We Made Cheese Plates out of Lounge Food at Newark Airport and Had a Really Gouda Time

For most people, airport lounges are a way to pass some time before your flight, grab a bite to eat — and maybe even have a drink or two.

Well… we’re not most people.

For us, it was a place to make three different cheese plates with none other than Marissa Mullen, the Internet’s favorite Cheese Plate Influencer. PS: She flies JetBlue economy better than you. Unsurprisingly, we had a really gouda time.

We decided to head to Newark Airport (EWR), since it has lounges for the Big Three airlines: Delta, United and American. Our journey began by the American Airlines gates, where we found ourselves at the Admirals Club. It’s a pretty modest lounge, and thankfully was very empty when we arrived around 11:30am. We headed straight to the food section to scope out our options, and were pleasantly surprised. After all, cheese, hummus, olives, carrots and tomatoes are all the makings of a great cheese plate. See for yourself:

After that, we headed to the Delta gates to make ourselves at home in the SkyClub. We had to take the monorail, which felt like Disney World and definitely added to the absolute absurdity of the whole day. In related news: My job is really weird.

We decided to go for a brunch theme here since they had hard-boiled eggs. Here, Marissa also explained to me her whole “Cheese by Numbers” strategy — a.k.a. how to assemble the perfect cheese plate, every single time. We topped it all off with some mimosas, naturally.

Last but not least, we headed to the United Club in Terminal C. Yes, I know what you’re thinking: “Why did you go there instead of the Polaris Lounge?! What is wrong with you?” My answer to that? We wanted to compare apples to apples — or at least cheddars to cheddars.

All in all, we were actually the most impressed by the United Club. It was the biggest of all the lounges we saw that day, and it had this gorgeous colorful light fixture in the middle. I guess that’s good since it’s such an important airport for United. At the lounge, we opted for a “dessert” cheese plate, because it stands to reason to have a dessert cheese plate after your brunch cheese plate while adventuring through Newark Airport, right?

After we made each plate, we excitedly brought it over to the lounge agents at the front — and I kid you not, every single time, they were so thankful and appreciative. Granted, we had literally just assembled cheese and other various snacks from the lounge in which they work in (Marissa did bring her own garnish, though!), but it just goes to show you that people really do appreciate the little things in life — and that a smile and some friendly conversation can go a long way.

Not to sound cheesy (pun intended) but next time you find yourself in an airport lounge with some time to kill, take a moment to appreciate what you have around you — you never know, you may be able to turn it into an Instagram-friendly masterpiece.