Quator Crisps

As you know, I love snacks.  I'm an avid snacker, and always love trying new munchies.  Which lead me to Quator Crisps.

"A new world of snacking."

Quator Crisps are a brand of chips made with non-traditional bases, such as yuca and dosa.  The tag line promises to revolutionize my snacking world.  I was definitely interested!  If it matters to you, their products are also all gluten-free and vegan.

 

The company is local to the San Francisco bay area, based in Novato, CA, and you can find them in higher end stores around town.  I found them at Napa Farms Market in the SFO airport a while back, and have been seeking them out again (without success) since.  Simply put, I adored them.

Yuca Chips

"Thinly sliced pieces of Yūca root, fried in organic canola oil. Product is clean, crisp, tasty and true to its South American origin. All natural, gluten-free, vegan."

Yuca chips are available in a variety of savory favors: "Tuscan Truffle", Sharp Cheddar, "de provence shallot", and "Everything", along with sweet and savory crossovers "Maple Bourbon" and "Sweet Korean BBQ".  I was interested in them all, but the airport store only had 3 kinds.  I, um, got them all.

Maple Bourbon.

"Flavored with maple syrup aged in bourbon barrels, these sophisticated chips will satisfying the most adventurous taste buds."

The first flavor I went for was the sweetest sounding of the bunch: maple bourbon.  I think you can see here how I felt about them.  Yes, about 4 minutes before this photo was taken, the bag was full.  No, it is not designed to be a single serving.  Oops.  These were delicious.  I had no restraint, and I regret nothing (well, besides only having one bag).

Where to even start about why these were amazing.  First, the base.  I love yuca, and the slightly starchier nature of it is considerably more compelling to me than potatoes.  I also really liked how they were thicker than standard potato chips, and the thickness varied, some only 2-3 times thicker than a basic Lays chip, others easily double that.  The pieces were different shapes and sizes, which resulted in different textures, and made eating them actually an interesting journey. They were definitely fried, and greasy, but not in a gross way.

And then, the flavor.  Wow.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, I think from the name, "maple bourbon", I just thought they'd be a bit sweet, but, "sophisticated" as they describe really is correct.  I understood why the flavor was so complex once I looked at the ingredients: seasoned with maple syrup, cane juice, and light brown sugar for the sweetness, and paprika, cherrywood smoked sea salt, onion, garlic, chipotle pepper, cumin, turmeric, black pepper, and lemon zest for savory sophistication. There was a TON going on, but it worked, in harmony.  They were lightly sweet, very savory, and tasted kinda like just a really, really grown up barbecue chip.  With a better base, and more complex flavor.  Sophisticated, indeed.

I found these incredibly hard to put down and stop devouring.  I wanted to save some for another serving, and it really was a fairly large bag, but, the combination of sweet and salty and savory and great textures ... I was incapable of stopping.  I adored these, and would get again in a heartbeat.

Perfect *****.

Sweet Korean BBQ.

"Flavored with sweet and savory Korean barbeque marinade spices, these chips will satisfying the most adventurous taste buds."  

The next flavor I grabbed was the sweet Korean bbq, which I thought might be a bit like the maple bourbon, given that those had tasted kinda barbeque-esque to me.  These chips had a pretty different blend of spices though: paprika, chili pepper, smoked sea salt, garlic powder, onion powder, dehydrated vegetables, and ... Stevia.

The form factor was again great.  Some thicker than others, all had such a great crunch and starchy nature to them.  Top notch yuca chip base, no question.

The flavor didn't remind me of Korean bbq really, but they were fairly flavorful in a complex way, and slightly sweet.  No odd flavor from the Stevia.  More mild overall than I was expecting though. The maple bourbon were considerably better, but if I hadn't had those before, I'd think these were great, unique chips.  ****.

de provence shallot

"Flavored with herbs from the French countryside and sweet shallots, these chips will satisfying the most adventurous taste buds."  

After the ridiculous success of the maple bourbon flavor, and enjoyment of the Sweet Korean bbq, I was actually scared to try my last flavor.  I didn't think they'd possibly be even in the same ballpark as good.  Plus, this flavor was a bit of a random grab on my part, as I'm not normally that excited about very savory flavors.

The name of these chips is a bit funny, as it leaves out the "herbs" part, just, "de provence shallot".  Also amusing is that the ingredients are just the yucca, oil, salt, and herbes de provence, no additional shallot.

Anyway.  These chips had the same wonderful form factor as the others, both thin and thick starchy yuca chips that I adored.  I just truly love the eating experience of them.  The seasoning on these was considerably more mild, just some light herbs and salt.  They were good, and tasted fairly sophisticated, like I should be pairing them with caviar or something, rather than my salad and cole slaw lunch.  

The least interesting of all the flavors for me, but definitely unique, and I just love the yuca base so much.  ****.

Read More...

My Happy Donut, North Beach

Another week, another donut.  Such is the life when your work group has a weekly donut rotation.  One of my favorite perks of this rotation, besides the donuts themselves of course, is getting to try donuts from a variety of donut shops.  The person "on duty" each week brings donuts from the venue of their choosing, which sometimes means places outside my normal stomping ground, or, in the case of My Happy Donut, places I've walked by a zillion times, but never stopped in.

My Happy Donut is a donut shop/cafe located in North Beach, right on Columbus Ave.  I've glanced in as I've walked by, noted the abundant donut displays and some sidewalk seating, but never crossed the threshold.  My Happy Donut (which is not part of the Happy Donut chain) is open 24 hours Thurs-Sun, and 6am-2am the rest of the week.  In addition to donuts, they sell coffee, breakfast sandwiches, omelets, pancakes, and lunchtime deli sandwiches.

The donut lineup is pretty classic, no gourmet style fancy donuts, no elaborate toppings.  Prices are fairly reasonable: glazed, cake, and old fashioned are $2.25, French crullers and buttermilk bars are $2.75, jelly or custard filled, twists or unfilled bars are $3, custard filled bars are $3.50, and fritters or cinnamon rolls are the priciest at $3.75.

As always, I tried an assortment.  I found them very good, better than your average donut shop for the classics.  I'd gladly have more.

Regular Assorted Donuts: $22.50 / dozen.

I tried several of the raised donuts, and enjoyed them all.  All had a very lofty base, nice flavor to the dough, and didn't taste too greasy or taste of stale oil.  They had a very fresh taste to them.  So, base donut: nothing life changing, but clearly fresh and nice quality.  Above average for a standard donut shop. ***+.

Vanilla frosted: 

Frosted only on top, with a pleasant sweet vanilla (or just white?) icing.  A thicker style than a standard glaze.  I liked it.  ***+.

Pink frosted: 

Similar to the white frosted one, but, with pink icing and sprinkles.  I think it was lightly fruity, but mostly just an enjoyable level of sweet.  My favorite of the three I tried, because I'm a kid at heart and liked the pink color and sprinkles. ****.

Chocolate frosted: 

Never my first pick of icing, but I tried just for completeness.  It was a fine milk chocolate icing, but as expected, my least favorite. ***.

Donut Holes: $5.50 / dozen.

We also had an assortment of donut holes: glazed, jelly glazed, crumb, and chocolate cake glazed.

Chocolate cake glazed:
I didn't actually like this one very much, but it made me realize, I very rarely eat chocolate donuts, and generally prefer raised over cake. So, this somewhat makes sense that it wasn't for me. It had a fairly deep chocolate flavor, and nice glaze coating, but was rather dry, and, I guess I just don't see the point in a chocolate cake donut, when I could have a nice moist chocolate cake instead. **.

Glazed jelly:
This was good! Much like the raised donut it was nicely yeasted and lofty, and well glazed in standard sweet donut glaze (not icing like the bigger ones). It had a generous dot of sweet jelly in the center, perfectly centered. The jelly was sweet, gooey, and didn't taste far too artificial. I really enjoyed this, and wish more places made jelly donut holes. ****.

Read More...

Taksim

There do exist neighborhood gems.  Restaurants not helmed by a well known chef, not part of any restaurant group, no flashy signature dishes.  When I was recently looking for a place to have a casual meal with a few visitors, I thought I found just the place: Taksim.

"Inspired by a modern approach to authentic Mediterranean cuisine."

Taksim is a Mediterranean restaurant, which is never my goto, but, reviews really are shockingly good - across Yelp, Google reviews, OpenTable, etc.  It just opened in 2022, but, response has been really positive.  It sounded like a gem just waiting to be discovered (by me, as many others seem to have already found it).   I was able to easily make a reservation just a day in advance for our group of 3, for an early dinner (5:30pm), as my visitors had just landed from Australia that morning, and wanted an early and fast meal.  We were the first, and only, table seated when we arrived, and had the place to ourselves for at least half an hour.

Sadly, overall, there was nothing very good about this dining experience.  Service was slow.   Plating was nice, but it mostly seemed like the restaurant was trying too hard to be fancy, and didn't deliver food that tasted up to the looks.  Several dishes were not served very warm.  One seemed raw when it shouldn't be.  We were all underwhelmed, and thought it was far overpriced.  I wouldn't return.

Dining Room.

The interior really has a nice feel to it, with chef's counter seating along the open kitchen, wooden tables and chairs for the main dining area, classy drop lighting.  Ambiance wise, really a reasonable place.

Amuse Bouche: Black Carrot Soup.

Once we sat, our server came over with an amuse bouche.  It was brought before we ordered food, or had a chance to mention food allergies.  Generally restaurants wait until you've ordered to serve a welcome bite?

Anyway, it was warm, but not hot.  It was quite  flavorful - in addition to the black carrot, it had beets in it too, and cream.  Tart and sweet and creamy.  Fairly interesting.  One of the better bites/sips.  ***.

Salad: Beets. $16.

"Slow roasted red & gold beets, apple & celery labneh, orange, sultanas, walnuts, pea tendrils."

Strangely, the first dish to hit our table was the salad, even though we ordered two meze.

I wouldn't have ordered this dish and would have preferred the other salad option, as I don't care for cooked beets, but I did want some vegetables, and the other diner who wanted a salad selected this one before I could speak up.

It was pretty, but definitely not my thing.  The roast beets were, well, beets.  The labneh underneath it all was creamy and decent.  Citrus and plump sultanas did go nicely with it, and I liked the crunch from the bits of nut, but yeah, this was cooked beets, and the pea tendrils were dressed with vinaigrette (never my thing), so those were a miss for me too.

Probably fine if you like these things, but $16 seemed a touch pricey for what it was.  ** for me, but I guess prob *** for others.  That said, no one felt like finishing it, even though we sat there with it on the table for quite a while before our next dishes came.

Meze: Wood Fired Flower Bread. $7.

"Black onion seeds, sumac butter."

To start, I was torn between the trio of dips with pita or this flower bread, but, I saw so many reviews saying this was the must get.  I'm not usually one to fill up on bread, but, it got such good reviews I was drawn in.

It did look pretty, but the bread was just, well, bread.  It was warm.  It had a flavor to it that I couldn't pinpoint, but at least it wasn't sourdough.  I didn't care for the aftertaste though.  The sumac butter was nicely molded, but hard to cut into, served a far too chilled.

More boring than it looked. **+.

Meze: Panisse. $14.

"Chickpea fries, toum sauce."

Our third starter didn't come until 15 minutes after the previous two.  I had started to wonder if it was forgotten. The presentation on this was nice.

The fries themselves were ok.  Nicely crisp, although very greasy, they took in a ton of oil.  Slightly soft inside.  I prefer larger size chickpea fries so there is more creamy inside, and these were pretty saturated with oil all the way though.  But really were nicely crisp.  The toum was good, great garlic flavor.

The fried chickpeas all around were extremely greasy too, and tasted strongly like chickpeas ... which I don't care for, so those were a miss for me.

** for me, the toum is really the only part I liked.

After the two meze and salad were served, and we had finished all we wanted of the lackluster dishes, we sat and waited.  And waited.  The restaurant was extremely not busy, and yet ... our meal wasn't making forward progress at all.  After sitting there not touching anything for at least 20 minutes, our server came over to ask if we'd like our entrees fired.  I think we were all surprised - we thought the long delay was that the entrees were somehow taking a long time, not that they hadn't even been started.  Oooph.  We said yes.  I guess they were confused why we weren't finishing what we had first?

Meze: Crunchy Shrimps. $19.

"Wrapped with kadaif, urfa sweet chili."

Eventually our main dishes came.  People rave about this dish.  It is technically a starter, but I got it for my main.

The crispy kadaif was good, nicely crisp, buttery.  There was tons of it.  But the shrimp?  Um ... they were essentially raw, and this is not a dish that seemed like it was supposed to have raw shrimp.  You can see on the ends how translucent they are.  I wish I had said something, as this just didn't seem right.  The dish was also barely barely lukewarm, really, it was room temp.  I was later told the shrimp are butter poached for 10 minutes, and then baked for 8 once wrapped in kadaif, but ... they really did seem raw.  Extremely unpleasant to eat.

The sauce was very sweet, I didn't detect any chili to it.

Overall this was just bad due to the raw shrimp and not being warm, but it seems like it could be a decent dish, and I think something really was wrong with it.  *.  I did bring half home with me, and cook it more fully, and enjoy it more that way.

Entrée: Branzino. $34.

"Anchovy rice pilaf, grilled sea beans, glazed turnips."

If I had wanted a traditional main dish, I certainly would have gone for the branzino.  It gets very strong reviews.  One of my dining companions did order it, so I got to see it in person.

I didn't get to try this, but the diner said the fish was cooked well, but it was a bit boring.  Same with the rice.  He liked the sea beans for saltiness.

Entrée: Blackened Cauliflower. $28.

"Tahini, garlic chips, mustard & chive, mushroom demi."

Vegetarians have two main dish options, a standard token risotto, or this, the blackened cauliflower steak.  Our vegetarian diner opted for it, and I tried it once he'd pushed it aside halfway through.

The demi was poured over this table side, which seemed unnecessary.  I think it is the only dish on the menu with a table side presentation?

Anyway, the cauliflower was blackened, but somehow did not have much flavor.  It was considerably softer and mushier than I expected.  The tahini was fine, standard tahini, nice thickness.  The rest of the garnish just made it feel busy.

Somehow this was just not flavorful, and too mushy for me.  The person who ordered it didn't seem particularly happy with it either.  **.

Dessert: Baklava Story. $14.

"Baklava crumble, homemade vanilla ice cream, honey pearls, pistachio purée."

After such a long and lackluster meal, the others were ready to give up and leave, but I of course wanted dessert.  They both said they didn't want any, but I still hedged my bets and ordered two (out of three options, ruling out the other one due to caffeine involved).

The baklava itself was fine.  Crispy top.  Lightly glazed.  Really not very sweet, which is rare for baklava.  Entirely pistachio based, so strong pistachio flavor.  Not really my thing, but it did seem fresh.  **+.

The vanilla ice cream was a real let down, grainy, and just not very good at all. *.

The honey pearls were the most interesting component, they added a touch of actually needed sweetness, and a fun pop.  The pistachio puree was fine but there was little of it.  ***.

Overall, somehow not sweet, and just not very exciting.  **+.

Dessert: Roki Palace Pudding. $13.

"Rose water syrup, glace apples, pistachio, pomegranate, almond powder."

As you know, I adore pudding, so I couldn't pass this up.

This was decent.  The pudding was creamy, although it was a slightly lumpy consistency.  I thought it was going to be rice pudding, which, it wasn't.  I didn't actually taste rose water, which was fine with me.  The taste to the base was fairly plain, it tasted like ... milk I guess.

I really did like the toppings - the pistachio gave a nice crunch, the glace apples really seemed like bits of dried apricot and had a pleasant chew to them, the almond powder added more flavor.  It all combined together quite well, and I enjoyed it, but it certainly wasn't a must have dish.  The best thing I ate all night though.  ***.

Read More...

Air France Lounge, Boston Logan Airport

Update Review, December 2023 Visit

Another flight out of Boston Logan, another quite trip through the Air France lounge.  Not much different from my previous visits, and since I also got a chance to check out the new Chase Sapphire lounge with actual made to order food, I didn't nibble much this time.  I still enjoyed what I had.  This lounge is very consistent in their offerings though, which I appreciate.

Charcuterie & Cheese.

I generally do try the cheeses, but alas, I wasn't hungry enough to try any this time.

Salad, Veggies, Hummus.

I did grab carrots and celery sticks for something refreshing, and tried the not pictured pre-made salad that had very tasty candied walnuts and interesting mixed greens as a base.

Sandwiches.

One of these days, I'll try the sandwiches, the croissant ones in particular do really look decent.

Breads.

A new bread was on offer, a nice looking one with nuts and dried fruit.  It was fairly average bread though, it didn't taste particularly fresh, and had a bit of a sourdough taste to it.  I did like the bits of walnut, and think it would go well with brie in particular from the cheese section.  **+.

Quiche.

The only item not labelled in the buffet was the quiche.  I'm not sure what kind it was.  If I hadn't feasted in the other lounge first, I actually was tempted to try this.

Beef Bourguignon.

Both the Air France and Chase Sapphire lounges had beef bourguignon, a bit random that they were both featuring it, but it seemed more appropriate for this lounge.

Potato Gratin.

The other hot dish was the same from my last visit, that I did find decent then.  So even though I wasn't hungry, I still tried it.

I didn't wait around for a refill, although one came soon after I took my slice.  It was fine, slightly softer potatoes than I'd like, and not as much onion as last time, and not much seasoning, but, nicely creamy, and I enjoyed it well enough.  ***.

Macarons / Madelines.

The dessert lineup did have something different this time, instead of palmiers, they had even more French classics: assorted macarons and madelines.

I didn't try the madelines, but I did take a chocolate and a pistachio macaron.  

The macarons were fine.  Reasonably crisp shell.  The pistachio one did actually taste like pistachio, not just "green".  The chocolate one had decent enough chocolate ganache inside.  Definitely not patisserie fresh, but fine.  ***.

Blondies / Brownies.

The other dessert offerings were the standard blondies and brownies from previous visits.  I really do like these blondies, always nicely loaded with chocolate chips and nuts, with a sweet, moist, buttery base.  Better than average, always enjoyable.  ****.

Update Review, December 2022 Visit

Another JetBlue flight out of Terminal C, another chance to visit the Air France lounge in the adjacent Terminal E gate area.  For the JetBlue gate I most frequently depart from, this is the closest Priority Pass lounge (closer than the Terminal C one), and generally higher quality anyway.  There is nothing mind blowing about the lounge, but it has reasonable food offerings and is a welcome respite from the terminal.

I didn't take photos, but at the staffed bar area there was basic rice cracker mix that was a bit stale but still nice to nibble on, and plain salted peanuts.  No Chex mix this visit.  There was also the standard yogurt, fruit, and granola station near the desserts.  I had some grapes from there and appreciated the juicy fruit and healthy option.

Salad / Cheese / Deli Meats.

The salad, cheese, and charcuterie station was largely unchanged from previous visits.  

Salad offerings were a mixed greens salad, celery/carrots/tomatoes, a couple dressings and hummus, and  tuna salad.  All pretty average quality, although I appreciated the fresh veggies and non-limp salad.

The charcuterie station was just pepperoni and salami, the more premium offerings seem to have been removed.  The brie was kinda melted in a "this has been sitting at warm temperature too long" kind of way.  I liked the dried figs as always.

***.

Sandwiches.

The sandwich lineup was turkey swiss on baguette, caprese on ciabatta, tuna on croissant.  I didn't try any but they looked reasonably fresh.

Potato Gratin.

There were two hot dishes: chicken teriyaki with rice, and potato gratin.  I was impressed by the look of the potato gratin, creamy and gooey, with a nicely browned cheese crust on top.  I don't normally try the hot foods in the lounge, but, this looked too good to pass up.

It was only lukewarm, but it was decent.  The potatoes weren't too mushy, it was as creamy as it looked.  Good cheese level, but not much other flavor/herbs/spicing.  Not as amazing as the potato gratin I had from Fleming's Prime in Houston or Ocean Prime in Orlando, but those were exemplary and from high end steakhouses, and this was, well, an airline lounge buffet.  ***.

Brownies.

The brownie of the day was a chocolate chip brownie.  I was hoping for the blondies again, as I had quite liked them.  These were just ok, they looked richer than they were, and they were pretty dry.  I did like the extra chocolate chips in them though, and they were a nice texture, slight chew.  **+.

Palmiers.

The cookie of the day was the palmiers that I had enjoyed my last visit, although they clearly had chocolate chip cookies very recently, as I saw a number of people with them at their tables.  I again did like the palmiers, sweet, buttery, and crispy.  ***+.

Update Review, July 2022 Visit

Not much new to say here.  Another JetBlue flight out of Boston, another quick spin through the Air France lounge, which is in the international terminal but adjacent to JetBlue's gates, and to which I had access with my Priority Pass Membership.  I appreciate it for the sparkling water, snack mix, and actually decent desserts this time.

Pellegrino / Snack Mix.

Drinks are served at a small bar area by the staff.  I appreciate that they have decent sparkling water, Pellegrino, and not just tiny cans.  They also had a rice cracker mix and peanuts on this visit.

The assorted rice crackers were a bit stale tasting.

Cheese / Charcuterie / Salad.

The salad, cheese, and charcuterie station was largely unchanged from previous visits.  

Salad offerings were a mixed greens salad, celery/carrots/tomatoes, a couple dressings and hummus, and a quinoa salad.  All pretty average quality.

The charcuterie platter had only salami when I visited, and I didn't stay long enough for a refill, I was hoping to see the prosciutto return.  I did, as before, love having the cornichons and little pickled onions.

The cheese platter again had dried figs I liked, and decent enough brie.

Sandwiches / Bread & Butter.

I did not try the sandwiches, two kinds available: turkey & swiss, and a vegetarian caprese, nor the sliced baguette and butter.

Roast Veggies.

The hot food side was mixed roast veggies - I saw potatoes, squash, and green beans, a bit of a random selection.  I didn't try it.

Pasta & Sauce & Meatballs.

The main dish was labelled "Egg Sandwich", but it certainly was not that.  There was tricolor corkscrew pasta, marinara sauce, and I presume meatballs.  Not so French!

As I was looking forward to my. meal on my Jet Blue flight (which, by the way, was glorious), I didn't try this, but I was curious about the meatballs.

Fruit Salad. 

On the other side of the area was fruit, yogurt, and dessert.

The fruit salad was mostly melons (allergic) and pineapple (meh), but I did pluck a few grapes, both red and green, out, as I wanted something juicy and refreshing (my allergy to these kinds of melons is only mild, not like watermelon, where I definitely could not take anything that had been near it!).

The green grapes were fairly standard, but the red ones actually had unexpected seeds, and had fairly bitter skins.  I wished I hadn't taken them.  **+.

Yogurt Station.

The yogurt station I decided to finally try, as I was kinda craving some nice creamy, rich yogurt.  I knew it was US based catering, but I still hoped for something more European, as they just do yogurt so much better than us.  This was definitely not my style of yogurt, tart, lumpy.  Meh.  It had blueberries on it though, which were better than the fruit salad fruit.  **.

Yogurt Toppings.

Toppings for the yogurt, besides the fruit salad that you could add, were granola and honey.  And just like every other visit, the sign said chocolate chips, but, there were none.  Perhaps it is time to finally update that sign?  I haven't seen chocolate chips in years.

Palmiers.

The regular chocolate chip cookie platter had palmiers this time, a nice change, and, actually, a cookie style I prefer more.

These were pretty good.  Super flaky pastry, nice butter and sugar level. Above average for a lounge cookie, no question.

***+.

"Brownie"

The brownie station also changed, now stocked with blondies, although, lol, they still said "brownies".  If you are keeping track, we had mislabelled blondie-brownies, Egg Muffin pasta and meatballs, and no chocolate chips. 

The blondies were actually quite good.  Soft, loaded with both chocolate chips and nuts.  I quickly scarfed one.

***+.

Update Review, December 2021 Visit

Another JetBlue flight out of Boston, another quick spin through the Air France lounge, which is in the international terminal adjacent to JetBlue's gates, and to which I had access with my Priority Pass Membership.  Nothing to rave about, but a nice break from the terminal.

Charcuterie, Salad.

The charcuterie lineup this time included salami, pepperoni, and prosciutto, with olives and cornichons.  I tried the prosciutto only, and it seemed fine, thin sliced, nicely fatty.  I was a fan of the cornichons and onions too.

The salad was listed as Ceasar, but did have baby carrots, red bell peppers, and tomatoes, so, uh, not quite a traditional ceasar.  Parmesan cheese and croutons were packaged separately on the side.  Tuna salad and cous cous based salad were also on offer.  I tried the "ceasar", and it was fine - ingredients fresh enough, and I appreciated the baby carrots to munch on separate from the salad. 

***.

Cheese.

Of course, being a French lounge, it had a decent cheese lineup, with very perfectly ripe gooey brie, sharp cheddar, and blue cheese, along with dried figs.

I enjoyed the brie and figs. ***.

Turkey Swiss Sandwiches.

The premade sandwich was turkey and swiss, with mayo and lettuce.  I stayed away.

Chicken Teriyaki & Rice.

The hot meal of the day was white rice and chicken teriyaki, which I also didn't try.

Clam Chowder.

The soup of the day was clam chowder, which I was excited to see, but was pretty awful - thin, flavorless.  This is the only item, besides beverages, that the staff serve for you rather than self-serve.  Not sure why they don't trust us to ladle out soup?

*.

Snacks.

For snacks, there were plain Lay's chips and ranch Doritos, along with oranges and apples, pretty standard offerings.

Fruit Cups.

The fruit cup was honeydew, cantaloupe, pineapple, and grapes.  The sign said watermelon too, but it wasn't there, which was good, as I'm allergic, and I was really craving fresh juicy fruit.  The grapes in particular were quite satisfying, but the rest was underripe. **+.

Yogurt.

The yogurt I believe was just plain greek yogurt.  It came with a sprig of mint and two blueberries on it.  Granola and honey were available on the side, but no chocolate chips as the menu said.

Brownies.

For dessert, the brownies just said "brownie" but they clearly had cream cheese swirl on them.

They were fine.  Rich, fudgey, not dried out.  Not bad, not amazing.

***.

Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

One kind of cookie was available, although the menu listed several. These were chocolate chunk, with large hunks of chocolate.

The big hunks of chocolate were nice, but otherwise, a pretty "meh" cookie.  They tasted like generic packaged cookies, and seemed a bit over baked, too dark and dry around the edges.

**+.

Update Review - December 2019 Visit

I took a super quick swing through the Air France lounge before an outbound JetBlue flight (the Air France lounge is the closest to the JetBlue gate, even though in a different terminal).  I mostly wanted to use the bathroom, grab sparkling water (Pellegrino little bottles, not chilled, boo), and check out the wine (meh to the bordeaux I tried).

Nothing particularly positive to say about the place, as I knew from previous visits, but it is spacious and quiet, and a good place to get out of the main terminal if you need.

Cheese / Charcuterie.

The offerings that were actually somewhat french ... cheese (although not the most inspired lineup) and cold cuts (salami, pepperoni, mortadella).  If I was hungry, I actually would have tried the mortadella as I kinda love it sometimes, and the brie for that matter, but I skipped this all.

Breads / Dried Fruit.

I'm not sure if it was intentional, but I actually thought the bread and dried fruit board looked kinda nice, even though somewhat haphazard.

Snack Mixes.

I had to laugh at the label on the peanuts ... "snack mix w. peanut" it said.  Unless my eyes were deceiving me, it was peanuts, and only peanuts.

The other is wasabi crunch, with mostly rice crackers, which seemed stale.  The wasabi peas didn't pack much punch.  Meh.

Salad Bar / Fruit, Yogurt, Granola.

The cold well had yogurt, granola, and fruit (for those international travelers wanting breakfast?), and makings for salad - a kinda random lineup with cooked beets, croutons, and spring mix, plus tomatoes, cucumber slices, baby carrots, and celery sticks that would work as veggies to dip or salad editions.  And a slaw.  There were two unlabeled dressings, plus what looked like cranberries and sunflower seeds?

Broccoli & Kale Slaw.

"Almonds, sunflower seeds, dried fruit, with creamy slaw dressing."

After I read the sign for the broccoli & kale slaw, I realize that the dried cranberries were likely the "dried fruit" intended for the slaw, the sunflower seeds as well.  I have no idea where the almonds were.

I tried one of the dressings, but it seemed to be very tangy ranch, not what I'd expect from a "creamy slaw dressing" and the slaw was undressed.

I did like the slaw base though, crunchy shredded broccoli, torn kale, carrots, and radicchio.

Pizza-ish.

Token hot veggie dish, pizza/flatbread, Mediterranean inspired it seemed, as I smelt feta and saw black olives.

Chicken & Rice.

Token hot meat dish, some kind of chicken stir fry.

Sandwiches.

Pre-made sandwiches were restocked frequently.

Minestrone Soup.

On the other side of the spacious lounge is the soup station, with two hot soups, including vegetarian minestrone soup ...

Chicken & Rice Soup.

Chicken soup ...

Waffles & Cinnamon Rolls.

And ... cold waffles (syrup on the side) and little cinnamon rolls between the soups.  Completely random placement, and ... kinda random items in general.  Breakfast leftovers?  They were also the only sweets, no token cookies or brownies even.

Classic Cup O Noodles.

And on the other side of the soup station, the most popular offering in the lounge, I'm not joking ... Cup O Noodles.  Every time I'm there, these are the hot item.  Comfort food I guess?

Original Review - 2018 / 2019 Visits

The Air France lounge in Boston Logan airport located in Terminal E, right near gate 4.  This is the international terminal, but it is accessible airside from Terminal C, and is a Priority Pass lounge.  Protip: if you are flying out of Terminal C, depending on your gate, it may be the closest Priority Pass lounge (rather than The Lounge, in Terminal C across from Gate 19).

I only cruised through quickly as my JetBlue flight at a nearby gate was delayed, but I'll return another time intentionally, as it was generally better than The Lounge (although, The Lounge certainly had better snacks and shockingly good clam chowder).

This is only the second Air France lounge I've ever visited, the first was in SFO.  The Boston location is considerably better than the San Francisco version, in nearly every aspect: size, seating options, and cuisine.

Setting

The lounge felt quite spacious.  Perhaps because it was 3pm, and there were no international flights taking off around that time, so it was nearly empty, but also, it really just was a decently large lounge.

I didn't get photos of all sections, but there was a wide variety of seating styles.  No showers or kids areas that I saw.

Seating.

Each arm chair had a side table, which is convenient, but these didn't look particularly comfortable.

More Seating.

The other seating area was far more appealing, with wider, more plush looking chairs, power outlets, and a section with a high counter and stools, which is where I set up, so I could stand - I'd be sitting for long enough soon!

Food & Drinks

The food lineup was fairly standard for an International lounge of this caliber - a few snacks, generic salad, sandwiches, soup, and one hot item.  I didn't try much since I was just there to scope it out, since I had a little extra time due to a flight delay in Terminal C.  

Drinks.

Everything is self-serve, including the bar.  It is a small bar with the basics, along with a couple wines, beer, soft drinks, and fruit juices in the coolers below.  The San Francisco lounge had a much more elaborate setup, at least with the mixers.

I tried a red wine (Côtes du Rhône), and it was fine, but not memorable.

This area also had cheese cubes and snack mixes.

Bread and Snacks.

The snack jars were certainly different from any other lounge I've visited, a bit clunky to use, with serving spoons on top, and real lids.  They were unlabeled, but seemed to be salted peanuts, Chex mix, and dates.

I tried the Chex mix, since I love snack mixes, but it was just standard brand name Chex mix, never as flavorful or good as my mother's version.  Peanuts seem like an odd choice if you are going to offer only one nut, just due to the severity of allergies, and dates were entirely random ...

On another visit, there was an asian snack mix, filled with rice crackers and wasabi peas, that was standard, but nice to munch on.

Next to the snacks were baguettes (so French!), along with little packets of butter and Smucker's jam.   This mostly made me sad, because, I saw that they were appealing to French desires, but, um, I'm certain this bread was nothing like that in France, and the butter certainly was not ...

Soup Station.

The lounge is large enough that things are really spread out.  On a busy day, I'm sure this helps ease congestion.

This station, all on its own on the side of the lounge, had two kinds of soup: miso and chicken noodle on my first visit, minestrone and potato cream on my next, along with toppings.  Next to it was also a hot water dispenser with Cup of Noodles cartons lined up.  The few kids in the lounge seemed quite pleased with that option.

The soups were literally boiling, um, a bit too ot.

Salad Bar.

The salad bar had a small assortment of fresh veggies (baby carrots, celery sticks, cherry tomatoes), a base of mixed greens, some cut fruit, olives, cooked baby beets, little cornichons, seaweed salad, cole slaw, and some white unlabeled dip (or maybe dressing?)

I tried the seaweed salad - it was fine, standard, just like in SF, great to pair with the miso soup if you are going for Asian cuisine I guess?  I also got a big scoop of the slaw, excited to see slaw, but I didn't like it at all, it was very overdressed, and the flavor wasn't anything special.

Sandwiches.

Sandwich options were turkey or ham and swiss (with butter, on baguette of course!).

Hot Entree.

The hot dish wasn't labelled, but it seemed to be a beef stir fry, with steamed white rice on the side.  It actually didn't look that bad.

My next visit it was pasta and red sauce.

Croissants / Waffles.

Next to the hot entree, even though it was 3pm, was ... croissants and waffles.  Cold waffles.  At least they had syrup on the side?

I did not try these.  This seemed to be the only baked goods, no actual desserts were offered.

Read More...