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San Fernando
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Peanuts? Nah, I Want The Tri-Tip

When Evan Green has a taste for tri-tip sandwich, he doesn’t drive to a nearby barbecue joint but instead hops in his single-engine plane at Whiteman Airport in Pacoima for a short flight to Camarillo. There, he pops into the Waypoint Café, a small restaurant adjacent to the runway at Camarillo Airport. It’s known mostly by pilots for its tri-tip made from top-of-the-line Angus beef and grilled over mesquite chips. Now Green wants to let the general public in on this culinary secret and other eateries that he frequents, such as the DC-3 Gifts & Grill on Catalina Island. Green is the lead investor in “Air Fare America,” a television series about community airports and their restaurants now under development for cable. “Camarillo (Airport) has the Waypoint Café, which is amazing,” said Green, 54, a certified flight instructor and president of Paskal Lighting, a Pacoima supplier of film lighting and grip equipment. The show is being developed by Andrea Vernot, a marketing professional and aviation enthusiast from Maryland who has visited multiple airport eateries. Green connected with Vernot, 51, after reading a story about her idea in Flying magazine. Vernot and Interface Media Group, a Washington, D.C. production company, put together a sizzle reel highlighting the concept but were still looking for production investors. “It seemed like a good idea in that it was going to promote general aviation and flying,” Green said. Neither Vernot and Green would disclose Green’s investment or his ownership stake but it was substantial enough. “Once Evan signed up, other investors followed,” Vernot said. Vernot is in the process of finding three hosts – a pilot, a food expert and an aviation enthusiast – and drumming up more financial support. She has put about $65,000 of her own money into developing the show and would like to get onto a cable network next year. There will be no lack of airports to profile. The San Fernando and Antelope valleys alone have the 94th Aero Squadron restaurant at Van Nuys Airport; Foxy’s Landing at Fox Field in Lancaster; and Voyager at the Mojave Air and Space Port. If the Waypoint is featured it would be additional exposure for a restaurant that already has a national reputation, said Sondra Phelps, the manager. “People fly in from all over the United States,” she said. – Mark R. Madler

Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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