One response I got came not as a comment to the blog but as an e-mail to me. It was from the chef Michelle Bernstein, who helped develop the Delta Business Elite menu. Her name is mentioned in my blog post and her picture accompanies it.
I have asked her for — and received — permission to quote from her e-mail.
In it she said that the dishes I sampled and wrote about weren’t ones that should be credited to her.
“On the menu, which is admittedly a bit confusing, my offerings are listed with the phrase ‘Celebrity Chef Michelle Bernstein’s Original Entrée’ just above (or sometimes below) them,” she said. “You’re certainly entitled to your opinion of the food you ate, but I found it unfair that your negative evaluation was incorrectly attached to my food.”
I went back to my copy of the menu, and Ms. Bernstein is correct: only some dishes, and not the ones I had, are expressly designated as her own “original” entrees.
But it’s easy from the menu to conclude that the other entrees, while perhaps not prepared from original recipes of hers, nonetheless reflect her input or have been subject to her counsel.
It’s easy because on the very first page of the menu, next to her picture, is a full-page letter from her to passengers about her cooking philosophy and priorities. She thanks passengers for “choosing Delta’s Business Elite so that I can express my gratitude in every bite you take.”
Every bite?
That sends the message that Business Elite’s food across the board has been improved by the airline’s affiliation with Ms. Bernstein. I’d bet that’s exactly the message Delta wants to send, exactly the message they paid Ms. Bernstein a consulting fee to be able to send.
In any case, Ms. Bernstein addressed some additional issues in her e-mail.
Referring to my description of the seared turbot I had as rubbery and fishy, she said, “You and I are in total agreement about the fate of most fish dishes on airlines. For this reason, all of the fish dishes I’ve created for Delta are either braised, or served in, their own juices or stock, or a combination of the two. This prevents the fish from drying out during the notorious reheating process.”
“For this reason,” she added, referring to my blog post, “I found the piece to be especially unfortunate.”
“In any event,” she continued, “the printed menu is being redesigned to make more clear which dishes are mine and which are not. Also, while this isn’t my department, you might be interested to know that in the next six weeks or so, a new wine program is being introduced that will avoid the inventory issues you cited.”