United Airlines Is Taking Its ‘Chef’s Table’ Dining Experience to 10 Cities Around the World

The latest menus include Nancy Silverton’s lasagna, Penelope Wong’s char siu pork, and David Barzelay’s grilled rack of lamb.

Duck Leg Enchiladas by Chefs Isabel Coss and Matt Conroy
Credit: Courtesy of United Airlines

Key points

• United Airlines is expanding its collaboration with Netflix’s Chef’s Table, introducing new in-flight menus created by 11 renowned chefs across 10 cities worldwide.
• The menus feature dishes from acclaimed chefs including 1990 F&W Best New Chef Nancy Silverton, David Barzelay, and Penelope Wong, with meals inspired by the cities where flights originate.
• The new menus will be available to United Polaris international business class passengers on select flights from November 1 through December 31, with meals available for preorder through United’s app or website.

United is introducing new in-flight menus in collaboration with Netflix’s Chef’s Table.

The airline announced menus featuring salads, appetizers, and entrées, each based on recipes from 11 chefs across 10 departure cities. United said the menus “give United Polaris international business class customers more chef-created dining options inspired by the airline’s hub cities and key international gateways.”

This is the latest menu rotation in the collaboration, which launched in August and has since served more than 60,000 passengers, according to United. The airline also reports that meal satisfaction scores for these dishes are nearly “20 points higher” than for other preordered meals.

United’s new Chef’s Table menus feature recipes from 11 chefs across 10 departure cities.
Credit: Courtesy of United Airlines

“The strong response to Chef’s Table reinforces the value of bringing perspectives of world-class chefs onboard in a way that reflects the destinations we serve and the dining experiences our customers seek,” Aaron McMillan, United’s managing director of hospitality programs, said in a statement provided to Food & Wine. “With this next menu rotation, we’re building on that foundation, introducing new flavors and chef-driven dishes that bring a greater sense of culinary discovery to the inflight experience.”

The menus will be offered on select flights serving lunch or dinner from each participating departure city. United Polaris international business class travelers can pre-order meals exclusively through the airline’s app or website for flights from November 1 through December 31. Another menu rotation is planned for 2027.

Here’s what’s on the menu in each city.

Los Angeles: Chef Nancy Silverton, Osteria Mozza

Silverton, a 1990 F&W Best New Chef, created a menu that includes a Mozza caprese appetizer with slow-roasted cherry tomatoes, burrata, extra-virgin olive oil, and basil pesto. A chopped salad features pepperoncini, salami, provolone, braised chickpeas, red onion, and oregano vinaigrette, while the entrée is a spiral meat lasagna with passato and Taleggio sauce.

Newark: Chef Fariyal Abdullahi, Hav & Mar

Abdullahi, chef-partner of Hav & Mar in New York, draws on her Ethiopian heritage with a shiro hummus appetizer served with seasonal vegetable crudités. Her kale salad includes candied walnuts, pickled dates, fennel, fig, pomegranate, and truffle vinaigrette. The entrée is chermoula-glazed chicken breast with cumin-spiced rainbow carrots and preserved lemon pearl couscous.

Chicago: Chef Jenner Tomaska, Esmé, Petite Edith, and The Alston

Tomaska, a three-time James Beard Award nominee and co-owner of Michelin-starred Esmé in Lincoln Park, opens his menu with cold-smoked trout, apple, kohlrabi, fennel-celery slaw, dill crème, trout roe, and brown butter rye granola. An asparagus and butter lettuce salad follows, with fine herbs, broken gribiche, chive oil, pea puree, toasted buckwheat, and lemon dressing. His entrée is roasted chicken breast with chicken-and-mushroom mousseline, morels, fava beans, and burnt onion jus.

Houston: Chef Justin Yu, Theodore Rex

Yu — Houston native, owner of Theodore Rex, and 2014 F&W Best New Chef — starts with a Gulf crab, horseradish, and basil spring roll. His salad features charred French beans in a sweet-and-sour cumin marinade with pickled grapes and mint. The entrée is poached chicken breast in a garlic, lemongrass, and anchovy curry, served with coconut Carolina Gold rice, aromatic herbs, and marinated cucumber.

Denver: Chef Penelope Wong, Yuan Wonton

Wong, a Denver native, James Beard Award winner, and owner of Yuan Wonton, highlights her favorite Asian American flavors with an appetizer of roasted sweet potato in chrysanthemum tea syrup. A radicchio salad features Honeycrisp apple, Chinese celery, pumpkin seed brittle, and shallot-tarragon vinaigrette. For the main course, she serves char siu pork with celeriac–Yukon Gold potato puree, anise-glazed rainbow carrots, garlic-ginger confit, and pickled onion.

San Francisco: Chef David Barzelay, Lazy Bear, JouJou, and True Laurel

Barzelay, a 2016 F&W Best New Chef and owner of Lazy Bear in the Mission District, starts with Dungeness crab Louis with bay shrimp, butter lettuce, deviled egg, smoked trout roe, and Ritz crackers. Roasted beets with fennel, almond, and grapefruit citronette follow, along with an entrée of grilled rack of lamb with carrot barbecue sauce, cured carrots, and chicories.

Washington, D.C.: Chefs Isabel Coss and Matt Conroy, Lutèce, Pascual, and Maison Bar à Vins

Coss, a 2023 F&W Best New Chef and executive pastry chef of Georgetown’s Lutèce, and Conroy, the restaurant’s executive chef, open their menu with roasted beet and Asian pear with yogurt, sesame salsa macha, mint, and smoked salt. The salad course is hamachi al pastor with roasted pineapple puree, pineapple pico de gallo, and heirloom corn chips. A duck leg enchilada with queso Oaxaca, crema, roasted sweet potatoes, and salsa roja rounds out the menu.

São Paulo: Chef Manu Buffara, Manu

Buffara, who runs Manu in Curitiba, focuses on seasonal and local ingredients. For flights departing São Paulo, she created a poached shrimp appetizer with heart of palm, spicy avocado, and citrus vinaigrette. Her slow-roasted pumpkin salad includes fresh yogurt, toasted cashews, mixed greens, and a tucupi (fermented cassava broth) and lemon emulsion. The entrée is roasted beef with natural jus, bean pirão, sautéed collard greens, and a fresh herb and cumari pepper relish.

London: Chef Tomos Parry, Mountain and Brat

Parry blends his Welsh roots with the open-fire cooking of northern Spain at Mountain in Soho and Brat in Shoreditch. His menu opens with smoked trout, golden beetroot, fennel mayonnaise, toasted buckwheat, and a watercress and dill salad. Roasted pumpkin follows with rosemary stracciatella, pickled apples, spiced pumpkin seeds, and hazelnuts. For the main course, grilled halibut comes with parsley-garlic potatoes, seaweed sauce, lemon spinach, and crispy garlic and lemon oil.

Tokyo: Chef Tashi Gyamtso, Jimgu

Gyamtso, a Tibetan-born chef, leads Jimgu at the Enowa Yufuin resort on the island of Kyushu, where the menu changes with the seasons. His dishes for flights departing Tokyo include red crab with yuzu kosho aioli, a chilled buckwheat soba salad with tsuyu dressing, and ginger-soy-glazed chicken with Japanese curry ratatouille and sesame-crusted potatoes.

* This article was originally published here