I stopped into the new restaurant, Reflections at the Airport, yesterday and, after being startled by the over exuberant hostess who abruptly opened the door for me as I reached to open it, I was greeted by a very pleasant Jacques Henry, General Manager. Mr. Henry invited me in to sit next to the lovely new fireplace where I had a nice view of the airport runway to my right and small bar to my left. The bar tender, whose name I did not catch, was also very friendly and asked if I were sure that I would not like anything to drink as he went about sprucing up his area in preparations for the evening crowd. I asked Mr. Henry about himself and his family, with whom he runs the restaurant, and it turns out that he and his family have lived in the area since he was in the fourth grade and his father had been running a dance company out of the building for quite some time before the county finally persuaded him to start a much needed restaurant to serve the airport clientele.
When I told Mr. Henry that several people had said at the Wings & Wheels event earlier this year that what the airport needed was a family friendly diner style, maybe even a 50’s style, establishment rather than another “fine dining” type place, he responded emphatically that his is a family friendly place, serving fine food at family friendly, casual prices, and that, “it’s nice to be here at the airport where people can relax and enjoy the view.”
While Reflections’ menu does boast palate tempting delights such as New York Steak, Pasta Prima Vera and Blackened Ahi for under $25 each, I’m not sure an $11 Chef Salad or a $10 Mushroom & Swiss burger qualifies as family friendly casual. Mr. Henry did say that Reflections offers the lowest prices on spirits & wines, charging only a corking fee for wine pours, but that he was not interested in brining any kind of a night life to the establishment to cause problems for local law enforcement, adding, “we will never stay open past midnight.”
With a fairly reasonably priced menu of hand crafted dining creations by “Executive Chef,” Roman Aguillon, semi casual atmosphere and a view of the airstrip, Reflections just might have a shot in these shaky economic times. We will certainly visit them for a meal soon and let our readers know if the food is worth the trip off the beaten path.
