O’Hare International Airport is about to bid out $300 million in food, beverage and retail sales in domestic terminals, Crain’s Chicago Business reported last week, noting the size of both contract and opportunity.

This has been a lousy summer for air travel, although O’Hare has coped better than most, and many of us have spent a lot of unscheduled time at O’Hare. Few have much good to say about the bland food and beverage options there, least of all the cost.

Airports aren’t easy for local restaurant operators, even if their name is on the concession. Workers are faced with hassles. Everything has to go through security. Most of the time, the employees actually work for one of the giant concession companies who license local brands to appease politicians, win contracts and give the appearance of something unique.

That makes quality control difficult, especially given the demands to be open long hours and to deal with sudden rushes of businesses when thunderstorms (or inadequate airline planning) cause the chaos known as “irregular ops.” Even the Italian beef crew at the TV show “The Bear” doesn’t have to deal with all of that.

But there is one place that seems to have transcended all of those problems to actually acquire a fan base: Rick Bayless’ Tortas Frontera, found in Terminals 1, 3 and 5. Lines are often long. Online reviews are mostly stellar. Some people even take the food home. And if your flight is delayed due to the lack of a crew, a sadly common occurrence this summer, it can pay to scour the line for uniforms at Tortas Frontera.

When it comes to higher-end food coming out fast, Tortas Frontera has no rival in the terminals.

Clearly, Bayless figured something out. Let’s hope all of the new potential operators are paying attention. We could use some fresh options, given how early they want to us to arrive.

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