Sky Galley

Since 1925 there has been an airfield near the banks of the Ohio River on the eastern side of Cincinnati. Lunken Field wasn't officially dedicated as an airport until 1930 but it had been the home of flying lessons, one of the first firms to get a contract to deliver airmail and even Charles Lindburgh stopped in a couple of times to refuel on trips between St. Louis and New York. Later, in the 1940s, American Airlines would be born there.

Throughout its history there had been small restaurants attached to the airport, most notably one called Wings Restaurant but in 1999 the space was expanded and re-dubbed the Sky Galley. Located at 262 Wilmer Ave. and on line at http://skygalley.net/index.html, the Sky Galley serves up a varied menu for both lunch and dinner.

Now a bit of full disclosure: a good friend of Mark's oldest son and Josh's older brother used to work there as a chef. In fact that was the restaurant where he first started when he graduated from culinary school. While he had spent a great deal of time during high school and college at our house, the fact that he worked there may have drawn us down on more than one occasion but it has never clouded our taste buds.

The Burger

For our visit this time we chose up the traditional Lunken Cheeseburger which is eight ounces of fresh prime cut ground beef cooked to order. We each decided on provolone cheese and, along with our choice of garden soon found a warm, juicy burger in front of us. Though burgers aren't the specialty at the Sky Galley (we each have our favorites), it is well prepared with fresh ingredients. It is juicy and thick, a full half pound of beef that was fried up perfectly on a well seasoned flattop grill.

While this is a good burger we both wished it had a little more seasoning. The flavor of the beef came through but whoever was putting these patties together was a little light on the salt and pepper. Remember, you use those for a reason because they will enhance the food and bring out the best flavors.

The other slight downside was the fact that, because the burgers was good and juicy, the buns tended to disintegrate. Not that that's a bad thing. It just means that there comes a point where you can't set the burger down or else you will end up having to finish it with a fork.

Burgers come served with fries and these were pretty standard frozen restaurant fare. They were nicely deep fried but nothing to really celebrate.

Overall we enjoy the Sky Galley each time we visit and they do serve up a pretty good burger that is worth checking out. If you are in the area or just want to play a little golf or baseball at Lunken Field, perhaps walk or ride your bike around their paved path or simply want to see some small planes take off and land, we recommend that you head down to the Sky Galley.