If not you'll be sure to tell us!

Is this the chef who's appearance a while back spelt the end to the breakfast wrap on domestics? If so, boo/hiss! That new breakfast sandwich is truly a step backwards.

No matter whose name is on it, it is reheated food on an airplane....

I never been able to understand why DL would pay her to create a memnu for them.
Just serve for good fish & shrimps tacos;)

While dinner in the air is definitely not a true à la minute cooking, most J entrees are not just reheated foods either. Some may be par-cooked, some may be not at all, but the finishing is always done in the galley. It is probably not realistic to expect the same quality food in the air as on the ground (although I have tried some truly superb dishes on some carriers), selecting the ingredients, prepping, and making sure that the food can be prepared and composed by a reasonably trained crew is the responsibility (and the art) of the chef. Currently, it is a "lose-lose" situation: Michelle's reputation is taking a hit, the quality of the food is often sub par, and Delta is probably paying her handsomely. Name does not really matter, of course -- but in flight catering is not an unsolved mystery; has been done for years. And even the average palate can taste an overcooked chicken or dry panko crusted halibut.

Just a couple of TATL flights on UA recently, one in F, one in J, and I was pleasantly surprised with their offerings. Didn't pay attention to the chef's name, but the entrees were expertly prepared: the steak was medium rare, evenly cooked, with a nice, pink center, and the fish was firm, flaky, not overcooked at all. Admittedly, this is the only recent experience I had, so cannot say whether UA catering is consistently as good as I experienced on those flights.

Can go for that any time of the day, breakfast, lunch, or dinner!:)

Michelle Bernstein doesn't make any the meals and I doubt has any ability police the ground catering for quality of ingredients or adherence to the recipes.

Ground catering usually is quick to point out that the quality of the food is only as good as the budget the airlines agrees to pay. DL employees and executives eat thousands of meals each day. They know exactly how mediocre they are. There is nothing stopping DL from fixing the problem other than money.

Totally agree - the Michelle dishes are bad, and in general I find DL's BE catering sub-par. I have written DL to tell them what I think of the food, and the relatively stagnant rotation (same stuff coming back every 3-4 months).

There was a recent WSJ article about altitude and wine. What tastes good on the earth probably doesn't taste as good 35k feet in the air.

Let's get rid of her!
 

The moment I saw the thread title, I knew, I need to read no more. Where and how do I sign up?

This "Michelle Bernstein" food is truly the worst of the worst (seems like some amateur who has no idea of how to cook or combine flavours, using the cheapest of the cheap ingredients, rendering Delta's BE food worse than other airlines' economy food; for some 3 years and still the same old "chicken or pasta" choice for 9h long BE flights without a change, with both being really hard to stomack; she seems to be blisfully unaware that there are other food types than chicken or pasta, and other meats than just chicken, and even unaware of this thing called seasoning than any person even just cooking at home usually applies to their meat, so it doesn't taste like boiled fresh kill).

If there is ANY WAY, any way at all, we can get rid of her, please sign me up.

(And yes, I really didn't read the rest of the thread, as the title says it all and got me excited. I didn't want to read some downers as to how may be DL is married to her and thus it's not easy to dump her, and dump her fast.)

I think this has very little to do with Mrs Berstien. My bet is she is lol-ing all the way to the bank and some MBA's are still sore from the group backpats when they came up with this idea.

Seems the money would be better spent hiring people who are trained chefs and whose entire lives are spent figuring out what tastes good going through the unique processes that foods go through from cradle to plate on a jet airplane.... perhaps this is already the case. My expectations have never been all that high unless I am on Asian planes or the old AF First Class...

Can't argue with that! I also think that having a celebrity name attached to the menu makes very little, if any, difference. So, why spend the money? Serving good food on a plane is not impossible. SQ, TG, EK, EY, CX, LH ... to name but a few, are doing it quite successfully, so why not DL? Of course, tastes and palates very greatly, but there are some fundamentals that hold true on the ground and 30K ft up alike: beef cannot be overdone and gray in color, fish cannot resemble frozen fish sticks, pasta cannot be stale to the point of being crunchy, and vegetable soup cannot be a warmed up mirepoix suspended in water. Otherwise, no big expectations either ... ;)

Well, maybe you SHOULD read the rest of the thread. The Bernstein dish is merely one of the four entrees offered on any given flight. (So she isn't "blisfully (sic) unaware that there are other food types than chicken or pasta.") And by the way, in her defense, if you'd ever actually been to one of her restaurants - Michy's or the former Azul in Miami - you'd know she isn't "some amateur who has no idea of how to cook or combine flavours." She really is an accomplished chef who signed a deal that has turned out to be very detrimental to her reputation.

I think many of the dishes that do belong to her are difficult to execute at altitude, by non-chefs, with poor ingredients chosen by DL. None of these are her fault; she was asked to create one dish per menu and that's what she did. It's DL's fault for failing to translate said dishes for inflight dining... and for producing three other entrees that are, at times, equally subpar. (While they do note on the menu which of the dishes is Bernstein's, it isn't at all clear to the average passenger that the others are not.)

I think Michael Chiarello was a lot smarter in structuring his deal for the transcon flights. He clearly managed to get control over the entire dining experience. Hopefully it's a sign of things to come whenever the Bernstein contract finally comes to a merciful end.

Look at who absolutely loves eating her food.....
http://twitpic.com/8op5lm

His food show is named Bizarre Foods..
Here's a Quote from his webpage on Travel Channel
"Andrew Zimmern is on a quest to find the world's most unique tastes on Bizarre Foods."

This was taken at this weeks South Beach Wine and Food Festival.

Seriously, I agree 100% with orlandodlplat.

That is true. Though, reputation is at stake. Is it worth the $$ to lose so much rep..? There are probably countless people who will, due to this, never put a foot in a Michelle Bernstein restaurant - expecting the same food as on DL (which may not be necessarily a correct assumption, but, that's how the mind works for most: same name on food, same expectation).

And food in flight can be made well and taste good. Just limiting it to SkyTeam, take the cooked-to-order steak in KE (in business and also available in coach as a slightly smaller portion). It is better than in many restaurants. Can be done in air. You just have to try. DL, obviously, is not trying..

Or even looking at economy: full hot meal on a ~1.5h domestic flight on MU, two choices, and Made in France Haagen-Dazs ice cream for dessert served afterwards. The hot food may not be the greatest, but, it's far better than anything DL has ever had in coach, better still than most DL BE selections. And that's just on a 1.5h domestic flight.. practically comparable to DL BE on a 9h flight.