For travelers seeking a city dining experience with little time to spare in Boston, Delta has a compelling new reason to upgrade your flight. The Delta One Lounge at Logan International Airport opens December 11 in Terminal E, with a seafood menu and an elegantly casual dining experience.
An intimate restaurant with skyline views and a complimentary, full-service, multi-course menu, the Delta One Lounge is located through Delta’s massive, new-ish Sky Club in the main international terminal at Logan. On the mezzanine level, just off the Sky Club “living room” and to the right of check-in, the new area also has six shower rooms, stocked with towels, bathrobes, slippers and Grown Alchemist products.
Accessing these upgraded experiences is exclusive to passengers with same-day Delta One tickets, the Atlanta-based airline’s highest seating class on international flights and certain long-haul domestic routes. If you’re flying first or business class on certain Delta partner airlines, or are flying first class as a member of Delta 360, an invite-only frequent flier status tier, you can also access any of the Delta One Lounges.
None of those categories described me at Logan Airport this week, but I got a first look—and taste—of Boston’s Delta One Lounge during a media preview.
At 6,700 square feet and just more than 120 seats, Boston’s Delta One Lounge is the smallest of the company’s three that have opened in 2024. The first of its kind, at JFK, is a staggering 39,000 square feet, with dining as well as amenities like “relaxation pods” and a Rejuvenation Bar. LAX’s lounge seats 200 people and features a bakery display fully stocked with complimentary pastries, among other cushy perks.
Boston, meanwhile, is just a restaurant—albeit a gorgeous one, with a big, marble-topped bar ringed with hanging brass shelving and plush stools with backs. Along the left side of the restaurant, windows evoking nautical design overlook Boston Harbor and the downtown skyline (well, if you look past the parking lots and traffic lanes around the airport). Tables of various shapes, sizes and heights offer comfortable seating throughout the space, including a cozy dining area in the back of the room outfitted with an electric fireplace.
“We're not competing with city restaurants, but we want to make sure that the quality of our food and beverage is as good or better,” says Claude Roussel, vice president of Delta Sky Club and Lounge Experience. “We're really focusing on delivering an incredible experience.”
(While I was chatting with Roussel, a server unexpectedly brought me a cappuccino emblazoned with the Time Out logo on the foam.)
Beyond such attention to detail, the elevated experience starts with the design. With dark woods, brass accents, leather and rich hues of blue, the look of the venue is inspired by Boston’s maritime and academic heritages. A custom-built ceiling "sail" over the bar is a nod to the historic USS Constitution, which is moored in Boston Harbor.
“When you come into the space, you need to be wowed,” Roussel says.
But the food is of utmost importance, he adds. Chef Ed Brown, who was at the helm of New York City’s The Sea Grill when Esquire magazine called it "one of the best restaurants in the world," oversees the culinary program at Boston's Delta One Lounge. The menu leans heavily on the local bounty of—and Brown’s experience with—seafood, but there are also choices like steak tartare, crispy cauliflower, steak frites and pasta. The complimentary dining experience is a three-course meal, with choices from six appetizers, six entrees and four desserts. (Some premium spirits and wine will incur a charge, but most beverages and all dining is included.)
For the press preview, the set menu included a "soup and sandwich," pairing a cup of Brown’s loaded New England shellfish chowder with a bite-size version of a warm Maine lobster roll. The creamy, smoky soup is absolutely brimming with clams, mussels, shrimp and lobster. It’s the same recipe that the chef served at the Sea Grill, Julian Alonzo tells me. Alonzo worked with Brown at the Sea Grill decades ago and now opens restaurants for a living as a corporate chef, including the Delta One Lounges. Along with the tender morsels of Maine lobster meat doused in hot butter, these Boston-area menu staples were my two favorite bites of the afternoon. Lots of folks crave these dishes as soon as they touch down in Boston, and they won't be disappointed by the versions at the Delta One Lounge.
The press preview also treated us to octopus carpaccio: a striking plate of thinly sliced, confit octopus enhanced with crunchy shaved fennel and fronds, umami roasted tomatoes and a bright-green herb oil. Lumache pasta sauced in the style of amatriciana, with guanciale (pork jowl), cipollini onions and tomatoes, preceded the entree of seafood a la plancha, which we watched the chefs sear in front of us while we ate our appetizers.
The daily fish a la plancha will change with fresh ingredients; we ate Maine halibut served with cockles, broccolini, buttery bread crumbs and a rich but light sauce bolstered by crème fraîche. Dessert was a duo of cannoli and a modest slice of Boston cream pie, paired with chamomile tea. Each savory course was accompanied by a wine pairing, beginning with a glass of Champagne.
Ninety minutes later, I was so full, I was glad I wasn’t boarding a flight after lunch! The preview included more food—and took more time—than is typical for the Delta One Lounge experience. The staff aims to have travelers in and out without feeling rushed, Roussel says. They aim for three courses served in an hour or less. “We make sure to ask how long you have and we manage that accordingly,” he says.
Delta recently celebrated its 90th year in Boston, and will launch new flights in 2025 direct to Milan and Barcelona. Bringing the company’s premium hospitality to Logan was always part of its plans for the airport's expanded Terminal E, Roussel says. “We have a big presence in Boston and we love it here. I mean, the view of the city lights is magical."
Beginning Wednesday, Dec. 11, the Delta One Lounge at Logan International Airport is open 2–9pm daily.
