YVR – EWR… Breakfasts!

Hello, New Jersey! Yes, my business trip required me to travel to the US again, this time to its Garden State: New Jersey (EWR being the code of Newark Liberty International Airport). Since I am flying to the East Coast, there are your usual caveats: If you want to arrive “early” (as in late-afternoon, early night), you have to leave early from Vancouver. In my case, I usually try to catch the flights between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. In a way, that is a semi-sweet spot: It allows me to sleep almost normal hours and, depending on the destination, by the time I hit the hotel, it is dinner time.

Since I was at the airport at around 6:15 a.m. and the security check queue wasn’t that bad, I had plenty of time. In the past (depending on the gate), I would end up going to Tim Horton’s and get their breakfast sandwich. However, this time, I was in a different area – the “new” wing and it had a new assortment of food options. The bad? Too early and they weren’t open yet… So, I back traced and the one that caught my attention was Legends, aka, White Spot. Too early for burgers but, at least, it gives me the chance to finally try their breakfast!

OK, let me take that back. There wasn’t a full menu, something that can be expected given this is the airport, where you might not see that many customers. That is fine, provided what you produce is something good. With that in mind, I ordered the BC Sunny: Crispy bacon, melted Canadian cheddar, red ripe tomato on top of a fresh fried egg with our famous Triple “O” sauce on our toasted signature bun. Served with hashbrowns.

I must admit I had a mental gap. Instead of the hashbrowns (which looks more like home fries), I should have gone for fruits. Oh, well… Anyway, the sandwich itself was meh. The bun – basically the same burger bun – didn’t have that toasted feel it could have had; but, in addition to that, it had an odd texture, as if it had a bit too much air in it and too fluffy. That might work fine in a burger but I wasn’t eating a burger! I felt it would have been better had they used almost any other type of bread (Except probably white sliced bread). Not going to over emphasize on this small detail. As for the rest, there wasn’t even anything remotely that wanted to stand out. Then again, how much should I expect for a $7 breakfast? Oh, wait, Timmy’s breakfast sandwich is below $5. Darn!

After I arrived to New Jersey, I had to drive to the hotel. My final destination was somewhere near Interstate 287 and Highway 22. One big caveat: If we ever end up in the same car and I am the one driving, panic!!! While I have a decent sense of direction while standing on my two feet, when I am in a vehicle, forget about it. Of course, in the dark, driving on unknown roads at over 60 Km/h does not really help things. In my case, I got lost just after I left EWR and ended up driving circles in Newark and the nearby industrial areas. If it wasn’t for my iPhone GPS, I am not sure if I would have arrived to the hotel! Anyway, I got there eventually had my dinner (which will be the topic of the second post today) and to bed it was…

When I am on business trips, I usually ask my client if they have a preferred hotel. I was given several ones and the rest was left up to me. The one I ended up picking was based on location (not that it matter that much, there were several hotels in the area), cost (since I staying for a long period of time, $10 difference starts to add up!) and… breakfast! Don’t get me wrong, I did not make this one as a key criteria but, since I did not know the area, and to travel to my customer’s site required me to go through highways, I played safe and made sure I had something to start the day. As for the food itself, I am grateful they had options like hot oatmeal (plain), fruits (which might be stretching it as some fruits were bad) and yoghurt. They had hot items like sausages and scrambled eggs but, boy, they were nasty! It is one of those cases that in the name of cheapness, I wished there was a Bon’s Off nearby… No, I did not take picture of that because there was a decent amount of people in the mornings and it was an open area.

Now, to my last day… On my flight back from Newark to Vancouver, something similar happened: I arrived relatively early and had the opportunity to eat something before boarding. Once past security check, choices were limited to a stand and… TGI Friday’s. How “low” I have to fall for a meal… Again, breakfast it was and, out of the four breakfast options, I chose this:

A “Western omelette sandwich”: Ham, onions, green peppers and Cheddar cheese folded with two eggs, folded into bread and served with hash browns. To drink I asked for tea but, to no avail: they don’t serve that. I ended up ordering orange “juice” which tasted more like orange coloured flavoured water. No, it wasn’t Tropicana or Oasis… As for the sandwich, c’mon, white sliced bread? I ended up separating the sandwich into its components, i.e., bread on one side, the omelette on the other side. There was nothing spectacular with that omelette instead, too many criticism points. For instance, thinly sliced black forest as ham? I guess that would be functional but…

In the end, breakfast during this trip was a major disappointment. However, I shouldn’t be complaining as, in some cases, they were “free”. So, as it is said, you indeed get what you paid for…

Because I have a small queue of posts thanks to this trip, there will be two posts per day this week to “clear” it. For the second post, come back to check by noon!

Tagged under: Airport • Breakfast • New Jersey • Vancouver