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The OC's John Wayne Airport Gets a Little Work Done

This summer seems to be the season for airport dining expansion and renovation. The latest airport getting in on all the food court make over action is John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California.

Things are already starting to open, as Vino Volo—they can be found in around ten other domestic airports—has already uncorked its first bottles to visitors and locals alike. The more local options are still on track for a debut either later this year or early next year. Javi’s—and offshoot of the Mexican restaurant in Newport Beach and Irvine—is en route to the airport, so expect plenty of pre-departure margaritas for thirsty travelers. Other options include Ruby's Diner, Ruby's Shake Shack, Zov's Bakery and Cafe, Jerry's Wood-Fired Dog, and Hobie Sand Bar. In total, restaurant space at the airport is going from around 15,000 square feet to around 27,000 square feet, so it’s definitely quite an upgrade.

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Froyo A Go Go! What Airports Have Pinkberry Frozen Yogurt?

Last week, we told you aboutthree great French Brasseries found in airports, but this week we're feeling way more casual...way more like we just wanna eat dessert and get on a flight with happy memories of a last-minute airport indulgence. That's right: we're talking about Pinkberry.

This LA-based frozen yogurt chain has damn near conquered the world in short of five years, and naturally that's included airport outposts. It feels like only yesterday we were writing about their very first Pinkberry-in-an-airport opening, back in November 2009 in Terminal 1 at LAX Los Angeles was a fitting first, but what other airports are swirlin' up the fancy froyo now?

Airports with Pinkberry, as of June 2011:

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This Year's Top Picks for Airport Concessions Include Vancouver and New York's JFK

We’ve done our share of taste-testing at airports around the country, and we certainly have our favorites when it comes to the fancy and not-so-fancy options for airport eats. Now we have the official opinion when it comes to airport concessions, as Airports Council International-North America released their picks for some of the best eats within North America.

Top honors go to our friends north of the border in Vancouver, as the airport scored the overall award of excellence thanks to its 167 shops, restaurants, and other businesses. Officials especially like their different plazas and “streets” that feature all kinds of different stuff from British Columbia. We’re sure a healthy dose of Tim Horton’s coffee—with Timbits of course—helped out their cause a bit. We’ve only been to Vancouver’s airport once, so we can’t give a full review, but we did think both the pre and post security options were pretty darn nice.

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Load Up on Pinkberry Before Your Southwest Flight

It was only a matter of time before the faux fro-yo craze that is Pinkberry would hit the airports and we were oh so privileged to see it in action last night at LAX's Terminal 1, known to locals as The Southwest Terminal (although US Airways does have some presence here.)

Wedged in between a Starbucks, a California Pizza Kitchen ASAP and a Gordon Biesch brewery, the Pinkberry seemed to hold its own. We saw many a customer in our 45-minute wait in this airport fast food haven that solely came in to get some Pinkberry.

The bonus? You can also get Pinkberry as soon as you deplane as the location is right before the escalators down to the baggage claim.

Related Stories:
· Pinkberry Coverage [Jaunted]
· An Injection of Frozen Yogurt for Terminal 1 at LAX [Jaunted]

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LAX Terminals 2 and 3 Temporarily Lose Access to Drinking Water

LAX gets brownie—er, yogurt—points for the impending arrival of Pinkberry, but an unfortunate event that took place last Thursday, July 16, caused the critical lack of a resource even more essential than fruit-topped swirls, though we're sure some Angelenos would disagree.

According to reports on the official Los Angeles World Airports website, a main water pipe burst under Parking Structure 2B, leading to partial flooding of the space, temporary roadway closures, and a halt in water service to Terminals 2 and 3, including restrooms and drinking supply. While the incident didn't cause any flight delays or major disruptions, portable toilets had to be brought in, and travelers turned to terminal vendors selling pre-packaged bottled water for hydration needs.

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LAX Will Fill Its Belly With Fresh New Concessions

We admit to being excited upon learning that Pinkberry is opening a counter at LAX's Terminal 1, but the airport's next move is really beyond our wildest hopes. LAX, an airport that has explicitly prided itself on having meager concessions, is upgrading their offerings in all seven of their regular terminals.

This massive improvement will be it's first airport-wide renovation in over a decade, and will cover everything from bars to newsstands.

Although the space devoted to beverage, food and retail services at the nation's third-busiest airport remains comparatively small, LAX officials say they now want to offer the traveling public more concessions than they have ever had. "We want more variety, more dining and beverage opportunities, and better-quality food and service," said Gina Marie Lindsey, executive director of the airport agency. "We need more cutting-edge, more contemporary and more L.A.-centric approaches."

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Pinkberry Takes Over the White House Today, Tomorrow the World

Italy has gelato and Japan its mochi ice cream, but is America about to become the United States of Frozen Yogurt? For people living in New York City and southern California, the explosion of the Pinkberry fro yo chain and its rivals over the last couple years is old news. But a small item in the NY Daily News about Malia and Sasha Obama's new favorite food could make Pinkberry a national household name.

According to the piece, the Obama girls "grew to love Pink­berry frozen yogurt on the campaign trail, says Star, but there isn’t a Pinkberry store within 200 miles of D.C., so the White House chef has learned to replicate the recipe." Apparently they've even begun requesting special, non-existent flavors of Pinkberry fro yo like cucumber (yum!) and honey.

The Pinkberry shops are already mini tourist destinations in themselves, and last week marked the beginning of Pinkberry's bicycle delivery service within NYC. Perhaps now they'll focus on DC and later—the world, even if their sort of fro yo is already pretty ubiquitous in Asia. In this hemisphere, however, it's a special treat and so we'd take a daytrip to DC if they could whip us up a batch of cucumber.

Related Stories:
· Newsstand Junkie [NY Daily News]
· Pinkberry [Official Site]
· Food Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

[Pinkberry photo: Jaunted; Globe image: Wikipedia Commons]

Airport Food / LAX / Pinkberry / → All Tags

An Injection of Frozen Yogurt for Terminal 1 at LAX

It's not enough for LA-based frozen yogurt chain Pinkberry to already have storefronts dotting the retail landscape of New York City and California, but now LAX will get a taste of their $5 servings.

Pinkberry's thirst for expansion won't stop with inhabiting their home airport either; here's the flavor of their hopes:

Pinkberry also announced three new partnerships focused on domestic expansion, including HMSHost, a leading retail operator of specialty travel venues operating in more than 80 percent of U.S. airports, which will open their first Pinkberry store at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in Terminal 1.

This is financed by the $9 million injection of new investor capital that they just received. The company is also expanding to the Middle East, suggesting an endless array of funny-because-they're-true "this is why they hate us" jokes.

Terminal 1 is dominated by USAir and Southwest. It's one of the LAX terminals that's gone the longest without a renovation, making it a potentially odd choice for image-conscious Pinkberry. Maybe they are just trying to do something nice for the strippers.

Related Stories:
· Pinkberryswirl [Twitter]
· Jaunted Takes the Pinkberry Challenge [Jaunted]
· Pinkberry Coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: VirtualErn]

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Pinkberry Saga Continues: Rep Answers, But Questions Remain

After we heard from a yogurt expert speculating on the mystery ingredient and other facts of the Los Angeles and New York City chain Pinkberry, we were contacted by Heather Wilson of Weber Shandwick, which represents Pinkberry in the realm of communications.

We asked Ms. Wilson about the secret ingredient, and here's what she told us...

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Pinkberry Update: Expert Weighs In On Powdery Substance

After we put out the call to have our burning questions about the secret ingredient in the dessert dished by L.A. and N.Y.C. chain Pinkberry, one expert shared his thoughts with us.

A Jaunted reader, who would rather remain anonymous, used to be in the frozen yogurt business himself in the 1970s, an experience he described as, "Fun, but we ate all the profits behind the counter... I tried the Pinkberry and loved it actually, hence my extreme disappointment when I learned..."

READ ALL ABOUT IT!

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Jaunted Takes the Pinkberry Challenge

On Monday, Jaunted wrote about the mysterious substance known as Pinkberry, the coastal dessert craze that convinced Nicole Richie it was okay to eat again. Last night, one intrepid editor decided to taste it for herself...

The line isn't out the door of New York's West 32nd Street branch of Pinkberry yet, nor are there stretch limos double-parked outside on the Koreatown block. Still, there's a buzz of activity outside the glass-fronted store, and the girl who walks in behind me sends her friend to guard the last tiny, mod round table. The door to the shop is open because it's eight hundred degrees inside the store. This must be part of the health benefits, right? Because I think I just lost five pounds. While I wait I peruse $64 juicers with accompanying glasses, salt and pepper shakers whose feet stick together and, of course, the myriad toppings at the counter.

But this is all frosting; how does it taste?

MORE

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What Is In Pinkberry?

As far as fads go, we'll call it cooler than POGs but not as dangerous as slap bracelets. The Los Angeles dessert chain Pinkberry gained favor with stars like Paris Hilton, Kate Bosworth and Jake Gyllenhaal who enjoy this low-calorie frozen treat in plain or green tea flavors, piled with fruit, granola or chocolate chips. But what is in a Pinkberry? California health officials have ruled the chain can no longer call that fat-free frosty stuff "frozen yogurt," since it doesn't contain enough active cultures to qualify. Additionally, Pinkberry's signature dish is not made in factories, but made fresh in stores with some kind of mystery ingredient -- which sounds like a bonus to us, but is considered a liability according to state legislation.

The faux yogurt question doesn't look like it will slow down Pinkberry's expansion at all; after building 17 franchises in LA, the chain jumped to New York City where it has been drawing long lines since the dead of winter. Even a mouse problem at its Upper East Side location couldn't keep the socialites and hipsters away. Your move, Tasti-D-Lite.

Know what the Pinkberry mystery ingredient is? Let us know here.

Related Stories:
· Pinkberry [Official Site]
· Pinkberry Story [LA Times]

[Photo: roboppy]