Friday, September 06, 2024

Vegan Rob's

As you likely know, I love my snacks.  I'm an avid snacker.  I have my favorites of course, but I love trying new products.  Which brought me to discover Vegan Rob's, even though I am not vegan.
"Take a deep breath, exhale, focus on the moment and what you are doing for yourself. Feed your inner soul by reducing stress and anxiety with the crunch! Vegan Rob’s® puffs are made with organic sorghum, an environmentally friendly, drought resistant crop. eating our plant- based snacks is better for everyone and supports your compassion for all life."

Vegan Rob's, as you can guess from the name, obviously makes vegan products.  Their goods are also gluten-free, non-GMO, organic, etc.

So what does Vegan Rob's actually make? A not necessarily enticing sounding product line of whole grain sorghum puffs.  They are available in 5 flavors, starting with simple cauliflower or cheddar flavors, and livening up a bit with beet, "dragon", and Bombay flavors.  All use the same base.  I've tried all but the beet and Bombay puffs. 

Cauliflower Puffs (2021).
"Vegan Rob’s® Cauliflower Puffs are delicious, crunchy and so yum!! They are a good source of Vitamin C and an Excellent Source of Thiamin and Riboflavin. Just one bite and you will fall in love!"

The first I tried were the simple cauliflower puffs, a few years ago.  They were actually pretty good.  

Puffy, great crunch. Don't taste odd from sorghum.  Good flavors from onion and garlic seasoning, and some nutritional yeast to make a bit "cheesy".  A nice savory crispy snack.  I found them very munchable, which is important in a snack.

They do not taste like cauliflower however, as the cauliflower is just a powder, so if you wanted something very cauliflower-y, these would not impress.

***, I don't go for r snacks like this often, but they were good for what they were.
Cauliflower Puffs (2024).
I didn't realize I had tasted these before, and tried them again 3 years later, without seeing my notes.  Very interesting to see how differently I felt about them this time.

Well ... um ... these taste healthy.  Perhaps a bit too healthy.  I really do like the puff form factor, and they are crazy crispy, but, the flavor is not one that makes you feel the tiniest bit indulgent (they aren't actually all that healthy, a bag is still 170 calories and 9 grams of fat, so not really any different from actual normal cheese puffs ...).

They taste strongly of what I suppose is sorghum, and are quite savory, with dominant nutritional yeast and garlic/onion/pepper/salt along with the cauliflower powder.  A touch too bitter for me.  They remind me of Hippeas (similar concept, chickpea based, review coming soon), although I like these considerably more.

But if you want to snack and feel a bit healthier, and want something a bit generically savory and a bit bland, they aren't bad tasting.  ***.
Dragon Puffs.
"Vegan Rob’s® Dragon Puffs are so delicious, they will change your life forever! These puffs are made with the finest ingredients including serrano peppers from Mexico. They go from smoky, to spicy, then cool and satisfy that spicy and crunchy desire to feed your inner soul. You're going to wonder how it all happened!"

Next up, take the same puffs, but make them ... DRAGON!  E.g. add some heat!  The puffs looked the same in terms of shape and size, and had the same base savory coating of onion/garlic/salt/nutritional yeast, but, yes, were a brilliant fire-y orange/red (from paprika).  The serrano chili pepper powder did the job well, these had a pretty great kick.

So, great form factor, and hit of intense flavor?  Now we are talking.  While they still do have a somewhat healthy taste to them, these I really do enjoy.  ****.

Update Review: I've found myself reaching for these more and more, and they've really grown on me.  Love the kick and the form factor.
Brussel Sprout Puffs (Discontinued).
A few years ago I also had the brussels sprouts puffs.  They have since been discontinued, which I fully support.

They basically look and taste the same as the others, but even more bitter and healthy. I'm not into nutritional yeast flavor on these.  **.
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Thursday, September 05, 2024

Pinklady Cheese Tart

New York City is a great place for many reasons.  The vibe, the culture, etc, etc.  But for me, a big draw is the food.  And in particular, if you know me well, you know desserts factor highly into all decision making for me.  I love plotting out my dessert adventures in general, but in particular when I'm in a city like NY with so many incredible offerings.

My research lead me to discover Pinklady Cheese Tart, a fairly young business, about 4 years old (yup, a pandemic born success story).  The baker started by making just the namesake cheese tarts, but has expanded to include other items like macarons and even yogurt drinks (although you won't find these mentioned on the website).  Reviews are good, and it just kept popping up in my searches, due to also offering basque cheesecake, which I was craving and searching fo.

When I saw the flavor lineup at Pinklady Cheese Tart featured ube in several dishes, it was easy to move it to the top of my priority list of places to try.  I ordered for delivery from DoorDash, which went smoothly.

Tarts

"Our oozy cheese mousse is made with three types of rich cheese and cream with a perfect balance of saltiness and sweetness. As for our crusts, we use double baked method in order to create crispy delicious tartlets."

Pinklady Cheese Tart is known primarily for the cheese tarts.  They are a Japanese style, so quite light, and not super sweet.  They are available in a slew of flavors: original cheese, fruity (blueberry, lemon, strawberry), black sesame, ube cheese, matcha cheese, and chocolate cheese.  

I tried two flavors, and would gladly have either again, but also would love to try more varieties.

2 Tarts. $8.
Black Sesame, Ube.
"Try it when its warm, cold or room temperature for different texture and experience!"

I narrowed my choices down to the my top two picks, which I could get as a pair for $8 (so, $4 each).  You can get 6 for $22 to save a little if you want more.  $4 each seemed quite reasonable.

All use the same style tart shell, a double baked butter shortbread.  It was a sweeter style than I was expecting, definitely sweeter than standard tarts.  Hard style, not a flaky style, not crumbly, quite crisp. It was almost like a sweet sugar cookie (I think this is pâte sucrée?).  It was better than most tart shells (which, you may know, I generally dislike and discard), but I did find it almost too sweet.  *** shell.

I found it interesting that they recommend trying them at 3 different temperatures (chilled from fridge, room temp, or lightly warmed), and of course I wanted to try all the ways.  Chilled from the fridge, the result was like a fluffy cheesecake soufflé if that makes sense, lighter and not dense like traditional cheesecake.  Warm, the filling turned oozing and nearly liquid, a delight in another way entirely.  Room temp was somewhere in-between.  I truly don't know which way I preferred.
Ube.
The ube tart was a stunning (likely unnatural) purple color.  It looked fantastic, both due to the vibrant hue, and the fluffy loft to it.

It was as tasty as it looked.  The filling was light, fluffy, and somewhat oozy (in a good way!), and intensely ube flavored, with a backdrop of the sweet cheese flavor.  Sweet but restrained.  Fantastic texture, fantastic flavor.  As I mentioned above, when chilled, it was more like a very light cheesecake, when room temp it was like a soufflé, and when warm it was akin to a molten lava cake.  

I really enjoyed this filling, and would get it again, but I liked the next one even more.  High ****.
Black Sesame.
The black sesame shared the same pedigree, same textural difference at each temperature, etc.  But the overall experience of eating it was entirely different, as it was less sweet, and very nutty.  The black sesame flavor was really quite intense.  I loved it even more than the ube.  ****+.

I'd like to try pairing one of these side-by-side with the fruity blueberry or strawberry flavors, to create pb&j vibes. 

Basque Burnt Cheesecake

More recently, Pinklady expanded to include cheesecake, if you want something bigger than a tart.  But not just cheesecake, Basque style cheesecake (and interesting choice rather than staying in the Japanese style of a fluffy bouncy cheesecake, or NY-style given the location).  Basque style is more on-trend this year, so, likely a great call, and one I was thrilled to see.  I've been really enjoying Basque cheesecake lately, even the version from Cheesecake Factory truly isn't bad (it is far better than their regular cheesecakes ...). 

Pinklady offers traditional vanilla or ube, both in 4" or 7" varieties.
Ube. 4". $13.50.
"Four inches ube flavor cheesecake. Caramelized burnt top with buttery crust and creamy cheesy center. Serve 2-3 people."

I obviously went for the ube.  I'll admit it didn't look great visually, but, this is to be expected.  It *should* have a dark top, it *should* be sorta sunken, and, since I picked ube, it should have the purple hue that, when dark, yes, looks like this.  I didn't care that looked a bit ugly.  That said, this wasn't a legit traditional Basque cheesecake as it has a crust, which gave me a moment of pause.  True Basque cheesecake doesn't have a crust ...

The size was perfect for sharing, 2 people could feel satisfied given the richness, three I think would only want to share if they also each had a tart (which, is what I'd recommend).  The cheesecakes are also available in a larger size to serve 6-8 people for $39.95.
Ube Cross Section.
I'll start with the only negative aspect: the crust.  Perhaps I was just feeling grumpy about the inclusion of the crust in the first place, and the fact that it made it harder to cut, but, I didn't care for the crust.  It was dry, seemed too dark/burnt on the bottom, and was just not a style that added anything to the dessert.  I felt it really detracted.  Boo to the crust, but, it was easy to avoid.

The body of the cheesecake though was glorious.  As you can see, it was fairly textbook in the nearly liquid oozing center, yet light and fluffy all around it.  Like the tart, it had a strong ube flavor, was sweet but not too sweet, with a strong cheesy backdrop.  The top was dark but didn't really give the caramelized taste I have experienced in other Basque cheesecakes, but that was fine, I'm not sure it would have matched as well with the ube flavor.  **** filling.

Overall, definitely good, and well baked.  I'd like to try the vanilla version too, but do wish it had no crust.  Lower **** because the crust brought it down a bit.
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Wednesday, September 04, 2024

Blue Ribbon Sushi Izakaya, NYC

I'm the type of person who always does bring home my leftovers from restaurants.  I actually love repurposing leftovers to create meals that I love at home later.  This applies even when I travel, and hotels by now know that I like to have at least one extra mini fridge and microwave in my room.  I travel with a personal panini press/grill or travel oven.  I'm that kind of person.

So this summer, when I was in New York for a month, I found myself with a bunch of side dish leftover, but no main protein.  Sushi seemed like just the answer: small quantity, just protein, and I could use up the other stuff I had around. 

I have my old favorites for sushi in New York, including Sushi Seki and Nobu if I'm being splurgy, but this time I was looking for somewhere open at lunchtime on a weekend, and neither of those were.  My research lead me to the well regarded Blue Ribbon Sushi Izakaya (which is not to be confused with Blue Ribbon Sushi - Soho, just a few blocks away, nor Blue Ribbon Brasserie, Blue Ribbon Chicken, Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar, Blue Ribbon Sushi Bar & Grill, or others in the same restaurant group).  The group also has location is Miami, LA, Boston, Las Vegas, Nashville, Philly. So, somewhat of a chain, but, not one that felt like it.  They do also have packages available on GoldBelly, which I'll admit was a slight detractment.

I was drawn in by the positive reviews of course, but also the really large assortment of options available for nigiri/sashimi.  They had a large daily specials list with unique items I don't see as often.  And better yet, the prices were quite reasonable (and even more with a $5 off discount on DoorDash).

I ordered on DoorDash for delivery, and my order arrived quickly.  It was well packaged, accurate, and included everything I needed (chopsticks, soy sauce, etc).  I'd gladly order from them again.
3 Pieces Sashimi. $26.73 (including delivery).
I went for a bunch of favorites: uni, crab, and the less common eel, anago.  I opted for sashimi for all, as I'm not really one for rice (yes, this is a very similar trio to my order from Sushi Seki last time I was in NY, with uni, anago, and lobster, just swapping out crab for lobster this time).  I appreciated that I could order each individually, and the prices were really quite reasonable.

The uni and crab came in cucumber cups, the anago just as a slice over some shredded diakon.  Standard ginger and wasabi were plated alongside as well.
California Uni (Sashimi). $11.
To satisfy my uni cravings, I went for the California uni.  Sashimi style, because all I wanted was the uni, no need for rice.  They also offer Hokkaido uni for $18.50.

The uni may have suffered a tiny bit in transit, as the top lobe was a bit no longer intact, but it was still delicious. For nigiri, it is a cucumber cup that is lined with a shiso leaf. I loved the shiso, it went very well with the uni. The uni itself was good, a more mild flavor uni, minimal funk. The portion was really remarkable for the price, I think there might have been five pieces? I'd be curious to do a side-by-side with the more pricey Japanese one, but I was very pleased with this. ****.
Anago (Young Sea Eel) Sashimi $8.
When I was first introduced to sushi I ate a fair amount of unagi, as it was a bit of an easier segue into sushi being fully cooked and covered in bbq sauce.  I still like unagi, but in more recent years, I've definitely become a much bigger fan of anago. I see it rarely on menus, so I was very happy they had it.  I think the last time I had it was about a year prior, from Sushi Seki (where it was excellent).

This piece was ok.  Not very memorable nor flavorful.  A decent sized piece.  I'd probably skip it in the future.  ***.
Kani (Blue Crab) Sashimi. $7.50.
I don't think I've ever seen blue crab on a sushi menu before, so I was very interested to see how they would serve it as nigiri. It was cooked and placed into a cucumber cup, and was a bit of a shredded style, compared to when you get king crab nigiri for example that comes as a solid chunk, which I assume is simply due to the considerably smaller size of the crabs.

It too was just ok, but not particularly flavorful nor memorable.  I have not had all that much blue crab in my life, so maybe that is just how blue crab is?  I live on the West coast, so local dungeness is my common crab, or of course Alaskan king crab if I'm splurging.  I added a little okinomiyaki sauce I had left over which helped, the creaminess from the mayo really added something to it, as it was just pretty bland otherwise.  Another one I'd skip in the future. ***.
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Tuesday, September 03, 2024

Alaska Airlines, Flight 20, SFO-JFK

Update Review, August 2024 Flight

I don't fly with Alaska Airlines much (in fact, I hadn't flown with them at all until 2 years ago), so I am not yet well calibrated to the service and food standards.  Overall, it seems to me like a good compromise airline: the prices are generally lower, the food is decent, the service and amenities minimal, the comfort mediocre.  So, depending on your priorities, a compromise on something at least.

Flight Details:

  • Flight #: 20
  • Departure: 1:25pm (scheduled) 3:12pm (actual)
  • Arrival: 9:25pm (scheduled) 
  • Route: SFO to JFK
  • Seat 3C

Service & Amenities

There is not much to say about Alaska amenities as there isn't much to them.  
Seatback.
Standard domestic first class seat, that at least has under seat storage, and a small cocktail table with cup holder, but little else.  Not a very comfortable seat, no adjustments other than recline.  Yay for a foot rest.  Thin blanket provided.  No pillow.  No seatback tvs.  Pay for wifi. It is fine for short flights, but definitely leaves much to be desired for transcon.

A pre-departure beverage of water, orange juice, or a can of sparkling wine was offered.  I selected the sparkling wine, and was handed the can.  Before takeoff, orders for drinks to have post departure were taken, and our pre-orders confirmed.  Those who didn't pre-order really did not fare well.  The first person got the chicken (only 1 loaded), the next two had a choice of salmon or pasta, the 4th person had only salmon option, and the rest ... sorry there is nothing.  No main dishes left.  This seems like a mis-cater? They were offered a snack box from the back.  Wow.

Service was not particularly friendly, and remarkably not proactive.  Empty drink glasses were never collected.  Refills never offered.  I saw every passenger need to lightly aggressively get attention to take their empty glasses away.  I was particularly amazed when I asked for two more drinks (water and wine), and was handed them, and the two empties I had on my tiny cocktail table were not taken as they were delivered.  He just gave me two more, even with no where to put them.  

Food & Drink

PDB: Waterbrook Brut Bubbles.

The pre-departure offering of sparkling wine was Waterbrook Brut.  The can was handed to me unopened, but chilled.  It wasn't bad really. I don't gravitate towards bubbles, but it had a nice balance of dryness and sweetness.  ***.

I'd get it again.
Wine & Sparkling Water.
Once underway, I started with red wine.  No choice of reds, and no explanation given of what varietal, let alone winemaker.  Served in what I think of as a water glass, tall and thin.  Not really what you want for red wine.  Anyway, it was fine, average, table wine though, very fruit forward, no real structure to it.  At least low acid and tanin. Bo-ring.  Low ***.

I also asked for sparkling water.  I was not given the option to decline ice.  It came with more ice than water, and I needed a refill nearly immediately.
Tip Top Old Fashioned.
Later on I moved on to an old fashioned, as I've enjoyed them before on Alaska flights (they are the canned Tip Top brand).  It was served with more ice than cocktail, and got watered down far too fast.  But otherwise was great, very boozy, very classic old fashioned. ***+.
Nuts.
Awhile after, not with our beverages, nuts were brought.  Lightly warm.  Good mix of almonds, cashews, and pecans.  Very low (if any?) salt level.  ***.

Finished beverages were not proactively cleared when the nuts were brought (a theme throughout the meal).
Menu.
Alaska does have a fair amount of variety in their meal choices, even for a domestic flight, I had 5 options, including fish (salmon), white meat (chicken), red meat (well, just sausage in a pasta), vegetarian, or, a cheese plate.  Pre-order was available.  

As I don't like cooked salmon, chicken, or quinoa/rice, my decision was easy.  Pasta it was, and the dish did sound pretty interesting, better than the standard ravioli choices so many airlines tend to do for pasta.  Shells, creamy cheese sauce, now we are talking!

All dishes are served with salad, bread, and dessert, although not listed on the menu.  Tray tables were not pre-set with table clothes prior to meals being delivered.
Tray.
My meal tray arrived unceremoniously and was served without a word, e.g. no "here we have the pasta" or anything.  My drinks were empty, but no refills were offered.  The tray included a salad, bread with pat of butter, and salt/pepper packet, along with napkin and cutlery. 
Roll.
The roll was warm, and not bad actually.   Simply white roll, but soft, good chew to it, and most importantly, not stale.  Better than average airline bread.  It was perfect for soaking up the chili crisp from the pasta, and the pesto from the salad. ***+.
Appetizer: Salad.
The salad was meager in the greens department, just some very sad compressed spinach that really didn't seem fresh.  The body of the salad was 3 balls of mozzarella, 4 juicy sundried tomatoes, and pesto.  The sundried tomatoes and pesto were both really quite flavorful, and I enjoyed them with the bread.

* greens, ** as a salad, but *** for those two components.   
Pasta Primavera with Italian Sausage.
"Pasta shells tossed in a creamy white cheddar cream sauce, served with summer squash, sun-dried tomatoes, edamame beans, and savory Italian sausage. Topped lightly with a chili crisp."

The main attraction, the pasta.

Well ... this was a very mixed bag.  As you can likely see, the "creamy white cheddar cream sauce" was ... not there.  At all.  It wasn't on the bottom of the dish.  It wasn't anywhere.  I was looking forward to that creamy cheese sauce, but alas, I had plain pasta.  That said, the shells were well cooked, not mushy, not totally dried out.  The chili crisp oil was flavorful, and added something to it at least.  The edamame were tender and tasted fresh if that makes sense, the sausage was actually very good, classic Italian sausage.  The tomatoes in here were different from the sundried tomato in the salad, they seemed just like roasted tomatoes, although the menu said they were sundried.  Juicy.  The squash I didn't care for at all, patty pans, that were just strangely bitter.

So, meh to the squash, yay to the sausage and chili crisp in particular, and better than average pasta, but a shame I didn't actually have any cheese sauce ... *** overall despite the lacking sauce.
Dessert: Salt & Straw Strawberry Rhubarb with Cinnamon Crumble.
We all finished our meals.  All trays were cleared.  No refills were offered.  No empty drink cups collected.  I thought ... dessert must be coming next right?  I waited and waited.  No sign of dessert.  An hour passed.  I finally asked if there was a dessert.  I was told there should have been.  The FA who I asked seemed as confused as me that it hadn't happened.  About 10 minutes later, it came out.  Served directly in the tiny tubs, with a far too big spoon to go with it.

It was Salt & Straw ice cream, as per usual with Alaska.  For the summer, they introduced two new flavors on flights, and I was quite happy to see that we had the strawberry rhubarb with cinnamon crumble flavor.  I don't think this is sold directly by Salt & Straw to consumers, I think it is a special collaboration with Alaska.  The ice cream featured swirls of strawberry rhubarb jam and cinnamon snickerdoodle cookie pieces.

It was served quite hard, but it did melt nicely eventually.  It was fabulous ice cream, smooth, rich, creamy, and the fruity swirls of jam were quite flavorful.  I liked the texture from the softened snickerdoodle bits.  It was a flavor I could enjoy on its own without adding too much to it (although, of course, I did add some fresh strawberries too).

****.

Original Review, August 2023 Flight

Flight Details

Flight: AS 20
Aircraft: 737-9 Max
Departure: SFO, 2:25pm
Arrival: JFK, 10:25 pm
Seat: 3D

Service

This was my second ever flight with Alaska Airlines, and my first longer flight (previously I had only flown SFO-SEA, which you can read about here).  We were slightly delayed boarding because the plane was deemed too hot to be safe (!), and then slightly delayed pushing back because bags were still being loaded, but, the delays were minor, we took off only 15 minutes late.  We had significant tailwinds helping us still arrive early.

No PDB, although there was boxed water at our seats.  No amenity kits, no pillow, but a thin blanket was waiting at our seat.  It was really quite cold on board, and the little blanket didn't do much to help.   The flight attendant was efficient, but barely spoke to us.  She wasn't unfriendly, she just ... didn't really talk to us.  No hello, meal trays dropped off without a word, no offers of refills, that sort of thing.

Food & Drink

The main meal served is ... linner.  The timing of the meal on this flight is definitely awkward, 3:40pm in SF time, 6:40pm in New York time.  Too late for lunch where we came from, too early for dinner, but, at what will be dinner time where we are headed.  When there was exactly 2 hours remaining, a snack basket was passed with Border Canyon chips, Lesser Evil popcorn, Kind bars, beef jerky, and Karma toasted coconut cashews.  I was pretty happy to see the popcorn, as it is definitely my snack of choice, and the flavored nuts definitely called out.  I've had many of Lesser Evil's popcorns before, but had never tried their basic Himalayan Gold, which is what the snack basket contained.  Drink refills were also offered.

Drink Menu.

Orders for our drinks were taken once underway. There was only one choice for red wine, even though the menu listed two. 
Seltzer, Nuts.
Our drinks were served with a small thing of nuts (almonds, cashews, tiny bits of pecans). Not warm.  The sparkling water was Polar seltzer.  I was given a (mini) can and ice, it wasn't poured for me.  No offer of lemon nor lime garnish.

Ste Chapelle Winery Red Blend.

I went for the red wine, which turned out to be Ste Chapelle Winery Red Blend.  This is a cheap $12 bottle, definitely not as premium of wine offerings as the competitors on this route.

It was non-offensive.  No complexity at all, but, not too much tanin nor acid, so it was fine.  ***.

Straightaway Oregon Old Fashioned.

"The Old Fashioned is revered for its versatility and simplicity. This variation on the classic speaks to wistful days spent in Milton-Freewater, OR, and we’ve transposed our fondness for the Pacific Northwest bouquet into our own bitters. Whether consumed around a mountain-top campfire or from the safety of your drawing room, tradition has it that one’s first Old Fashioned should be served by a friend."


Later on, I moved on to the Old Fashioned, which I'd had before.  I was handed a can, and glass of ice.  Not poured for me, no garnish.  I still thought it was a nice cocktail though, same as my previous review.  ***+.

Menu.
The menu was available online to pre-order, which I did.  Pre-order gave 5 options, 2 of which were pre-order exclusives (the fruit & cheese plate and vegetarian white bean chili).  I nearly went for the chicken dish, not for the chicken obviously, as I'm extremely chicken adverse, but, for the grits, asparagus, and lemon caper sauce, all things I quite like!  But I opted for the lemon fennel manicotti instead.  

For those who didn't pre-order, they could select from the 3 onboard choices.  Well, technically they could.  The steak ran out in row 1, seat A.  Um, yeah.  They loaded 1 for the entire non-preorder cabin!  The chicken ran out in row 3.  I was surprised how few people had pre-ordered, perhaps lots of upgrades?

Meal service was pretty quick, with the first row getting served at exactly the 1 hour post-takeoff mark, mine arrived within 10 more minutes.

Linner.
So at 3:40pm, my meal showed up.  I had eaten a fair amount in the lounge (mac and cheese!), and definitely wasn't particularly interested in food at this point.  Which turned out to be fine, as the meal was pretty lackluster.

Meals come all one one tray, with a roll, salad, the entree you ordered, along with butter, and packet of salt and pepper.
Bread, Butter, Dressing.
The roll was lightly warm.  Pretty average airline quality.  Not stale, but, not particularly good, no real crust to it, just, soft. 

Salad dressing was fairly solid, seemed to be lemon vinaigrette.  Butter also very solid, impossible to spread. 

**.
Salad.
The menu didn't provide any details on the salad, and everyone got the same.  It was just mixed greens, with a few bites of cooked beets, a few pickled red onions, and goat cheese.  Given that I loathe goat cheese, and don't really care for beets, this was a miss for me, but, I suspect if you liked those things, and liked the lemon vinaigrette, this was a decent salad.  The greens were fresh and crisp.  **+.

It was also served in a bowl that was kinda too small, it was hard to eat without bits falling out.
Lemon Fennel Manicotti.

"Lemon ricotta stuffed pasta | grilled baby fennel | tomato basil ragout."

The main dish was served moderately warm.  I certainly wanted it hotter.  The portion was three large manicotti, plus a decent amount of fennel and the chunky tomato ragout.  

The pasta was microwave dinner quality.  The pasta itself was not dried out or overcooked at least, but was as boring as it gets.  The filling was, well, ricotta.  Some minor lemon flavor.  Very, very boring, and essentially cafeteria/frozen dinner quality.  I gave up on it after eating one of the three tubes. *+ pasta.

I did like the fennel, it was well cooked and flavorful, and the chunks of tomato and onion in the ragout were tasty as well.  *** toppings.

I combined the salad + fennel + tomatoes + onions to make a quasi-ok dish, but I certainly wouldn't get this again.  I wish I had gone for the chicken, just for the grits, asparagus, and tasty sauce.

Salt & Straw Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons.
"Our reimagination of the classic. We spike our cream with just enough Guatemalan fleur de sel to bring out its nuances, then drizzle in ribbons of our hand-burned caramel."

After our trays were cleared, the flight attendant came through offering ice cream.  Just as I was shocked by how many people didn't pre-order, I was even more shocked by how many turned down the ice cream.  Yes, timing was odd, but ... Salt & Straw is good ice cream!  The flavor was Salt & Straw's most famous, sea salt with caramel ribbons, which I've had before, and loved.

It was served quite solid, so it took a while to become possible to eat it.  But once it softened, I dug right in.  It matched my memory of the flavor - nice quality base ice cream, and TONS of very gooey, very sweet, caramel.  I added my own fresh strawberries and sprinkles, and quite enjoyed.  And then I enjoyed an extra, which I volunteered to take off the flight attendants hands (so generous of me, right?).  She happily obliged, given how many extra there were.  ****.

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