SFO-ATL
Signature (on board) Options.
There were 3 "signature" selections available to order on board, fairly standard generic flight/wedding/etc trifecta of chicken, beef, veggie pasta: Jon & Vinny's Braised Meatballs, roasted chicken breast, or mushroom herb ravioli. I actually had a hard time making my choice, as none were easy to rule out.
Limited (pre-order only) Options.
Two additional "exclusive" options "curated for this market" are available if you preorder (7 days to 24 ours in advance). For my flight, this was margherita pizza or shrimp and grits.
The salad was really quite good. Mixed greens base, fresh, crisp. The cherry tomatoes were juicy, not mealy, and although not the most flavorful out there, it was January, and they were better than expected, and definitely didn't taste refrigerated. I loved the big juicy crisp crunchy celery. Overall, this was a great simple salad, freshness was key. That said, it was bigger than it looked, which was great, I wanted that much, but it was really, really hard to eat in the small bowl. I ended up pushing half my entree to the side and dumping on to that plate instead, which my neighbor did as well. So, great salad, tiny bowl. Served with balsamic vinaigrette that I didn't use (I brought my own dressing as I don't care for vinaigrettes).
Shrimp & Grits.
"Spicy creole sauce, scallions."
This dish was a mixed bag. Overall it was perfectly fine. But some parts were better than others. I'll start with the shockingly good: the shrimp! Wow, everyone was right. The shrimp somehow were really, really well cooked. Juicy, bouncy, succulent. Flavorful. I was blown away by how good the shrimp were. The serving was 4, which seems perhaps a bit small for big eaters, but was fine for me. Shrimp, far above average.
The "spicy creole sauce" . Um, ha. There was not a teeny, tiny amount of spice in here. None. It was just tomato sauce. More Italian style than anything else. Creamy tomato sauce. Not spicy, and not really southern gravy like you'd want with shrimp & grits. No Cajun seasoning. No bacon, no andouille sausage. Just, tomato sauce. It wasn't bad, but certainly isn't what I wanted from my shrimp & grits. And finally, the grits. They were really creamy. Served properly hot. Not dried out. But ... so bland! Just as others had said. Woefully under-seasoned. I was prepared with 1) red pepper flakes, 2) large flakes of Maldon sea salt, and 3) garlic powder, which really did save the day, but, wow, so bland. So overall ... definitely lacked the creole element, and grits were pretty blah, but wow, those shrimp. I"d get it again if craving shrimp, but otherwise would move on to something else.