In the past few years, airports have made some real attempts to up their food games. Some have brought in popular local restaurants, while others have commissioned celebrity chefs to bring new restaurants into the airports. Gone are the days of Chili’s 2 Go being the only option, which meant that with a whole lot of spare time at San Francisco International Airport, I was able to make my way to Union Street Gastropub to grab a beer and a sandwich.

That sandwich wasn’t just some pre-made cold cuts with limp lettuce, it was the Korean Chicken Sandwich. This sandwich was filled with deep fried chicken tossed in a sweet and spicy sauce and topped with garlic aioli. For my side I went with the garlic parmesan tots because regular fries and sweet potato fries just didn’t sound like they could compare.

As for the sandwich itself, I was pretty happy with it. I couldn’t figure out what was exactly Korean about it, but I like the combination of sweet and spicy, which the sauce did pretty well. The chicken was plenty juicy and had a decent crisp to the outside, but there just didn’t seem to be enough of it for me. Like, I get that it’s an airport and I’m going to pay a lot of money, but the dish was just begging for more chicken, and so was I.

Yet, Union Street Gastropub is a huge improvement on your typical airport food and for that I was pleased, even if it’s far from being the best sweet and spicy fried chicken sandwich I’ve ever had.

Layovers are never fun. And I don’t mean the extended layovers that give you time to leave the airport to explore a city. I mean the layovers where you are just stuck in an airport waiting for a connecting flight. Yet, amidst that suck a lot of airports have begun to move away from only offering crappy fast food and overly expensive generic sports bar food. One of these places is Philly’s F Terminal, where a cheesesteak spot going by the name of Tony Luke’s can be found.

Tony Luke’s sports a full breakfast sandwich menu for such ungodly hours, but still has the classic cheesesteak available. I ordered mine large with whiz and without onions, then waited a few minutes as the steak was prepared. The sandwich looked pretty solid, however, I was a little disappointed to find the meat was just kind of a slab in the middle of the bread. I guess when it comes down to it, I’m just a chopped cheesesteak kind of guy. Everything else was as good as you might expect, with a nice, even spread of cheese and slightly crunchy and fluffy roll to take it all down.

If you’re a fan of unchopped cheesesteak, Tony Luke’s is a great bet, but to me there’s just something about that chop that takes a good cheesesteak to the next level.

After departing one of the few lands without McDonald’s (also known as Tanzania), I had myself a layover in the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. Sadly, it wasn’t enough time to get out and see the city, but it was enough time to grab a bite to eat. McDonald’s might have seemed like a sensible choice, but I don’t eat McDonald’s in the US and only eat it internationally if they have unique local items. This one failed at that level and instead I found myself at the Dutch Kitchen.

My insatiable desire for burgers was still…umm…insatiable and the Organic Koningshoeve Hamburger on their menu had my name written all over it. Yes, I have decided that Koningshoeve would be my Dutch name. The line took a while, but eventually I placed my order, asking for no vegetables and for some cheese. The cook asked me if I wanted burger sauce and I figured why not? It also came with some nice, thick fries.

When finished, it looked delicious, but turned out to not taste quite as good as it looked. There was something seriously strange about the texture of the beef, which I can’t really explain. Gooey is the closest I can come to describing it. The bun was a bit too thick and dry and the hamburger sauce was kind of like ketchup, but with a little something else in it to throw off the taste. Again, I can’t quite explain what it might have been, but I can tell you it wasn’t juicy enough to make up for the dry bun.

The fries, though, were pretty awesome. I liked the thick cut of them and their soft insides coupled with a somewhat crisp outside were reminiscent of Belgian fries. If these had gone in the fryer one more time, they would have really been stellar.

So, once again, my attempt to enjoy a burger was spoiled. At least in this case, I could see the mix of flavors working for a local palate. Then again, if I had taken the route most Americans do when they visit Amsterdam, the burger would have tasted magical no matter how different it was from what I’m used to.

Arby’s has always been kind of a fringe fast food chain. You can find it all over the country, but it isn’t exactly on every corner. Perhaps this is the reason it has taken me so long to review them. Or perhaps the reason is because I once heard their meat begins its life as a liquid. Whatever the case, a golden opportunity to chow down on some potentially formerly liquid meat presented itself at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport.

Being an airport restaurant, this Arby’s wasn’t sporting the crazy cheap sandwiches they are typically known for, but the prices weren’t terribly bad. I opted for their Classic Beef ‘n Cheddar Sandwich. This thing started with a roll and was filled with slices of roast beef, a cheddar sauce and some sort of strange red sauce. With Mexican food, you don’t question the red sauce, but with Arby’s I was a bit confused. Yet, it didn’t scream “veggie” and neither did anything else on the sandwich, so I accepted it. I then upgraded to a combo for some curly fries and a drink.

Before I even filled my drink cup, my sandwich was ready for eating. Chowing down, I found exactly what I expected: salty, mostly texture-less beef. Coupled with a cheese sauce that’s a slight upgrade from nacho cheese, this was fast food personified. The roll was pretty good and actually would have worked well on a burger, too. It wasn’t anything crazy, but it did its job. Finally, there was the strange red sauce. This stuff definitely wasn’t ketchup, but it did have a slight tomato-vinegar flavor. Hell, the ladies behind the counter didn’t even know what it was. They also had never heard the name Zachary before, so I don’t know what I was expecting when asking the about the sauce.

Oh, by the way, the fries are awesome. Definitely the best fast food curly fries since A & W gave up on good food.

It’s hard to give Arby’s a bad rating or a good rating. It knows it isn’t pumping out high quality sandwiches, but it does make them fast and free of veggies. I hear their Market Fresh Sandwiches are pretty good, but who goes to a place like Arby’s for something fresh?

On our way to my Chinese homeland, the girlfriend and I happened to have a layover at the Tokyo-Narita Airport in Japan. This was great for the girlfriend since she loves her sushi and also great for me because I was hoping to find myself some Melon Fanta. Sadly, the Melon Fanta was nowhere to be found, but at least we found some sushi. The little airport restaurant was appropriately named “Sushi” (I thought Japanese people were supposed to be creative) and we took a seat inside.

A quick glance at the menu showed that the restaurant certainly was used to catering to Americans, with a California Roll, Veggie Roll and other such things the Japanese wouldn’t dare eat. But they did have some special local Japanese tuna and the section of the menu called “Various Types of Shiny Fish” ensured that you knew you were in Japan. I decided to keep my order simple and got a Salmon Roll. Within a couple minutes, my food was prepared and returned to the table. The pieces of the roll were small, which was fine with me because I had already figured I would be hungry in an hour no matter how much I ate. I snagged the chopsticks from a drawer on the table, poured myself some soy sauce and prepared to eat. Strangely enough, wasabi was nowhere to be found. This wasn’t a big deal, but I hoped the roll wouldn’t be in need of that strangely spicy Asian kick.

I grabbed a slice of my roll, topped it with some white ginger, dipped it in the soy sauce and delicately placed the entire piece in my mouth. After biting in, I found where they had hid the wasabi. In the roll! This was actually awesome because they had figured out the perfect amount of that green spice paste to put in the roll. Aside from the wasabi, I found the roll to be pretty good. I’m no sushi expert, but my girlfriend seemed to feel as though the sushi was really fresh and wonderful. And I have no reason to disagree. We may have only been in an airport, but I feel like even a Japanese airport should have better sushi than the best sushi place in LA.

So an hour later, when I was starting to feel hungry again, at least I felt like I had a good meal in Japan and was ready to tackle me some true Chinese food.

While there is no shortage of donut shops in LA, in Boston you can’t walk for more than five minutes without seeing a Dunkin’ Donuts. It’s like the city runs on this doughnut franchise. So, before I parted ways with Boston, I made sure to stop at the Dunkin’ Donuts in Boston’s Logan Airport to grab something to eat.

I was expecting to be stuck eating a doughnut for dinner, but instead I found that Dunkin’s had started offering flatbread sandwiches, and for pretty cheap. None of them really had vegetables, but I ordered the Chicken Parmesan flatbread one thinking it was the most dinner-like of all.

I watched sadly as the woman behind the counter opened up a freezer, unwrapped a sandwich in plastic, then put it in a high-speed toaster. I had assumed the ingredients were so basic that they could be prepared on the spot, but apparently I was wrong. Even if the sandwiches had all been created that morning, I was disappointed.

After the rapid toasting, my sandwich was ready. I took it to my gate, had a seat and opened it up. Inside the paper wrapping were the basic components of a chicken parmesan sandwich, bread, cheese, chicken and tomato sauce. With their powers combined, they created a pretty average sandwich. It wasn’t a terrible choice for someone on the go, but there is so much potential for sandwich greatness in the world that one should never have to settle for the Dunkin’ Donuts flatbread sandwiches when other choices exist.

With a long layover in Houston, Texas, I needed something to eat. Although eating at a chain would have been a safe bet, I like to live on the edge. I also wanted to make sure I got something unique to Texas. When I found Caritas Ranch Bar-B-Q, I knew I had to have it.

The place didn’t offer much in terms of options for the main course or for sides, but it was an airport so I let it slide. The best-looking thing on the menu to me was the sliced beef sandwich, so I ordered one. I then watched as they sliced the beef right in front of me, threw it on a bun and drizzled BBQ sauce over it. I had to admit, it looked pretty good, despite being cooked in an airport.

When I bit in, my expectations were pretty low. I expected the bun to be stale and dry and the beef to simply be dry. Luckily, neither were the case. The beef was decently juicy, the sauce had a good enough flavor and the bun gave me no trouble. I wouldn’t go so far to say the BBQ was good, especially when compared to all the great BBQ that has come from Texas, but it sure wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

Stuck in the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport on a layover, I set out to find some good food to eat. This isn’t exactly an easy task, especially considering that I had a very limited amount of time to eat and had to resort to fast food. I found Charley’s Grilled Subs and decided to try it out. The had a grill where you could actually see what was being cooked, plus the prices weren’t out of control.

I quick glance at the menu revealed to me what I needed to eat, the Bacon 3 Cheese Steak, three of my favorite foods in one sandwich. They actually had a pretty efficient system set up, where the guy grilling asked you your order before you made it to the cashier, so it could be prepared ahead of time. I guess when you’re eating in an airport, you notice these things.

After my sandwich was prepared, I was offered a wide array of veggies, which I promptly rejected. In anticipation, I brought my veggie-free sandwich back to my gate and ate it. For airport food, I was pretty impressed. It was better than Quizno’s and surprisingly filling. Plus I had watched it get grilled right in front of me rather than getting boiled or prepared the night before. The only complaint I have was that there wasn’t enough meat on it to cover all the bread. A couple of the bites I took were missing substance. In the end, though, I was definitely full.

Being stuck in London’s Heathrow airport, I was sure I wouldn’t be able to find anything to eat beyond a bag of “crisps” and a bottle of Irn-Bru…gag. I was actually surprised when I found myself with a decent selection of restaurants. After carefully checking out each menu and price (since the British pound is worth about 1.5 dollars) , I settled on The Crown Rivers. They served up mostly pub food, but also had a good-looking selection of curries. I settled on the Thai Green Chicken Curry, since I always wanted to know what green chicken tasted like…just kidding…maybe.

The ingredients listed in the curry were lemon grass, coriander, lime leaf, cumin, coconut and choi sum. None of these sounded like vegetables to me except for the choi sum. I figured I would take a risk and allow it, hoping it could be some incredible new meat I had never heard of.

Another bonus to this dish, was the list of sides that it came with; basmati rice, naan bread, mango chutney, onion bhajis, poppadums and shrimp paste. Most of these words meant nothing to me, yet my taste for adventure wouldn’t let me order my food without them.

When my food arrived, I was happy to find it nearly vegetable-free. There were a couple green and red substances (possibly the choi sum?) in the curry that I was careful to avoid, and the sides all looked pretty. I found two confusing-looking clumps of fried dough on the plate and took a bite. To my severe displeasure, I found onion inside and thrust these vegetarian spies off of my plate. The rest of my meal was without incidence. Everything tasted as I hoped, the curry was spicy, the naan was thick and the mango chutney was tastefully seasoned. Even the shrimp paste, which turned out to be crispy shrimp-flavored shells went happily into my unvegan belly.

Next time I’m in Heathrow, I’ll be sure to stop by The Crown Rivers again for a good meal.

Stuck in the Charlotte Airport between flights at dinner time, I was hankering for some Chinese food. Enter: Manchu Wok, a Panda Express-style Chinese fast food place. I stared at the strange variety of stir-fried meats that mildly resembled what my own wok would look like if I tossed every single food in my kitchen into it. I decided to order the “Pick 3 + Noodles or Rice” and do my best to avoid dishes with vegetables. My chosen trifecta was Sweet and Sour Chicken, Pineapple Chicken and General Tso’s Chicken, with noodles.

The food was lazily all tossed together into a styrofoam container, which made it virtually impossible to tell the differences between the different chickens.Fortunately (or unfortunately) all the chicken seemed to taste the same. My first step was to remove the veggies from the Pineapple Chicken. Unfortunately when Chinese food is pre-made, you can’t really ensure that there won’t be any vegetables. Luckily, I wasn’t stuck picking them out with chopsticks, as I was provided with a fork. With that finished, I was free to dine on my chicken trifecta. But wait. Not yet. The Sweet and Sour Chicken came bare and I was supposed to put the sauce on myself. How lazy was this place? The sauce did little to prevent the chicken from drying out my mouth, as it had apparently been dehydrated for astronauts. I jumped to the General Tso’s Chicken to see if he fared any better. This had very little kick to it, but a decent crunch. Finally came the Pineapple Chicken, a soggier version of General Tso’s with sprinklings of pineapple throughout. The meal easily filled me up, but not in a good way. I was no longer hungry, but I don’t expect to crave Chinese food again for a very long time.