Trip Report: SAN-ORD-FRA-AMS part II
ORD-FRA was on a Boeing 777, and the whole fleet of 777s still have the old recliner style seats. While the new horizontal beds are much nicer on the 747s and 767s, these seats do have the advantage of being able to store baggage in front of you, and I also prefer them to angled lie-flat seats which tend to be hard and easy to slide down when sleeping.
Appetizer was a salad and smoked salmon. Wow, the appetizer plate has gotten a lot smaller over the years; before there would always be several items on the plate, and "crudite" wouldn't mean a lone broccoli head. On the other hand, the gourd-shaped yellow tomatoes in the salad were really cute and actually tasty (I usually don't like raw tomatoes).
Since I just had peppercorn beef at a Chinese restaurant the night before, I forwent what would have been my usual choice of steak with peppercorn sauce. I went for the Charlie Trotter menu item with slight trepidation (didn't have a great experience last time), and I'd stopped ordering chicken breast at all after eating them to death 5 years ago in the college cafeteria. This was a "mustard thyme scented chicken with warm horseradish potato salad." While the whole thing was shockingly sweet at first, it turned out to be pretty good, and a refreshing change from the usual.
Dessert was tiramisu. What's not to love? (And the chocolate comes on the tray with your appetizer; don't forget to save that.)
Breakfast was a strictly continental affair with croissant, fruit plate, and yogurt which I always make the mistake of getting (it has gelling agents to thicken it, plus corn syrup). I guess continental breakfasts are standard for Europe flights, and I did appreciate that they didn't start serving until an hour before landing. But I did miss the elaborate breakfasts on my Turkish Airlines flights (link to report here), which you would order on a menu card before you went to bed. I really crave salty things in the morning, so even a deli plate would have been welcome.
