DeRusha Eats: Shoyu At MSP Airport
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (WCCO) -- No one's ever thought of eating at the airport as being anything other than fast and expensive.
That is changing at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, especially in Concourse G, where Delta Air Lines hired OTG to completely re-do all of the restaurants.
Executive Chef Sara Johannes runs the show inside Shoyu. It's not your standard airport restaurant.
"I think a lot of chefs don't want to work at the airport," she said. "That's what I thought at first, and then you take a look at what OTG is presenting at the airport. These guys are really game-changers."
Chef Dan Zeroth makes a lot of his own noodles, slamming them until they break so he can hand-rip them.
"We're complete redefining what you can find in an airport. I think it's very cool. You'd never know you could get this kind of meal at an airport," Johannes said.
Sara was a contestant on Bravo's Top Chef reality competition this year.
When the pros are at work, the results are really astonishing. The pork belly ramen is top notch, the dumpling dishes are all fantastic.
The cocktails are hand-crafted too, including a martini made with Sake, lilet blanc and Japanese cucumbers.
"We're meeting our purveyors at baggage claim. I have a relationship with farms, it's everything you'd see at a brick and mortar," Johannes said.
The wok is like cooking on top of a jet engine, about 1,000 degrees.
"It's a really fun way to cook. You have to move fast," Johannes said.
You'll see Dan or Sara at Shoyu, and you'll almost forget you're at the airport.
"I just got back from Tokyo, finding things from there to bring here. We're serious about what we do here, it just happens to be in an airport," Johannes said.
