The Perfect Airport Nosh: Pappadeaux at IAH

Thursday, October 17, 2013
You know you're from Houston when.......

  • You still consider Terminal E at Intercontinental to be "The New Part," even though it's over 10 years old.
  • You still get excited when you have a flight out of Terminal E at Intercontinental, even though it's located on the other side of the earth, because it's just SO magical, and you get to pass the time at Pappadeaux.
  • You still refer to George Bush Intercontinental Airport (say that ten times fast) as "Intercontinental."
Source
(By the time i would have taken a picture myself, I was too fuzzy to think of it.)

A few years ago when I was living in New York, I was getting ready for a flight home for Christmas with my friend Joel from high school, who was also an NYC-transplant. My other friend James had scored us some free drink vouchers for one of the bars at Newark, so Joel and I decided to treat ourselves!

While we were enjoying our drinks at the bar, a fun couple started talking to us and proceeded to buy us a few rounds of tequila shots. Stranger danger.

At some point in the midst of this hazy airport debauchery, Joel or I (probably Joel, let's be honest with ourselves here) remembered that there was something important we had to do...like, oh I don't know, catch a plane?

So off we ran to our gate, where we showed up sweating, out of breath, disoriented from the run (AKA booze), and mere seconds from takeoff.

It probably wasn't that dramatic.

But that was the time Kim and Joel almost ruined Christmas!

Regardless, if I have time before a flight I do still enjoy having a drink to take off the edge. But I always bare in mind that one time and proceed with caution.

I recently took a flight out of Terminal C at Intercontinental, but I had plenty of time to kill so I dared to take the long, treacherous trek over to E to indulge in good ole' Pappadeaux.


I sidled up to the bar and ordered an extra dirty Belvedere martini because Lord knows I love me a martini! And it was GOOOOD. If I'd had a second, I probably would have had a re-enactment of that one time, but one was just enough. Yeah, you can say it, I'm a ninny. But it was perfectly shaken, delightfully salty, and strong as sin.

I wasn't starving, but I had no idea whether or not I'd be eating anytime in the foreseeable future, so I decided to get a snack (because I'm pretty much a monster when I'm hungry).

Enter: Pepper Crusted Ahi Tuna with avocado, mango, and lime vinaigrette. This little salad really was absolute perfection and exactly what I was looking for. Light, flavorful, fresh, and ultra tasty! Hit. the. spot.

If you're flying out of Intercontinental, AND you're flying United, AND you have some time to kill, Pappadeaux is a great spot. We Houstonians love our Pappas chains (Yours truly actually had a brief stint waiting tables at a Pappas Seafood back in the day...), and Pappadeaux is definitely one worth catching!


Also, can we please take a moment to observe the fact that they gave me a regular fork and PLASTIC knife? Is this an airport thing? Does anyone know? Are they afraid of people smuggling a butter knife onto a plane but not a fork? Aren't forks the real silent enemy? I thought it was pretty funny/perplexing at the time, and I remember asking the bartender about it, or maybe I just asked my martini, but neither of them would give me a straight answer.

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