The Real Food Company - Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport

Real Food
Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport
Houston, Texas

The Real Food Company is a cafeteria style restaurant inside the terminal of George Bush Intercontinental Airport.  It serves freshly made foods of many different styles.  As usual, I tend to steer towards the barbecue.  Today is no exception.

Not unexpected, there were several people in line waiting for 'cue and the viewing of the meat and sides behind the glass IS appetizing. Watching the server pile up the meat, sides and sauce would get any meat lovers juices flowing.

 Now I'm not going to say this is the best part of the experience but I will say that I've learned to temper my expectations based on the location, style and environment.

1st of all...I'm in an airport.  Airport food has a history of being quick, cheap and bad. Things are getting better...slowly but there are fewer chains at many airports and more regional offerings.  This is definitely better although it usually comes at a prices.  Airport food is more expensive because it can be. They have a captive audience. But back to the BBQ at Real Foods.

The server is not of the BBQ world.  He/she is just an airport worker and they only detract from any sort of real BBQ experience.  They are slopping food on a tray like an Army Corporal in M*A*S*H.  I opted for the 2 meat plate.  Ribs and sliced brisket.  Then sides of beans and mac & cheese.  These were just slopped on top of one another AND on top of the brisket.  Sauce was liberally applied to both meats prior to the addition of the sides.

The ribs were actually real food barbecue. Not the best I've had but it was definitely barbecue. So wa the brisket.  Not much smoke flavor but that could have been all of the beans/sauce/cheese getting in the way.  Good smoke ring though.  The beans were comparable to canned beans and the mac and cheese was typical for catering. The sauce is no better than grocery store Kraft bottled sauce.

Maybe I'm too lenient but being in an airport, I don't really expect much.  This is better than many chain barbecue places but not nearly as good as most spots you would find in Houston off airport.

So if you find yourself flying through Houston and have a real hankerin' for barbecue, go ahead and dive in, just understand that it's still in an airport.