United rolls out new premium cabin North American menu

In the never-ending pursuit for the favor of its favored flyers United Airlines is rolling out a new menu for its North American United First and United Business passengers, folks for whom a bag of peanuts just doesn’t cut it.

Starting February 1 look for new eats up front on flights of at least 800 miles, or as short as 2-hours, 20-minutes. It’s part of a multi-million effort the airline is undertaking to upgrade food service and make more elegant eats available to more customers.

The new menu has been created by a team of United chefs in the airlines’ hub cities. Entrees range from saucy to substantial. Consider, there’s:

- Cage-free scrambled eggs fixed up skillet style, with pepper-jack cheese, sautéed pepper mix, sliced New Mexico sausage, potato gratin and fire-roasted pepper sauce;
- Lobster macaroni and cheese with baked bread crumb topping and a side of broccoli rabe;
- Chicken and sausage jambalaya with white rice and green onions.

Breakfast anyone? On meal flights of less than four hours order French toast soufflé or steel-cut oatmeal. Both come with fresh fruit and Greek yogurt. How about dinner? New options include tandoori chicken with basmati rice and paneer. Food like that replaces what United labels its “current premium sandwich options.”

What you get is, in part, determined by how far you fly. On transcontinental and Hawaii flights expect heartier entrees from now on, things like tamale-stuffed chicken wrapped in acorn husk with creamy corn sauce with roasted red and yellow tomatoes and yucca sticks. The main course is followed up by sorbet after lunch or ice cream following dinner.

United says passengers want fresh, flavorful choices. Contends Lynda Coffman, the airline’s vice president of food services, what’s about to take wing will be “restaurant-quality cuisine.”