Five and a half hours--and counting--of wx delays at DCA today have allowed an usually detailed inspection of the UC food options there. Some notes:

• The breakfast menu included somewhat normal-sized bagels but no toaster for them, which made them a nonstarter.
• They also had out two wrapped croissant sandwiches, one labeled "salmon" and the other "shrimp," but I wasn't hungry enough at the time (silly me, I didn't realize I had at least three more hours to while away here).
• The rest of the breakfast spread was the usual set of prepackaged stuff, like hard-boiled eggs and Chobani yogurt.
• For lunch, I had the soup--a delicious roasted red pepper and smoked gouda bisque.
• No prewrapped sandwiches at lunch to match what they had at breakfast.
• Very good brownie slices, also prewrapped.
• They just now put some individually packaged servings of chicken salad, which might be my next snack. (Update: It was, and a tasty snack at that.)

Overall, this is an improvement over the pre-pandemic options. That said, I'd just as soon be on an airplane now instead of nearing six hours waiting to depart...

DFW UC
 

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A cold sandwich
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Meatballs and a Fruit Cobbler
Not pictured: vegetable soup

Most impressive for an outstation UC

Those both look great!

The LAS club was ridiculously better than I remembered from pre-pandemic times this morning. They had a charcuterie board of sorts--slices of ham and hard-boiled egg, plus artichoke-tomato-mozzarella-olive skewers--followed by a tray of scrambled eggs that came streaked with melted cheese and flecked with parsley and roasted bell pepper. The wrapped croissants, bagels, waffles and muffins next to that weren't that special, but then at the bar I found a chicken-and-waffles station, with a choice of toppings that included strawberries and banana slices in some kind of syrup. I kept thinking "This is a United Club? And not at LHR or even a domestic hub, but an outstation?" I didn't even think of checking out The Club, the Priority Pass lounge closer to United's gates at LAS.
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Note also the fresh fruit, not that anybody goes to Vegas for their health.

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Note to self for the next time: try making a breakfast sandwich by combining the eggs with some of those ham slices in one of the croissants.

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To be fair, the chicken had spent a little too much time under a heat lamp.

Maybe the LAS improvements is due to CES.

Could be! Although United should have known better than most that a lot fewer people would show up this year: By late December they had cut fares to and from LAS so much that I was able to cancel my CES flights and book comparable ones for well under half the price.

At the Newark club in Terminal A.
Apparently they have changed the house liqours. Instead of Beefeater, they are now pouring "Fleischmann's"
Definitely a step back.

I don't have the entire lineup. Smirnoff stayed, but Johnnie Walker Red has replaced the bourbon...was it Evan Williams? I don't recall.
I am told no house bourbon is available (but it is a substitute bartender, so might not be getting accurate info on that.)

Anyway, significant changes being rolled out.

Yes, bourbon was Evan Williams. Walker Red seems like a slight step up, relative to Evan Williams, although I believe the scotch used to be Cutty Sark, so maybe that's more of a lateral move.

Fleischmann's??? That's like turpentine. NOT ACCEPTABLE.

yeah. Just tried it. By itself is bad.
With tonic is better, but not even close to Beefeaters.
Big downgrade.

Hope you're not blind today.

I would consider Walker Red to be a step up from Cutty Sark!

Perhaps. I think I'd still take either with soda water, not neat. Walker Black definitely would be a step up, as if that ever might happen!

That's what they had in EWR C last year. Not my favorite.

Another reason why I prefer to avoid UA/EWR on premium transcons. JW Black, et al. available (self-pour) in the AA FL at JFK. :cool:

At least UA has Glenfarclas on board. Pretty sure AA only has Dewers?