Airport Breakfastary Food - III

Part the First

San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
(Saturday, 09/03/16) 

http://www.rulli.com/home


Place: Emporio Rulli
Location: International Terminal, SFO
Hours: open daily 5:30am 
Meal: Favorito ~ a grilled panino[1] (made from focaccia[2]) with eggplant[3], Mozzarella, roasted red peppers, spring greens, and Kalamata olive spread; for breakfastary dessert, a sfogliatella[4] (which they called a "Clamshell"); and a 12 oz cuppa Vienna Roast (Che cosa?!), the server-lady behind the counter didn't know which specific brand they use, though


Whenever you find that you have to head through any airport early in the morning, you need to make do with whatever is available. Some airports do offer good choices for breakfast. Emporio Rulli is one of the better early morning pastry/sandwich stops, at least. Besides, I had an extra early flight (7:30am) to Boston and really only had this choice Pre-Security. Emporio Rulli is originally out of Larkspur, CA. They are an upscaley Italiano bakery-café (o caffè) kinda place and also have a few locations in downtown San Francisco, as well as a few other kiosks/booths at SFO.

Otherwise, at the International Terminal at SFO, the breakfastary optional choices are:

Pre-Security

burger joint (open at 9:00am)

http://burgerjointsf.com/locations/sfo-international-terminal/

Harbor Village Kitchen (open at 9:00am)

(Sorry, no official-type web-site. I am not sure what they might even offer for breakfast items.)

Sushi Machi (open at 8:00am)

(Again, I could not locate an official-type web-site. Bacon-and-tamago nigiri, perhaps?)

Willow Street Wood Fired Pizza (open at 7:30am)

http://www.willowstreet.com/

Post-Security ~ Boarding Area A

Amoura Café (open at 5:00am)

http://www.amourasf.com/

firewood Café (open at 7:00am)

http://www.firewoodcafe.com/sfo.html

Il Fornaio Caffe Del Mondo (open at 5:30am)

(Another no official-type web-site. I can only assume they are related in some way to the actual Il Fornaio.)

This panino was pretty good. They offered another sandwich that was more in the lines of an actual "breakfast" sandwich, but I mainly went with my choice because I like eggplant. "Eggplant? For Breakfast?"... sorry, but they didn't have any baconplant to go along with it.

Emporio Rulli calls this pastry a "Clamshell", but I have more often seen it referred to as a "Lobster Tail" (which in Bostonese would be "Lobstah Tail"). I have had much better versions of this, but I will put the quality down to this being at an airport restaurant-boutique; there is no way to tell how fresh this was, or when it was delivered.

I have absolutely no idea what Emporio Rulli might offer in the way of condimentary supplementation. Even I don't bother travelling with any of my own hot sauces; you try explaining to TSA that these bottles don't contain any hazardous material.

This was a decent enough breakfast as far as airport food goes, but I just have one major question: Why the heck does jetBlue® fly out of the International Terminal at SFO?!


Glen Bacon Scale Rating: 
Favorito ~ 6.2;
"Clamshell" (Sfogliatella) ~ 5.9

___________________

1. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, numero uno:

"Panini" is a word of Italiano origin. In Italiano the noun "panino" (singular; plural is "panini") is a diminutive of "pane" ("bread") and literally refers to a bread roll. "Panino imbottito" ("stuffed panino") refers to a sandwich, but the words "panino" or "panini" are also often used alone to indicate a sandwich in general. 

2. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, numerus duo:

In Ancient Rome, "panis focacius" was a flat bread baked on the hearth. The word is derived from the Latin "focus" meaning "hearth, place for baking."

3. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, numero tre:

"Eggplant" in Italiano is "melanzana".

4. Stupid, useless cunning linguist pointer of the day, numero quattro:

"Sfogliatella" in Italiano means "small, thin leaf/layer".