Lerdawg wrote:Anybody know what time they stop serving breakfast items at the Terminal 3 Location?

They stop serving breakfast at 10 in terminal 1, which I assume would be the same as terminal 3.

Pucca wrote:

Lerdawg wrote:Anybody know what time they stop serving breakfast items at the Terminal 3 Location?

They stop serving breakfast at 10 in terminal 1, which I assume would be the same as terminal 3.

I think it might be a bit amorphous...I ended up eating breakfast and lunch at the Terminal 3 location on Tuesday (through no fault of my own). I was able to order a lunch sandwich for breakfast and was told that some of the breakfast sandwiches were still available for lunch (at noon). It seems to be more based on what ingredients they have available at any given time, which may be occasionally in flux.

For those that don't want to trek out to O'Hare, you have a new option....

LINK

From Chicagoist
If Rick Bayless opens a restaurant but doesn't send out a press release, can it still serve sandwiches? Apparently, the answer is yes—reminding us once again that, if you make tasty tortas, they will come. Tortas Frontera, the sandwich shop that is the highlight of every trip to O'Hare airport, has come downtown.
Normally, we're pretty informed about openings and closings, but we hadn't walked by the Chase Building lately. Yesterday, Rick Bayless tweeted: "Loop-ers: Tortas Frontera (like airport) is now open in Urban Market of Chase Tower! Serving breakfast & lunch" and the internet exploded. Well, the part of the internet that likes tasty sandwiches.

SSDD

Had the conchinita pibil torta for lunch today from the Chase building. Torta was delicious, as was the habenero salsa that comes with it. Still working out a few kinks I suspect, as I was told it generally takes about 10 minutes for all tortas since they are made to order (which is fine). Ended up taking just over 15 minutes from the time I ordered until I received my food. If they are going to thrive in the loop and this foodcourt, think they will need to cut this time down a bit in the future, but hopefully just some first week issues that will be resolved. Very excited to have this in my general vicinity and will be back often.

I flew out of the United terminal at O'Hare for the first time in practically forever one evening a week or so ago, and I SO wanted to eat at Tortas Frontera - but so did everyone else. There was a line of at least 20 people waiting to place an order. I knew I'd have to go to my gate before I'd ever get through that line. Oh well, some other time.

Delicious airport food for less than $10.00 a sandwich:


Torta Milanesa just oozing melting queso blanco and green toasted salsa. Nicely toasted pao was warm and good.


Even comes in a nice big box that can hold some corn chips and fit in bags:

The staff at the bar at O'Hare are terrific too. Thoughtfully bringing a side of the salsa verde with the salad because she thought it was good with it. As knowledgeable about and interested in ingredients and other details as any traditional restaurant server. Great Bloody Mary mix too

A third O'Hare location of Tortas Frontera just opened in Terminal 5, the international terminal. So did a lot of other new restaurants, as noted in this Tribune article.

No one has yet mentioned my favorite dish there, the corn and poblano chowder. It's excellent.

I take the salad with crispy chicken and guac with chips on long flights and happily nibble away ... the flight attendants always stop to say they are jealous. Spring and Fall I fly at least every other week, often every week and it's one of the things that makes this much travel ok ... and the bar staff are indeed excellent!

Been dining at the Term 1 & Term 3 locations for awhile now. For breakfast usually get one of the molletes.

Also have enjoyed Wicker Park Sushi/Seafood as a dinner option a number of times. So nice to have these dining options at ORD.

Recently tried Summer House, had a burger, way overpriced (expected) and the burger was very mediocre. Back to Tortas Frontera

Filipino fast-food company to take 47 percent stake in Rick Bayless' Tortas Frontera
https://trib.in/2QbEHuy

As long as Rick is able to maintain a certain quality level, I applaud this and its potential expansion. I haven't eaten at any Rick restaurant that I felt was inferior, and very much liked his O'hare restaurant in terminal 3.

Now this is a weird pairing:

"Filipino fast-food company to take 47 percent stake in Rick Bayless' Tortas Frontera"

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ ... story.html

For non-bread eaters, I just discovered they will serve any of their tortas over a bed of arugula and black beans. Seemed like they put extra ingredients over that, I had a hard time getting it all down - and that's no easy feat. Plus, the flavors introduced that way rocked! Need to check if XOCO will do the same thing....

The Washington Post touts Tortas Frontera as everyone's favorite airport restaurant:

Everyone’s favorite airport restaurant lives in O’Hare: How Tortas Frontera by Rick Bayless achieved legendary status in a Chicago airport

The article also provides some interesting background info on how airport restaurants operate.

Katie wrote:The Washington Post touts Tortas Frontera as everyone's favorite airport restaurant:

Everyone’s favorite airport restaurant lives in O’Hare: How Tortas Frontera by Rick Bayless achieved legendary status in a Chicago airport

It's interesting timing for this article because the last time I ate at the Terminal 3 Tortas Frontera (this past Jaunary) the quality and variety seemed diminished. Menu has been severely pared down -- no more short rib, no cochinita pibil, no corn & poblano chowder, no molletes, etc. What remains is still better than 97% of airport restaurants but I'm no longer scheduling my flight itineraries and mealtimes to create scenarios that put me in front of Tortas Frontera at the opportune time (as I once did).

PeteF wrote:Menu has been severely pared down -- no more short rib, no cochinita pibil, no corn & poblano chowder, no molletes, etc.

The corn and poblano chowder is still available at all three O'Hare locations.

nsxtasy wrote:

PeteF wrote:Menu has been severely pared down -- no more short rib, no cochinita pibil, no corn & poblano chowder, no molletes, etc.

The corn and poblano chowder is still available at all three O'Hare locations.

Ah, thank you for the clarification. My last experience was in January and I'm almost positive they didn't have that soup but they may have just run out that day.

PeteF wrote:... the last time I ate at the Terminal 3 Tortas Frontera (this past Jaunary) the quality and variety seemed diminished.

What remains is still better than 97% of airport restaurants but I'm no longer scheduling my flight itineraries and mealtimes to create scenarios that put me in front of Tortas Frontera at the opportune time (as I once did).

Agreed, the past couple of times I've had items from Terminal 3 location, the "nailed it" factor was down IMO. I do have an early afternoon flight coming up this Thurs and have plans to take away from T3 location.

I've never had an issue with the food quality (I'm almost always in T1), or missing menu items, but they need to figure out a way to increase throughput: the wait times -- even for something simple like guac and chips -- are huge. It's a little baffling, as they have a LOT of staff behind the counter. The salamanders are probably a choke point (but wouldn't account for 10 minutes to get guacamole). It also doesn't help that it's a very small space with no good "wait" area. People bunch up around the tables, get in the way of the line to order, etc.

Bummer about the molletes. Those were sneaky good and saved my life a few times when a 10-15 wait just wasn't in the cards.

admich wrote:Bummer about the molletes. Those were sneaky good and saved my life a few times when a 10-15 wait just wasn't in the cards.

I like to order online for pick up once I get through TSA. By the time I get to the location, my food is ready in at most five minutes.

PeteF wrote:
It's interesting timing for this article because the last time I ate at the Terminal 3 Tortas Frontera (this past Jaunary) the quality and variety seemed diminished. Menu has been severely pared down -- no more short rib, no cochinita pibil, no corn & poblano chowder, no molletes, etc. What remains is still better than 97% of airport restaurants but I'm no longer scheduling my flight itineraries and mealtimes to create scenarios that put me in front of Tortas Frontera at the opportune time (as I once did).

Based on two recent experiences, I completely agree. The first major change you notice is the bread: gone are the crusty rolls of the past, replaced by these squishy nonentities — most likely this is to allow them to make the sandwiches much smaller (you can polish off each half in two or three good bites), but the sandwiches really suffer. Then, the fillings are much more sparse (my Milanesa was about half the thickness of the one in Tyrgyzistan’s photo with only trace amounts of the promised vegetal matter). Finally, the whole experience is just not what it used to be (a request for the once-ubiquitous salsa received the reply, “We don’t have salsa!”)

The sandwiches are not bad; they’re okay, probably even “good” by airport standards. But I don’t think we still have bragging rights to the “Best Airport Food” or whatever. (Unless every other place is also worse now? Does anyone eat at Publican Tavern? It started out really good, then went down a few notches, now…?)

cilantro wrote:a request for the once-ubiquitous salsa received the reply, “We don’t have salsa!”

I always ask for extra salsa with my customary torta rayas (breakfast sandwich), and they always are happy to give it to me. (My most recent visit was a couple of months ago.) I haven't noticed any decline in the quality or the size of the bread, either. Two or three bites? Bullshit.
The only real change I've noticed is that they have newly-installed kiosks where you can place your order, which is a nice convenience since they don't have the long lines where you give your order to a person. $.02

You really are going to call bullshit based upon your experience from a couple of months ago against cilantro recent experience ?