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Airport - scrambled egg & bagel sandwich with a cup of coffee. Purse snack - fruity mentos. I also have gum and a couple of packages of peanut butter crackers.

I search for unique restaurants in airports before going to a chain, since I already know what their food tastes like. I think this goes back to eating at train stations in Japan on top of ordering region-specific specialty dishes on the train at different towns.

What was the most surprising for me was the Japanese restaurant at the Detroit ap. In Cleveland, I usually fly out early in the morning since I am likely flying to Hawaii. I go to one of the stations that serves food from the West Side Market and buy Lebanese food.

There are some airports that have great shopping like Minneapolis where I have no time for food (what?!). The last time I stopped there, I bought 2 coats, a sweater, and a bunch of knick knacks.

Cinnabon and Nathan's are decent places to fall back on. I wouldn't advise getting the Philly cheesesteak at Nathan's. My husband got one once while I scarfed down a hot dog. He doesn't throw food away very often, but struggled to eat half of it. He finally gave up and threw it away.

Many years ago, barbecue corn nuts were my traveling snack until I got scared when I thought I cracked a molar on an extra hard one.

Whenever I visit my boyfriend, I get stuck in some lovely southern town. While in Texas I ate a tasty biscuit slathered in butter and honey from some super small concession stand near my terminal. I forget the name of the place because the only thing I can remember about the Dallas airport is the fact that they have vending machines where you can purchase iPods and Proactive face wash- which I thought was beyond bizarre.

In Memphis, I stopped in and had a massive chocolate chip muffin at this bizarre blues cafe located in the airport. It was dark and hip and there was a guy singing on stage and people were smoking inside! As a native Angeleno and a pretty young one at that, I've never seen anyone smoke inside a bar or restaurant. It was a bizarre sight, but the muffin is worth mentioning, that's how good it was.

Would I be dating myself if I said that your thread title makes me think of Grease?

I don't have a go-to airport food, I don't travel enough. That said, purse-sized bags of cashews and M&Ms are shiny and tasty.

If I'm lucky, the airport will have a few restaurants that are unique to the city/state/country. I am partial to the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport because they house so many locally-owned eateries for a smaller international airport: Amy's Ice Creams (Mexican Vanilla is to die for), Salt Lick BBQ, Matt's Famous El Rancho, Mangia Pizza, Waterloo Icehouse and Austin Java just to name a few. The live music stage in the the airport is a bonus.

Most anything as long as it's not a nationwide junk food chain. One of my favorite airports for being stuck is Charlotte, North Carolina. Tons of local places serving food at the terminals, with lots of country style rockers available to sit on while waiting.

Second good place for a lay over is Newark - I always make it a point to grab a Nathans Hot Dog when I'm there.

Also agree with the post above. Austin - Bergstrom airport is great.

Bloody Mary with all the fixin's, a meal in itself.

Austin-Bergstrom is great, and Charlotte, NC has to be one of the nicest airports I've ever been in. Once when I went, there were complimentary chapstick, sanitary wipes, tampons, and breath mints in the womens' bathroom. Now that's service!

I'm with the OP - craving really really bad stuff in the airport. it's like, you're surrounded by shitty food anyways, so what's the use in fighting it? Also, I don't eat much junk food in my daily life, so I kind of use travelling and not having much else to choose from as my excuse that it's ok. thankfull I'm not travelling by plane as much as I used to, and I was NEVER 'stuck' in an airport with decent food. ever. In fact, it's rare that I find decent food in any airport, thus the lure of fast food's consistency. Even if it's $8 for a cheeseburger, I know exactly what it will taste like.

Call me weird but I love airports. If I have enough time I will study the food map to decide what to eat. I usually try to find something that I can't get at home, preferably not a chain and hopefully not too heavy if I'm going to have to sit on a long flight. That said, last week I had a horrible fish taco at Minneapolis (outgoing flight delayed 6 hours), a disgusting breakfast at Washington Dulles and settled on veggie pizza at Sbarro in Philly since the first two were so bad. I'd wanted to try a local place, but thought I'd better stick with safe since it was only 10 in the morning and I was too hungry to wait for lunch. (Was going to try a Philly Cheesesteak in Philly, but didn't think I could stomach it for breakfast.)

NYTimes just did an article on this. If you're at O'Hare, you've apparently got the worst of the bunch. I generally try to survive on trail mix until I get to my destination. Good luck!

http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/travel/21airport.html?8td&emc=tda1

My husband travels frequently and always asks me to pick up some cheddar Combos to pack. He usually ends up eating Sbarro's in the airport and eats the Combos on the plane or at the hotel.

in the Newark/Liberty airport they have the biggest yummiest salted cashews I've ever had.. .I get a pound of them (sometimes more) whenever I fly out of that airport.

The bar.