820: Airplane Food, Elite Status Chasing, and What the Airlines Don't Want You to Know with Zach Griff

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
Introducing Meta Glasses.

**Matt Rodbard** (0:02)
You have questions, they've got answers.
Hey Meta, what's the capital of Peru? Lima.

**Aliza Abarbanel** (0:09)
How do you say, where's the restroom in Spanish? Dónde está el baño?

**SPEAKER_1** (0:14)
Hey Meta, is a hot dog a sandwich?

**Aliza Abarbanel** (0:17)
Technically no. Spiritually, yes.

**Zach Griff** (0:20)
Hey Meta, what should I do with my life? That's one of life's biggest questions.
What do you think?

**Matt Rodbard** (0:27)
Ask anything with the new Meta Glasses.

**SPEAKER_1** (0:31)
This episode is brought to you by Netflix. The MLB at Field of Dreams returns. Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies face Byron Buxton and the Minnesota Twins at the iconic Field of Dreams ballpark. The field is calling. Watch the MLB at Field of Dreams game live on Netflix, Thursday, August 13th at 7:30 PM Eastern, 4:30 PM Pacific.

**Zach Griff** (1:03)
Take a look at the catering truck that's outside when they're restocking the airplane. Doe and Co. They are known. I think they're Austrian based. I think they are, in my experience, the absolute best airline caterer. When they're stocking your aircraft, you should definitely decide to eat. Don't skip the meal.

**Matt Rodbard** (1:21)
This is TASTE. I'm your host, Matt Rodbard.
Zach Griff spent nearly seven years as The Points Guy's most recognizable reporter, filing dispatches from first class cabins and airport lounges around the world, before walking away in 2025 to launch his own venture, from The Tray Table. Today he joins me to talk all about airline food, the science of why food tastes different at 30,000 feet, the credit card-fueled arms race over airport lounges, and how one might achieve the coveted Delta 360 status. At the top of the show, it's the return of Three Things, where Aliza and I talk about what is exciting us in the world of restaurants, cookbooks, and the food world as a whole. Aliza, we're back with Three Things. How are you?

**Aliza Abarbanel** (2:15)
I'm doing well, Matt. How are you?

**Matt Rodbard** (2:17)
I'm great. You want to start?

**Aliza Abarbanel** (2:18)
Yeah. I want to tell you about this new to me juice stand that's been popping up outside of the Four Green Farmers Market that I have a fixation with, and now I go out of my way to walk by and get a juice. They're called Olabisi Sips, and it's a really cool cart from this woman, Olabisi Are, who is a beauty expert skincare esthetician, and she definitely has that perspective on the juices. She'll be doing these kinds of herbal juices, and if you tell her, I want to get a juice that would help me with collagen or with brightness in my skin, then she has a recommendation for you. The other thing I like about the cart is that they have little self-serve spigots in the front of each jar, so they'll give you a little small container and you can do your own tasting to try the juices, and then pick what you want, and of course, mix them together, which I think is the best part about getting fresh juice in that kind of way. The specific juice that has been my fixation is half passion fruit, half what they call herbal, which is this basically like lemon, lime, mint, rosemary, Thai basil agave juice. And the combination is a little sweet, it's not too sweet, it's super refreshing, it's been pretty hot lately, and you can buy them in pretty large sizes if you want. So I've been kind of ambitious and maybe I'll split it with Shirley or something, but they're there.
I think definitely every farmer's market Saturday, but also seemingly just on the weekends. I walked by on a Friday last week and got a juice on my way to the subway. So that's Olabisi Sips.

**Matt Rodbard** (3:48)
Definitely you will link to that in the show notes to the Instagram, so you can follow it in New York City. It sounds really cool.

**Aliza Abarbanel** (3:52)
Very fresh. It's very LA to me in terms of the different juice options that you can mix together.

**Matt Rodbard** (3:59)
And getting fresh passion fruit juice is cool.

**Aliza Abarbanel** (4:02)
She has hibiscus, she has strawberry lemonade, she has ginger, there's a very nice array of juices.

**Matt Rodbard** (4:09)
Remember that place we went to in LA? That juice stand out in the San Gabriel Valley?

**Aliza Abarbanel** (4:15)
Yes. Oh, I do remember that juice stand. They had really good just imported fruit.

**Matt Rodbard** (4:20)
Imported fruit, that was like their thing, but then they had juices too. Yeah, I'm thinking a little bit of that energy, maybe different aesthetic, but.