JFK Terminal 5 Breakfast

A gal needs to cut herself some slack. 

Especially when she wakes up at 4:30 am for her 6 hour flight. 

With her friend, who was nervous about his first time flying.

And everyone else in America, who has apparently decided to line up at security and NOT take off their shoes before they get RIGHTTOTHEFRONT of the line. 

Spoiler alert: That girl was me last week. 

By the time that my bag had been checked, my body had been searched and my friend had imagined 391 ways that we could all perish mid-air, I needed a little pick-me-up. 

The JFK Jet Blue Terminal has several beautiful restaurants right after security. Really – these restaurants look like something more out of a SoHo scene than an airport. Though there are different restaurants – a Spanish one, a Steakhouse, a Sushi restaurant…the menus are all much different, but they all serve the same menu for breakfast. 

And this was definitely breakfast time…hell, it was so early, it was almost a midnight snack.

We were seated in the Italian restaurant, which had a sleek decor and was silently playing Roman Holiday on several flat screen TVs.

We placed our order quickly, and then waited…

And waited…

And waited a little more. 

FINALLY we flagged down a server (not OURS, mind you) and got our coffee.

It was a little less than piping hot. 

But it was caffeine.

Blessed caffeine. 

Then, after about 20 minutes more, we got our food. 

Minus the salad. 

We didn’t care – we were literally starving by this point. 

I almost went all Donner Party on my friend’s arm.

The eggs were shockingly well cooked – crispy whites surrounded melty yolk, and there were some fantastic potatoes with them. Crispy on the outside, tender withing, with a healthy dusting of spicy, salty seasoning. These were better than most french fries I have had! Really…they were awesome. Good enough for any Manhattan restaurant, let alone an airport cafe.

Then there was the burger. 

Wow…the burger was fantastic!

Meaty, fatty, juicy, served on a squashy brioche bun. It was tender but with a salty, crispy crust, and the inside was a perfect medium rare. The same excellent potatoes were served alongside. 

The salad came with the check. It was okay at best – the dressing was cloyingly sweet and needed acid. The vegetables were fresh, but the rest of the meal was so good that it made the salad seem even more insipid than it was. 

And the rest of the meal really was good! It was too expensive, yes. It was incredibly poorly served, yes. You need at least 2 hours to eat here. 

But the food was great. It was well seasoned, wholesome and prepared me for the next 6 hours, when all I would be eating was this:

And, of course, I got a Bloody Mary on the flight. 

Because, a gal needs to cut herself some slack.