Nothing.
Are Inspired Meals Improving Amtrak Cuisine?
- Thread starter Devil's Advocate
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TVRM610
Conductor
The current food on "the Canadian" is nowhere near the golden age of RR dining cars. It's a step up from Amtrak for sure but when stocking the diner in Winnipeg it was all boxes from Sysco.
I can't speak for Rocky Mountaineer but I didn't think they even had dining cars.
I can't speak for Rocky Mountaineer but I didn't think they even had dining cars.
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G
guest in the west
Guest
Maybe Amtrak could replace the Angus burger with Paula Dean's burger creation: two huge patties sandwiched between two powdered donuts!! No need for dessert! But perhaps an EMT would need to be stationed in the diner!
Ryan
Court Jester
IMO, and in all Honesty, as One who actually is Old enough to have ridden on ,and got to eat in the Diners on such Trains as The Super Chief, The Sunset Ltd., The Texas Eagle, The Southern Crescent, The Panama Ltd. etc. I agree!
But the Canadian IS the Closest one can come to "Old Time" Diner Food and Service without Paying a Fortune to Ride on for Profit Private Rail Excursions! I thought the Canadian Food and Service was Better Than the SP Diner on the Sunset Ltd., but not the Santa Fe Super Chief which was the Best Travel Food and Service I ever had!!
YMMV
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Train Rider
Service Attendant
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We should always insinuate that people who hold different opinions on train travel are racists. That will be winning strategy, especially when the racist in comparison is a Democrat. http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/pictures/celebrities-political-affiliations-20122210/25628
Devil's Advocate
⠀⠀⠀
What I believe Paula and Mica share isn't racism so much as hypocrisy and deceit.
G
guest in the west
Guest
I agree that the Canadian is about as close to old-time dining car cuisine and, having ridden it twice, I'd say it comes pretty close to what I remember as a teenager on the Super Chief, City of Los Angeles and on the Golden State. My uncle was a salad chef aboard the UP City of Los Angeles so of course we always got special service and extra goodies when on the UP, even if only to Vegas or Salt Lake City.IMO, and in all Honesty, as One who actually is Old enough to have ridden on ,and got to eat in the Diners on such Trains as The Super Chief, The Sunset Ltd., The Texas Eagle, The Southern Crescent, The Panama Ltd. etc. I agree!
But the Canadian IS the Closest one can come to "Old Time" Diner Food and Service without Paying a Fortune to Ride on for Profit Private Rail Excursions! I thought the Canadian Food and Service was Better Than the SP Diner on the Sunset Ltd., but not the Santa Fe Super Chief which was the Best Travel Food and Service I ever had!!
As a footnote, I imagine that the food on the Sunset declined pretty rapidly for the few years when SP pulled the diner and Pullmans off the route, leaving passengers with a 40-plus hour ride between LA and New Orleans in chair cars with an automatic buffet car!!! Somehow SP was either shamed or forced by the ICC to restore sleepers and a diner at some point just before Amtrak took over in May 1971.
The Davy Crockett
Engineer
Bingo!
But you forgot one thing. I have a hunch they both also like Southern' Cookin'! Who said anything about Mica being a racist? :huh:
You sure are Correct about SP and their Automat Cars and the Chair Cars! But I actually did ride the Old SP Sunset Ltd. when it was a Streamliner and still had First Class Equipment! It was a Nice Ride but not the Super Chief or other Crack Trains! (and the Canadian is Better than the Sunset, as you said the Best Modern Affordable(when you get Discount Fares) Old Time Train Experience going! :wub: )
Lets agree to keep Paula Deen out of Amtrak threads. She's proved herself to be a crude, vile and loathsome individual. That disingenuous smirk that she always carries on her face makes me want to vomit. I would not dine in her Savannah , GA. restaurant, if you gave me the meal for nothing. My son ate there once and he even said that it sucked. Everything is cooked in grease.
It's a Heart Attack on a Plate!
You should try my chicken fried Spam.It's a Heart Attack on a Plate!
B
BSME25
Guest
Had the short ribs on #2 last night. Small portion but very good.
Getting back on topic. Has anyone noticed recently that Amtrak is cutting back on a few things like, no more bottled water or juice in the sleeper vestibules, less ice to be had, fewer dinner rolls, butter, jelly on the diner tables etc. It looks like cost cutting is in full swing but even if Amtrak got the cost of all of the food down to zero, the diners would still lose money. Each diner needs 5-6 people to work it. At an average cost of $200/day (salary plus benefits) per employee, and the cost of maintaining and transporting the dining car; the dining car can never be expected to make money. If it keeps going like this, why before you know it, Amtrak will be serving box lunches.
Has anyone else noticed this trend in the sleepers ? To what extent and on what trains ?
G
Gord
Guest
I agree that the Canadian has about the best food avaiable on a train that provides a real passenger service and is not just a dinner or tourist train.Yes, the Canadian handles many tourists but there are loys of peple travelling bewtween intremediate stops, Armstrong to Winniopeg, Saskatoon to Edmonton and so on.IMO, and in all Honesty, as One who actually is Old enough to have ridden on ,and got to eat in the Diners on such Trains as The Super Chief, The Sunset Ltd., The Texas Eagle, The Southern Crescent, The Panama Ltd. etc. I agree!
But the Canadian IS the Closest one can come to "Old Time" Diner Food and Service without Paying a Fortune to Ride on for Profit Private Rail Excursions! I thought the Canadian Food and Service was Better Than the SP Diner on the Sunset Ltd., but not the Santa Fe Super Chief which was the Best Travel Food and Service I ever had!!
The Royal Canadian Pacific and Rocky Mountaineer are reputed to offer superior meals but they are geared to the well-off touris, only.
I dined in many trans starting in the early 1960's in Canada including the Canadian when CPR ran it. Via's Canadian diners are as good or better than any I can recall.
Nobody seems to consider rail dining car service prior to the Great Depression in 1929. There is plenty of literature out there to suggest that this was the true Golden Age of rail dining; equal to or better than post WWII steamliner era.
OlympianHiawatha
Engineer
I noticed no packaged Onions in the Condiments tray on the Heartland Flyer last Monday and the LSA said they have taken them out system wide. That calls for a scathing letter to Mr. Boardman :angry:
:angry:
H
Herman
Guest
Up until the end, I agree with those who went even further: there were French restaurants that were the best but the best general restaurant in America was the dinner on the Super Chief - down to their own vegetable farm and the onboard live fish tank for the Trout.
And yes, until the end "The Stars" quietly road. The onboard real "Muzak" out of the big speaker built into the center of the rear most end seats of the dome car was SAD.
And yes, until the end "The Stars" quietly road. The onboard real "Muzak" out of the big speaker built into the center of the rear most end seats of the dome car was SAD.
Swadian Hardcore
Engineer
What?! No more bottled water in the Sleepers? How expensive can bottled water be? Pretty soon Amtrak's going to be following the path of the airlines, first cutting food, then charging for everything, then reducing comfort (which is already happening on the Superliners).
Don't say it's never going to happen, Mr. Boardman is not that nice.
Don't say it's never going to happen, Mr. Boardman is not that nice.
Whoa... Don't nail the coffin shut just yet! I have been on Sleeper trips as many as 6 years ago with no bottled water available. This is likely symbolic of a less than stellar SCA than a system-wide indication of shut-down. *sigh*
The sky is not falling. Sleepers are not going away, and neither are the current amenities. Sounds like the pre-packaged onions for your hot dog have disappeared though (never seen them on Amtrak until this mentioning though.) This is likely due to low demand more than anything else though,
The sky is not falling. Sleepers are not going away, and neither are the current amenities. Sounds like the pre-packaged onions for your hot dog have disappeared though (never seen them on Amtrak until this mentioning though.) This is likely due to low demand more than anything else though,
S
steve smith
Guest
Had a pleasant trip on VIA's passenger train from Montreal to Halifax a few years ago. The classic 1950s streamlined dining car had all French waiters,
and both the service and the meals were perfect. At one mean, a waiter asked "have you been on Amtrak? How does our dining car compare?" All I could tell him was that his diner was like a classic from the Golden Age, while Amtrak is what one would expect from something eun by present-day Americans with present-day attitudes. Yes, many Amtrak staff are pleasant and even horse around. But let's face it, neither trains nor planes cater to the wealthy anymore, so we can't expect to be treated with the quiet professional service of the Super Chief and Broadway Limited. A school friend who was a stewardess for 25 years says that when she started, travellers dressed up and behaved well, and she liked the job. By the mid 1990s, she said, being a flight attendant in coach class was now "like being a waitress who is working on a Greyhound bus with passengers all dressed in pajamas."
and both the service and the meals were perfect. At one mean, a waiter asked "have you been on Amtrak? How does our dining car compare?" All I could tell him was that his diner was like a classic from the Golden Age, while Amtrak is what one would expect from something eun by present-day Americans with present-day attitudes. Yes, many Amtrak staff are pleasant and even horse around. But let's face it, neither trains nor planes cater to the wealthy anymore, so we can't expect to be treated with the quiet professional service of the Super Chief and Broadway Limited. A school friend who was a stewardess for 25 years says that when she started, travellers dressed up and behaved well, and she liked the job. By the mid 1990s, she said, being a flight attendant in coach class was now "like being a waitress who is working on a Greyhound bus with passengers all dressed in pajamas."
Swadian Hardcore
Engineer
Who knows? Cut a bit here and there, by 2030 you might just see Amtrak turn into Southwest on rails. Not Spirit on rails, but Southwest on rails. The airlines started off cutting bits and pieces, then the cuts piled up and we have the poor air service of today.
Now you seem to know me well!
Ispolkom
Engineer
Like Blackwolf, I've seen a lot of variability in how available water, juice, etc. are in sleepers. Heck, I can remember when they still offered pop! The cranberry juice seems especially hard to find, which is annoying since it's the only fruit juice that mixes with gin. I'm not going to mix orange juice with gin, not matter what Snoop Dog raps.
Inevitably, though, I'll buy a bottle of cranberry juice on a stopover and find the mother lode of cranberry juices in the next sleeper.
As usual, I'll mention that not every train in the golden era was the Southwest Chief, and not every dining car was the Turquoise Room. How was the hamburger steak on the KCS Flying Crow? What was dinner like on the Pennsy's Admiral? Or the IC's Creole? We know that the Panama Limited had a wonderful dining car, but I doubt that you could have booked a ticket on the Panama Limited in the 50s south of Cairo if you weren't white.
Inevitably, though, I'll buy a bottle of cranberry juice on a stopover and find the mother lode of cranberry juices in the next sleeper.
As usual, I'll mention that not every train in the golden era was the Southwest Chief, and not every dining car was the Turquoise Room. How was the hamburger steak on the KCS Flying Crow? What was dinner like on the Pennsy's Admiral? Or the IC's Creole? We know that the Panama Limited had a wonderful dining car, but I doubt that you could have booked a ticket on the Panama Limited in the 50s south of Cairo if you weren't white.
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