Virgin America Introduces New Seasonal Menus for Autumn With Globally Inspired Cuisine

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Virgin America, the California-based airline known for its award-winning cuisine, today introduces new seasonal menus for First Class, Main Cabin Select and Main Cabin service.  The fall menus offer guests a wide array of entrees and snacks inspired by flavors from around the world.  With delicious and eclectic menu items including a Creole Crawfish Omelet and a Paneer and Vegetable Tikka, the new menus are sure to please the global tastes of Virgin America's flyers.

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The new Main Cabin menu is available "on-demand" to Virgin America flyers via the airline's innovative touch-screen seatback entertainment platform.  The Red ™ In-Flight Entertainment platform allows travelers to order drinks, snacks and meals right from their seatback touch-screen any time during the flight.  Virgin America is the only airline in the U.S. with a touch-screen seatback menu that enables "anytime" ordering during a flight.  In July, Virgin America launched upgrades to the Red platform, including an additional suggested "pairings" menu and an "open tab" feature which allows guests to swipe their card only once and keep their tab open for continuous ordering during the flight.

Since its launch in 2007, Virgin America has earned a list of travel industry awards including, "Best Domestic Airline for Food" in Travel + Leisure 2009 World's Best Awards and "Best Overall Passenger Experience" in the 2010 APEX Passenger Choice Awards™ .Virgin America's menus are crafted using an assortment of nutritious and fresh ingredients, including local fruits and vegetables, premium meats and artisan breads.  Starting this month, Virgin America is also proud to exclusively feature "cage free" eggs on its in-flight menu.  

Through December 2010 guests will enjoy these autumn and winter seasonal menus featuring a variety of gourmet dishes that offer something for every taste.  Selections featured will vary by route, but include:

First Class Breakfast (all First Class meals are complimentary)

• Vanilla Mascarpone Fruit Bowl: A fruit parfait of vanilla mascarpone layered with ripe mango and fresh blueberries. Topped with crunchy almond nut brittle.
• Yogurt & Granola Parfait: Build your own breakfast parfait with crunchy granola, silky yogurt, and sweet fresh berry compote.
• Spanish Omelet with Sofrito and Grilled Arepas:  A South American inspired omelet served with grilled corn cakes, fried plantains, and sofrito sauce.  Finished with sour cream, queso Blanco, and a fresh mango salsa.
• Monte Cristo with fresh fruit: Egg battered, grilled turkey, fontina cheese, and arugula sandwich. Served with a refreshing fruit salad of watermelon, pineapple, and fresh mint.
• Creole Crawfish Omelet:  Egg omelet with a Creole crawfish filling served with a Cajun style cream corn and Tasso vegetable patties.
• Leek and Potato Frittata: Baked egg frittata with leeks, potatoes, and fontina cheese. Served with creamed mushrooms, roasted tomato, zucchini potato cake, grilled artichokes and fresh asparagus.
• Tea Sandwiches:  A cucumber and dill tea sandwich and a roasted vegetable and herb pinwheel served with smoked gouda cheese, artichokes, tomatoes, olives, and toasted walnuts and a chocolate petit four.
• Pumpkin & Spice Bread
• Sweet Crumb Cake

First Class Lunch, Dinner and Midnight Snacks:

• Roasted Eggplant and Zucchini Roulade: Grilled eggplant and zucchini wrapped around candied fennel, asparagus, and roasted tomatoes on top of Italian stewed vegetables. Served with chilled ratatouille.
• Grilled Anitpasto with Fresh Mozzarella: An array of grilled garden fresh vegetables and fresh mozzarella cheese drizzled with a sweet and sour tamarind balsamic reduction.
• Fruit & Cheese plate:  A light snack of brie, Swiss, and aged cheddar cheese, fresh red grapes, dried apricot, and toasted walnut, served with Cranberry Rosemary Pan Forte flatbread from Rustic Baking Company in Marin County California.
• Drunken Pork Stew with Cabernet-Vanilla Pears:  Red wine braised pork stew served with braised red cabbage, pears poached in red wine, and mashed Yukon gold potatoes.
• Braised Veal Shank with Sage Polenta:  Braised Veal Shank top with its own braising liquid and a garlic and lemon gremolata.  Served with sage polenta, baby carrots, baby squash and broccolini.
• Paneer and Vegetable Tikka with Couscous:  Spiced curry with paneer, eggplant, and cauliflower served with Moroccan spiced rice pilaf, mango chutney, and grilled pita bread.
• Layered Mediterranean Vegetables:  Baked portabella mushroom layered with marinated grilled zucchini, yellow squash, roasted tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella cheese. Served with tomato confit, grilled fennel, and spinach and cannellini bean Italian rice.
• Beef Tenderloin with Italian Sausage: Beef tenderloin stuffed with mild Italian sausage and cooked in a bacon portabella-tomato braising sauce.  Served with roasted brussels sprouts, baby carrots, and spring onion mashed potatoes
• Fall Vegetables in Puff Pastry with Coulis:  Potatoes, spinach, squash, mushrooms, artichokes, peas, tomatoes, pine nuts, feta cheese and fontina cheese wrapped and baked in puff pastry. Served with a fresh bay green salad with red bell pepper vinaigrette.
• Rosemary Rum Baba with Caramel Pineapple:  A rosemary and rum soaked sponge cake served with a black pepper-caramelized pineapple and mascarpone cheese.
• Raspberry and Blueberry Cobbler with Apples: Freshly baked fruit cobbler with raspberries and blueberries served with caramelized cinnamon apples and vanilla sauce.

New First Class Wines:

• Artesa Carneros Chardonnay 2008
• Artesa Carneros Pinot Noir 2007

In Main Cabin and Main Cabin Select, guests can select their meal and snack options at the touch of a button using the Red™ system's interactive seatback entertainment platform at any time during their flight. The on-demand ordering system is only offered by Virgin America and is part of the airline's standard, award-winning service model.

Prices for the new Main Cabin seasonal menu options range from $7 - $10, and are complimentary in Main Cabin Select. These include:

• Power Protein Breakfast:  Be fueled with this protein pack combining a hard-boiled egg, cinnamon Danish bread, aged cheddar cheese, Swiss cheese, fresh pineapple, grapes and ripe mango.
• Artisan Cheese & Fruit:  A medley of artisan cheese including camembert, aged cheddar, fresh mozzarella, havarti dill, pepper jack cheese all paired with seasonal fruits, fresh grapes, assorted sundried fruits and crunchy crostini from Rustic Bakery in Marin County, California.
• Veggies & Hummus:  Gluten-free Crunchmaster crackers, along with pickled and garden fresh veggies; broccoli, radishes, summer squash, and tomatoes. They are perfect to dip in our sweet peppadew hummus and a curry dipping sauce
• Bavarian Roast Beef Sandwich:  A sandwich built for Oktoberfest. Thinly-shaved medium cooked roast beef is piled on thick sliced Russian rye bread, with fontina cheese, pickled red onions, tomatoes, crisp lettuce and finished with a whole grain mustard-horseradish sauce. Served with a Toblerone chocolate.
• Thai Peanut Chicken Hand Roll: Enjoy fresh chicken breast marinated in a Thai Sesame dressing, along with sweet bell peppers, carrots, dry roasted peanuts and fresh cilantro enveloped in a red pepper flatbread. Completed with a Thai noodle salad and Toblerone chocolate.
• Homestyle Chicken Salad Sandwich: Homestyle chicken salad accompanied by vine ripened tomatoes and crisp lettuce on hearth baked 9-grain bread. Served with a Toblerone chocolate.
• California Deli Combo Sandwich: Thinly shaved turkey breast, Cure 81® deli fresh ham, havarti dill cheese, farm fresh tomato and green lettuce placed in a marble rye hoagie. Toblerone chocolate for dessert.

In addition to the fresh offerings onboard, Virgin America flights offer prepared meal boxes in three varieties: Comfort (a vegetarian meal including almond butter, apple chips and crackers), Hearty (including salami, cheese and crackers) and Protein (a wheat-free, Kosher and Halal meal that includes protein-packed lemon-pepper tuna and hummus).  Each meal box is available for $7. Virgin America also offers a wide selection of snacks on-demand like the newly added Jelly Belly® Jelly Beans (available for $3).

With outstanding service and beautifully designed new planes, Virgin America has captured a loyal guest following and experienced significant growth since its launch. Virgin America offers over 100 flights a day and flies to: San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C., Seattle, Las Vegas, San Diego, Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Toronto and Orlando (begins October 6), Dallas Fort-Worth (beginning in December ), Los Cabos (December 16) and Cancun (January 19).

EDITORS NOTE: Virgin America is a U.S. owned, controlled and operated airline.  It is an entirely separate company from Virgin Atlantic. Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group is a minority share investor in Virgin America.

About Virgin America: Headquartered in California and launched in August 2007, Virgin America employs over 1700 people. The airline's base of operations is San Francisco International Airport.  Virgin America offers in-flight internet service on every flight and hosts the largest in-flight entertainment library in the North American skies via the Red™ platform.  In three years flying, Virgin America was named "Best Domestic Airline" in the Conde Nast Traveler 2008 and 2009 Readers' Choice Awards and "Best Domestic Airline" in Travel + Leisure's 2008, 2009 and 2010 World's Best Awards.  For photos and more: www.virginamerica.com

SOURCE Virgin America