JetBlue Mint, Flight 416, SFO-JFK (June 2019)

June 2019 Flight

Flight Details:

Departure: SFO, 11:12 am (scheduled) 11:33 am (actual)
Arrival: JFK, 8:17 pm (scheduled)
Duration: 5h 59m
Seat: 2A (single suite)
Class: Mint

This was a fairly standard JetBlue Mint flight - some pleasing moments, some falters, but overall, the standard I have come to expect.

I had a great seat (my favorite, the front single suite, left hand side (so my drink table was on the right, as I'm right-handed), but my FA was one of the least friendly I've ever had, the wifi was extremely flaky (much worse than usual), and service was just ... eh.  Still, I appreciated my suite.

Amenities

There have been no changes to JetBlue Mint amenities in years, so nothing new to say here.  I always appreciate the socks to keep my feet warm!

Food & Drink

A better meal than I expected!

I'll cut to the chase: this meal was far better than I expected.  Not amazing, not the best ever, but I was happy enough.

Menu & Ordering

I had previewed the menu online before my flight, so no surprises here.  I wasn't particularly excited for this lineup.

As always, I was a bit grumpy just how long it took meal service to get going.  This is one area where Mint isn't really like other business class offerings, as one of the FAs goes to do main cabin service, so, the meal doesn't really get going until they arrive.  Our FA also instructed us all to put out our tray tables, a full 40 minutes before service.  Long before she even brought welcome drinks or snacks (usually you get your welcome taste and drink, and way after that, when they collect the empty snacks, they offer up that you could put out your tray table.  She was insistent that we all put them up early).  She also had us open our suite doors at the same time, and said not to close them throughout meal service (again, even though it took forever to get started).  She wasn't the best.

Eastbound Lunch/Dinner Menu.

The menu was as follows:

WELCOME TASTE

• Avocado cream dip with taro chips.

DELISH DISHES
Choose three. Please note: The first two dishes listed below are chilled

• Yuzu Caesar Salad: baby gem, haricots verts, parmesan, bread crumbs, chives.
• Chickpea Broccolini Salad zucchini, oven-dried cherry tomatoes, kalamata olives, lemon-yogurt dressing.
• Poached Seabass: sautéed root vegetables, lemon-chardonnay sauce.
• Chicken Tikka: saffron & cardamom rice, tikka masala sauce, cilantro.
• Beef Cheeks: ratatouille, celeriac mousse, roasted baby carrot, thyme jus.

SWEET BITES
Enjoy both.

• ICE CREAM: Double Rainbow, San Francisco, CA
• FRESH FRUIT: watermelon, lime, basil

WHEN YOU RE-TREAT

• COOKIE, milk bar, NYC and beyond

Like I said, not the most exciting menu.  I love taro chips, but I'm allergic to avocado.  I hate chickpeas and chicken. I don't generally think cooked beef or seafood on flights is any good.  I was sad there was no pasta, which is normally offered on JetBlue Mint flights.  I'm allergic to watermelon too.  At least I knew I really liked the Caesar previously.

Drinks

Wine Menu.

The drink lineup as always featured a sparkling, two red, and two white wines, plus cider, beer, liquor, soft drinks, tea, and coffee.

• SPARKLING: Raventos I Blanc de Nit Rosé, 2016, Penedès, Spain
• WHITE: The Withers Rosé, 2017, El Dorado
• WHITE: Chardonnay of the MoMINT
• RED: Bethel Heights, Estate Pinot Noir, 2016, Willamette Valley, Oregon
• RED: Red of the MoMint

I did laugh a little at the rosé listed as a "white".  And ... was a bit annoyed that the real white had no details, nor did the second red.

Zero Sugar Sierra Mist.

One change since my last flight is that JetBlue switched from Coke to Pepsi products, so, my Sprite Zero is no longer an option.  I think I liked the zero sugar Sierra Mist more though (when diluted with sparkling water), so, not a big deal to me at all.

Lime Bubly.

But even more exciting? They have Bubly!

If you aren't familiar, this comes in a variety of flavors, not sweet, just lightly hinted with flavor.  I'm a big fan, the grapefruit, strawberry, and mango are nice when I want something slightly fruity, the lemon, lime, or orange when I pairing with a meal ... JetBlue currently has only Lime, but plans to rotate others on.

Mine came garnished with a lime slice, for even more lime.  I'm very pleased to see these added.

Chardonnay of the MoMINT.

"We’ve made several of California’s best small-production Chardonnays available for Mint customers to enjoy—wines that taste of sunny fruit and never an excess of oak. Ask your inflight crewmember about today’s choices."

For my welcome drink, I went with the white wine.

I asked my FA about the Chardonnay and she pretty curtly told me she'd never had it.  Nothing more was offered for description.  Um.  This was very different from most JetBlue Mint experiences, where they usually will present you with the bottle, or at least tell you the winemaker!  So I have no idea what this was, even though I did, as the menu instructed, as my crewmember about the choice.

It was ... eh.  Not buttery.  But at least not to dry, and not too sweet.  Just ... kinda there.

Red of the MoMINT.

"To complement the richer dishes on our menu, try a selection of some of California’s most exuberant, fruit-forward red wines—including some of the state’s best dry red Zinfandel. Ask your inflight crewmember about today’s choices."

With my meal, I went for the "Red of the MoMINT".  I was told it was a Zinfandel.

It was fine.  Not tanic, which I appreciated, but also just not very interesting.  Again, a wine that was just "there".  I later spied the bottle, it was "Bedrock" brand.

Reserve Selection Grenache Syrah Mourvedre Red Blend. ($8)

.

"This full bodied red wine has notes of red fruit and spices with good structure and a smooth finish."

I tried to move on to the Pinot Noir, but ... they ran out, less than halfway through the flight!  I didn't want the others, so I asked if I could just get the one from main cabin instead.  This request was easily accommodated.

I'm glad I went this route.  It wasn't the best ever, but I liked it more than anything served in Mint.  Definitely a bigger, bolder wine.

Food

The meal actually beat my expectations.  Dramatically.  It reminded me again why I do endorse the Mint experience, besides just the seat and socks.

Welcome Taste: Taro chips (no dip).

As always, I LOVED the taro chips.  I wished I had something to dip them into though, so I tried (unsuccessfully) to wait until the other food came to dip them into the sauces there.  I just love them too much.

Luckily, my FA was willing to give me an extra batch, which I did save until the meal arrived.

Lunch: Yuzu Caesar Salad / Poached Seabass / Beef Cheeks / Roll.

As always, the three dishes I selected were served at once.

The Caesar was basically the only item I wanted, so I half-heartedly went for the beef and seabass too, since at least the sides with those sounded better than the ones with the chicken and chickpeas, and I would at least try these proteins.

I was shocked at how good the dishes were though, they far exceeded my expectations.

As always, my trio came with cold awful bread on the side, but decent quality olive oil and an adorable s&p shaker.

Yuzu Caesar Salad.

"Baby gem, haricots verts, parmesan, bread crumbs, chives."

JetBlue has alternated several versions of the caesar on the menu over the years, and I've generally enjoyed it (like the more classic one I had in October 2016, and this exact one I've had before like in May 2017. 

This one was ... actually boring.

The baby gems were quite fresh, crispy, good, actually.  I didn't find any haricot verts in mine, but I didn't mind.  The bread crumbs on top made the entire thing fairly dry.  The parmesan shreds were large, but strangely flavorless.

The real issue though was the dressing, or, lack of it.  There was a little, mostly on the bottom pieces of lettuce, but ... I just didn't taste ... anything.  

I added hot sauce (which of course I had in my bag), and that improved things greatly, but it still was my least favorite dish.

Poached Seabass.

"Sautéed root vegetables, lemon-chardonnay sauce."

I moved on to the seabass, which I mostly ordered expecting to perhaps eat the root veggies on the side, and dunk my taro chips in the lemon-chardonnay sauce.

I wasn't quite expecting ... this.  Not the presentation, not the fact that it wasn't horrible.

Right in front was a large chunk of fairly mushy potato.  In back, a random slice of ... tomato?  Where was that on the menu.  And why was there mushy warm-ish tomato?

But, besides those elements, the rest was better than expected.  I did think that there would be chunks of root veggies, like turnips and parsnips, so the julienne veggies weren't quite what I thought would show up, but they were fine, although, um, the veggies I was able to identify were carrots and zucchini ... the last of which is *not* a root veggie.  They were tasty enough in the sauce.

The sauce was a butter sauce, not particularly lemon nor chardonnay flavored, but, it was a butter sauce, and with the veggies it was nice.  It was broken however, which makes sense, since it was reheated.

And then, the fish.  Well, it was actually fine.  The most amazing seafood ever?  Of course not.  But the seabass was NOT fishy.  It was not dry.  It was warm, it was moist, and it was nice in the sauce.  It didn't flake exactly, but it was a surprising texture for reheated fish.

I was more pleased with this dish than expected, my second favorite. 

Beef Cheeks.

"Ratatouille, celeriac mousse, roasted baby carrot, thyme jus."

And lastly, the beef cheeks, again, ordered because I was fascinated by the idea of celeriac mousse, not because I thought this would be good.  And again, I was very surprised by the quality.

Another note on presentation though.  Where was the ratatouille?  I expected that fairly front and center, but it was buried *under* everything else.  I planed to eat around it, since I don't really like it, so that was a bit unfortunate.  It was however very small cubes, and, when mixed with the mousse and jus, didn't bother me too much.

Now, for the celeriac mousse.  This was the star of my meal.  Creamy, not a puree, it had some slight texture to it, and, well, it tasted like celeriac.  I really liked it.  Particularly with a little of the jus to flavor it further (although I didn't taste the promised thyme in that).  

Then, the beef cheek.  I didn't think I'd even bother eating this, but, it was even better than the seabass.  Sure, the very top had a fat layer that wasn't really that well rendered down, and sure, the backside was a bit dried out, but the rest of it was really quite good.  So moist, and it pulled apart amazingly.  Great with the jus,.  Where on earth did this come from?  I was impressed. 

My favorite dish of the trio.

A taro chip, dunked in this mousse and jus, was the highlight of the meal.

Sweet Treat: Double Rainbow, Vanilla & Chocolate Brownie.

For the dessert, as always, the ice cream was the brand from the port of departure, which for SF is sadly just Double Rainbow (seriously, why not one of our amazing places?).  The flavor of the day was chocolate brownie, two scoops of it, served with a scoop of vanilla.

And as always, it was served just like this. No toppings.  It was rock solid, and needed a long time before it got soft enough for me to enjoy.

Which was fine with me, it gave me time to digest a little, and of course, prepare my toppings.  Because, um, of course I brought toppings. More than usual, in fact.

Ice Cream: Upgraded.

Yes, I brought fresh fruit (blueberries), crispy cereal, sprinkles (which I always bring), and, a big pile of maraschino cherries.  Yup, cherry on top, literally.

Let's just say ... my FA did a double take at this one.  I normally just bring sprinkles, and sometimes toffee bits or something like that, so I'll admit, this was a bit dramatic, even for me.

So, the ice cream.

The double chocolate brownie was a mild chocolate ice cream, creamy enough (once it melted), but not particularly notable.  It had some chunks of mushy brownie that I didn't quite care for.

But the ice cream didn't matter that much, this was all about my toppings, and to say I was pleased with this is an understatement.  The only thing I really wanted in addition was some fudge or caramel, but, now I'm just getting crazy.  Oh wait, no, I wanted whipped cream too.  Which is easily acquired in the terminal at several places offering whipped cream topped beverages.  #nextTime

Blueberry & Cream Cookie.

And our parting gift? One of my favorite Milk cookies, the blueberry and cream!  (it competes for first place with the corn cookie, both of which I think are *totally* breakfast appropriate too ... just like muffins ...)