Hawaiian, Alaska airlines add new chef-designed menus and wines for premium cabins

Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines are rolling out refreshed chef-designed menus and a new wine selection for international Suites, or Business Class, guests, including Hawaiʻi-inspired dishes from Honolulu chefs, the airlines announced Thursday.

The menus cover flights to Asia, Europe and Oceania, according to the airlines. Hawaiʻi-born chef Dell Valdez, who runs Vein in Kakaʻako, Dell’s Kitchen & Bakery and Mio PASTALOGY, will introduce a new international Suites menu Oct. 21. Dishes include ahi au poivre with celery root purée, huli huli barbecue chicken with kimchee fried rice, grilled pork medallions with a soy-balsamic honey glaze, and blackened tofu with Brussels sprouts and orzo.

Valdez also designs Hawaiian’s First Class meals for flights from the U.S. continent to Hawaiʻi, the airlines said.

Also starting Oct. 21, Chef Keaka Lee of Honolulu’s Kapa Hale will design select First Class menus on Hawaiian flights departing Hawaiʻi. The airlines listed a loco moco breakfast and braised beef with roasted ʻulu, or breadfruit, as dinner offerings.

Maui-based chef Sheldon Simeon, a James Beard Award finalist, previously developed Hawaiian’s Main Cabin pre-order meal program for flights between Hawaiʻi and the U.S. continent, the airlines said in a September announcement. The latest release said Simeon continues to craft pre-order meals for Main Cabin passengers.

On the Alaska side, Seattle chef Brady Ishiwata Williams, a James Beard Award winner, is adding new Suites dishes. They include miso-glazed black cod on flights to Tokyo-Narita and galbi-glazed chicken on flights to Seoul-Incheon. His menu is available now for pre-order. Seattle chef Renee Erickson, also a James Beard Award winner, will create seasonal menus for Alaska’s Seattle-London route and for Athens and Paris when service begins in May 2027, according to the airlines.

The international Business Class wine list now includes Paul Hobbs West Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir and Viña Cobos Cocodrilo Corte Red Blend from Argentina, the airlines said. The selection rotates seasonally.

Starting next week, Hawaiian international Business Class passengers can pre-select meals as Alaska passengers already can, the airlines said. Suites guests can choose from up to five entrées on eligible domestic and international flights. Passengers can order through the Alaska and Hawaiian mobile app from two weeks to 20 hours before departure.

Hawaiian and Alaska are subsidiaries of Alaska Air Group. Travel can be booked at hawaiianair.com and alaskaair.com.