch, which IMO is even better.

Very impressive service all in all, although I'm surprised they went with such regionalized Italian fare for a domestic meal plan. I hope they're looking at it as a model for international BE. While I enjoy Michelle's restaurants on the ground, the food in the sky bears zero resemblance and is frankly an embarrassment.

philfna

Awesome food for a domestic, but it begs the question if they can do it that on a transcon why not elsewhere?

MS02113

Some restaurants present this dish with the chicken/veal completely hidden beneath a mound of arugula. Perhaps that was the intent here, but the flight attendants didn't know it? Then again, I thought the flight attendants were provided printed pictures to work from while plating meals. Either way, it's funny that they elected to leave the arugula in a paper cup for service.

Overall, though, the meal looks great.

cerealmarketer

Well it's a yield thing. This is Delta's most profitable pair of routes in the domestic network according to someone I spoke with in the company.

They gambled on putting a premium service up there with the intl seats and at the time food a touch ahead of AA/UA. Now that the yields consistently showed up, they decided to upgrade the food further and make it a destination product to help make up for the fact the frequencies are still light.

It really is the best food domestically, and beats any U.S. carrier's international business/first food. The key here is they weren't afraid to use stronger garlic flavors and spices than I've seen on other inflight menus. Perhaps they thought the flyers on this route could handle stronger tastes better than the broader market, since a lot of airline food blandness isn't a cost thing, but a 'dont upset the average person' exercise.

Only issue is I've noticed is out of SFO the catering can be more sloppy -- some of the oil based sauces tend to be heavier on the oil and not mixed.

On the 22 meals loaded. Only trouble I ran into was they actually ran out of cheese plates on one flight. Wrote in to mention 'hey, maybe take a look at balancing the load differently.' Wasn't a complaint, but an FYI, but it netted 7,000 miles.

Sez_Who

Thanks, great report. ^

Seems to me there are a couple reasons DL holds back on advance UG's with this route. First, there are many who are intl BE pax traveling this route. With IROPs, it is easier to get them back into BE when the cabin is not already filled with early UG's.

Also, this is an excellent route for SDC or last-minute pax, some actually paying for BE. If the BE seats are given out at the windows, the DM/PM pax are at a disadvantage watching these seats go out to GM/FO's and others on less expensive tickets. I think of it as another bennie rather than a problem but agree it is always more comfortable when the UG is confirmed prior to the gate.

starflyer

Sounds great, and I would probably be a regular repeat flyer on this service, but until Delta fixes their frequent flyer program to make it competitive all my business goes elsewhere.

SFO777

Maybe the afternoon/evening departures but are there any connecting intl pax for the 10A flight?

There has to be some middle ground here. I'm not suggesting the DL fill the most of entire cabin at the window like they do on most flights, to the point that I fly AA last minute because I can't even buy an F seat. Upgrade until half the cabin is full. That still leave plenty of room for last minute $ pax.

javabytes

On the JFK-SFO/LAX routes, it really is a great product. The reason they offer it on these routes is because they have people willing to pay a premium for it... and enough of them to substantially fill the cabin on a regular basis. I was on a redeye a few days ago that had 15 of 16 seats filled before the gate started processing upgrades. A last minute no-show and they ended up clearing 2.

Look at a sample booking 2-3 months out for JFK-SFO in BE. $3,400 round trip (and that's a non-refundable UP fare). When people pay you that kind of money, you can give them 60" pitch and filet mignon for lunch. (This is also why they don't upgrade until the gate.)