Jill Kiney Pharis of Sweet Jill’s Bakery oversees cinnamon roll production at her LGB location. Photos by Sarah Bennett.

Most reviews of the newly constructed state-of-the-art concourse at Long Beach Airport focus on its generous free wifi, sleek, resort aesthetics and LEED-certified construction that includes rooftop solar panels, large windows that allow full views of the runway and an open-air palm court that fills the space between its two wings with native plants and a boardwalk that evokes the vibes of a beach only a short drive away.

But one of the best amenities of the new LGB is its food, something travelers at lesser airports don’t even think about until they are forced to buy a stale pre-made sandwich or try and remember which Jamba Juice flavor they actually like in that interminable hour between check-in and boarding.

As was annouced months prior to the concourse’s opening, all of the food and beverage providers at LGB are local businesses, from Belmont Shore’s Polly’s for coffee to McKenna’s On the Bay for burgers. What was not announced, however, is the care and dedication that the concessionaire company Paradies Shops has taken to ensure that meals behind the TSA checkpoint are prepared exactly as mouth-watering as their off-site originals.

Business owners like Jill Kiney Pharis–whose pastries from Sweet Jill’s Bakery are sold alongside Polly’s coffee at two concourse walk-ups–spent weeks at the airport training Paradies staff to make food just as it is done at the original locations, which in Pharis’ case included having them use the same plastic syrup dispenser to pour frosting over trays of freshly baked cinnamon rolls. In the owners’ absence, the same attention to quality and detail is carried out by the Joe Muth, who brings decades of restaurant food experience to his role of LGB’s Executive Chef.