JFK’s Terminal Five Could Be the Greatest Airport Food Court Ever

This way to tapas, steak-frites, and agnolotti del plin.Photo: Getty Images

We were excited to learn in a recent Observer article that Mark Ladner is consulting on an Italian restaurant at JFK's JetBlue terminal for later this year. The restaurant will be called Aero Nova, he tells us, and will be run by his former chef at Del Posto, Mario "Little Mario" Carbone. "The emphasis will be on simple, fresh, affordable, seasonal Italian food," says Ladner. "We're appealing to a large demographic."

But what if the JetBlue terminal got even tastier?

A source close to the Aero Nova project tells us Ladner isn’t the only Manhattan chef heading to the JetBlue terminal. This food-court whisperer is saying that some of the talent behind Balthazar may be in with a bistro concept, the STK folks could be working their expected angle, and someone from Tía Pol might be bringing tapas to the party. Of course, everyone rumored to be involved denies any knowledge of this, and OTG, the company putting the deal together, hasn't returned multiple calls. So consider this an unconfirmed flight-time fantasy for now. But if it's even remotely true, it'd be one of the coolest things to happen at a New York airport since the Lufthansa heist.