After our New York Trip and the Inaugural United 787-10 Flight, I spent the entire day working from LAX. Had I lost my mind? Gone crazy? Taken leave of my senses? Nah, with Priority Pass LAX is becoming one of my favorite airports. It allows you the ability to have a fantastic day. My day started at the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse LAX where i spent the morning. Once the Clubhouse closed to prepare for the afternoon, it was time for lunch. Normally, I would have to find a place to eat and buy lunch, but Priority Pass has select restaurants at LAX that you get $28 worth of credit per person. For lunch I chose Rock & Brews in terminal 1.
Location
Not all the terminals in LAX are connected. While they are building a tram system to fix this, it will not be ready until 2023. Until then you have to leave the airport and go back through security if you want to change terminals. This is not bad if you have precheck. The transfer from terminal 2 to terminal 1 (Southwest Airlines’ terminal) and clearing security took around 15 minutes; no problem.
Rock & Brews
Rock and Brews is a chain of american restaurants founded by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons from KISS. As such the restaurant is themed around American rock & roll music and has 21 locations nationwide. Generally, these sort of chains are not my cup of tea. I find most of them uninteresting and their food very bland and uninteresting. Personally, I think trying to become a chain and appealing to the masses takes away a chefs freedom to take risks and be inventive. But for free, heck yeah I am going to eat there.
The food at Rock & Brews is exactly what you would expect from an american restaurant. They serve burgers, sandwiches, salads, hot dogs, wings, and tacos. Uninspired, but for a airport restaurant this is exactly what sells. It is risk free and appeals to most people. I ordered the Gastropub Burger and raspberry lemonade.
The Burger consisted of a beef patty, swiss cheese (which i subbed for cheddar, bacon, caramelized onions, a sunny-side up egg, and garlic aioli. All on a Sesame Brioche Bun.
How Was The Food at Rock & Brews?
It was surprising good for a chain burger. While nothing about it really stood out all that much, the cook of the food was impressive. The burger was slightly pink and the sunny-side up egg was perfectly over easy.
I cannot tell you how many times I have ordered a similar burger (because i do love runny eggs) and the egg was horribly over cooked. When cooking so many things for so many people, it becomes extremely hard to cook a perfect egg. And this one was perfect. There is nothing more appealing to me than a runny egg. It is basically food porn. The perfectly cooked egg really made what likely would have been a pretty average burger to something exceptional. Did I get lucky? Possibly, but it was good.
How Much Did it Cost?
With priority pass I get $28 dollars of credit to the restaurant. The food here is relatively price, but that is kind of what you expect at an airport. The entres average about $16 dollars which doesn’t include drinks. All and all you are looking at about $20 a person for your meal. Mine came to slightly above $20 for my burger, fries, and drink. As all of this was covered by priority pass, it only cost me a $5 tip.
PLEASE NOTE: Tip is not included in the $28 credit, please leave a tip based on the total amount of the bill prior to the priority pass credit. Without these tips the servers will not even minimum wage, and will likely lead to restaurants cancelling their deals with Priority Pass.
Overall
Rock & Brews is your typically American chain restaurant: burgers, hot dogs, and sandwiches. The food itself is good, my burger was perfectly cooked, and with priority pass you can get a really nice free meal!