Fresh Air's view of the central core
The Fresh Air Restaurant was Babylon 5's most expensive, high class and only five star restaurant on the entire station. Located in Red Sector, Fresh Air was owned and operated by restaurateur Emerson Briggs-Wallace. The establishment was aptly named as the main dining area was roofless, affording a stunning view of the interior of the station's central core.[1]
Fresh Air catered to clientèle from every major race on B5 (with the obvious exception of Vorlons) and offered a varied menu of dishes and ingredients from several worlds and by 2262 had begun to offer a take-out service to station residents via the Babcom system.[2]
Bo reading a copy of 'Dining on Babylon 5'.
In October 2260 the Fresh Air published a xenocuisine cookbook called 'Dining on Babylon 5' featuring recipes contributed by several of the station's more prominent residents.[3]
It was frequently the restaurant of choice for many of the crew as well as the diplomatic guests.[2] In early 2258 Londo Mollari made a reservation for himself and Adira Tyree.[4] In December of that year, Catherine Sakai and Jeffrey Sinclair took Michael Garibaldi and Susan Ivanova out to dinner at Fresh Air to announce their engagement and to ask the two to serve as best man and maid of honor, respectively.[5] In early 2259 Delenn asked Sheridan out to dinner at Fresh Air in an effort to learn more about humans, following her change.[6] In early 2260 Julie Musante, Babylon 5's newly arrived political officer from the Ministry of Peace, "suggested" that she and Sheridan dine at Fresh Air in an attempt to get to know one another, though her true motive was as a prelude to seduction.[7] In 2262 Garibaldi made another in-person visit to the restaurant with Lise Hampton-Edgars at her urging. He recalled that last time he had visited his dinner was cut short with an emergency and the event was not pleasant, which suggested his luck would turn the current visit into something less than pleasant, as the Maitre'D was a bit insistent about serving alcohol despite Garibaldi trying to cut that out. The Maitre'D later caught Garibaldi spiking his own coffee and took the queue to similarly doctor up future servings of coffee for the customer. [8]
