July Changes to Lake Shore and Capitol Limited Dining

[crescent-zephyr]

I do think a properly marketed "just for you" type menu for coach... Served at your seat by your coach attendant (the way it was supposed to be done), along with a slightly larger, but still limited, chef preprared menu for sleeping car passengers served at your room by your attendant, or picked up by LSA in the "sleeper lounge" could be a nice middle ground compromise. You could save considerable costs by cutting out the servers, but still prepare somewhat fresh food on board.

Someone is paying for the bags, fancy packaging, and pre-prepared foods being served in the new program, by cutting a few of those costs down, it could potentially even out, especially if you added a few extra cost "premium" appetizers / deaserts available to sleeper passengers.

 

[bretton88]

The amount of trash from the new meals on the CL is appalling. Huge bags filled with the boxes, plastic and glass containers.

To be fair, we don't know how much trash the previous setup was generating, just much of it was hidden from the customer. I know that when I worked in an industrial kitchen, we generated large amounts of trash too.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

The amount of trash from the new meals on the CL is appalling. Huge bags filled with the boxes, plastic and glass containers.

To be fair, we don't know how much trash the previous setup was generating, just much of it was hidden from the customer. I know that when I worked in an industrial kitchen, we generated large amounts of trash too.

It's hard to hide it when the trash is collected at major station stops right in front of you. In my experience the reusable dishes era produced less than a quarter of the trash being produced with today's setup. When "modern" lunchbox dining comes to Texas Eagle Sleeper Class I'll check again to see how it compares.

 

[TEREB]

We were on the northbound Silver Meteor mid July. The AC in the Dining room wasn't working so we decided to have our meals in our bedroom and asked for late service. We had no problems getting what we wanted. We also had the pecan tart and the raspberry tart after both lunch and dinner. Whipped cream topping was not offered though.

 

[JRR]

Well, end of July, we got the whipped topping but not the other. I guess I’d trade and bring my own topping.

 

[Maverickstation]

Back to the Lake Shore Limited for a moment......................

The train is supposed to be on the new Contemporary Menu which means lunch and dinner are exactly the same.

From some of the recent comments it sounds like hey were discussing the limited menu that was served on the Boston section.

So which, is which ?

Ken

 

[me_little_me]

It's just as the menu says... "Allowing you to experience your journey with no boundaries...except those petty and arbitrary ones set by our OBS personnel."

Oh wait, that's not what it says? Well, it's the implication anyway.

One of three major Amtrak operational problems along with on-time performance on the long distance network and unclean restrooms. Amtrak has standards that any OBS member can arbitrarily ignore or change whenever they want.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

In my personal experiences over the past 10 years riding Amtrak, inconsistent service and dirty windows are my #1 complaint.

The timekeeping has been pretty good for me, maybe I'm just lucky but I haven't been on any significantly late amtrak trains in the past 10 years with the exception of the Empire Builder during that initial oil cluster in North Dakota a few years ago. I remember being on a crescent train that was like 2 hours late into New Orleans, but 2 hours is like a weather delay at an airport, it just happens from time to time.

 

[Skyline]

In my personal experiences over the past 10 years riding Amtrak, inconsistent service and dirty windows are my #1 complaint.

The timekeeping has been pretty good for me, maybe I'm just lucky but I haven't been on any significantly late amtrak trains in the past 10 years with the exception of the Empire Builder during that initial oil cluster in North Dakota a few years ago. I remember being on a crescent train that was like 2 hours late into New Orleans, but 2 hours is like a weather delay at an airport, it just happens from time to time.

Oh but if only 2 hours was the upper limit of Amtrak delays!

 

[crescent-zephyr]

Well... The same can be said for airlines! Ha.

I meant that, when I ride Amtrak I expect to be relatively on time based on previous experiences with Amtrak.

However I have no idea what to expect in regards to the condition / cleanliness of the train, the service or lack thereof, food service etc. It's been a pretty mixed bag from excellent to terrible.

 

[neroden]

For those with reactive allergies, it could be life or death.

For me, death is unlikely, but being violently ill for three weeks is a likely consequence of allergen consumption.
The lack of ingredients lists is flat-out unacceptable.

Inside each box is a list of ingredients. I have food allergies and was able to read prior to consuming.

Do you recall if the ingredients listed preservatives? They are one thing that you find in prepacked foods that you are much less likely to find in freshly prepared meals - and are one reason some people have to stay away from deli meats and things with a long shelf life, such as the ready meals they're now serving. They pop up everywhere - a lot of wines, I've had to give up buying inexpensive imported spices at the ethnic grocery stores because everything is treated with sulfites to keep them fresh longer and switched to Penzey's as they list additives on the label.

This is vital for me too -- I need a FULL and COMPLETE ingredients list, because the main thing I'm allergic to is this stupid additive called "guar gum". (For one of my friends' kids, it's Red #40.)

If the ingredients list says "breadcrumbs" or "tamari sauce" or "sour cream", well, that's not a complete ingredients list. It's out.

So I do want to check that. Are these FULL, FDA-qualifying ingredients lists, or just a half-assed list of major ingredients?

 

[pennyk]

Ingredient list for short ribs dinner

 

[tonys96]

IMHO, the lack of choices, coupled with the lack of knowing what you get with the few choices available, plus the innate desire for a HOT (warm) meal on a 18+ hour trip makes this experiment unacceptable in my personal case. My allergies to mayo and substitutes, and plain ol' dislike of the taste of mustard and ketchup make pre packaged wraps and sandwiches unacceptable.

 

[jis]

At least in the choices I got all the condiments were in separate packets and not pre-applied to the sandwich. It was upto me to choose the ones I wanted and apply them. So you would be able to not use the ones you don’t like. I of course like them all so have a bit of extra work to do [emoji57]

 

[Maverickstation]

Ingredient list for short ribs dinner

Thats very interesting considering Amtrak's Food Facts site has very different nutritional data on this meal, including a dangerous level of sodium.

 

[pennyk]

Amtrak.JPG

Ingredient list for short ribs dinner

Thats very interesting considering Amtrak's Food Facts site has very different nutritional data on this meal, including a dangerous level of sodium.

The ingredient list that I posted was inside the box. I did not have the short ribs dinner, but asked a friend who was at my table if I could photograph his ingredient list included in this box meal. He said "yes."

 

[JRR]

Amtrak.JPG

Ingredient list for short ribs dinner

Thats very interesting considering Amtrak's Food Facts site has very different nutritional data on this meal, including a dangerous level of sodium.

The short ribs had a good

flavor but I thought they were salty. I thought perhaps it was just my taste preference. I had no idea it was really that bad!

 

[PVD]

If it is salty and tastes salty, that is isn't good, but what is worse is that so many foods have a very high sodium content and you don't notice it.

 

[chrsjrcj]

I rode the AutoTrain last weekend, and received a pretty comprehensive survey. Regarding dining, I was asked if I preferred cold or hot meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (even though lunch is not served). The survey also asked how important contemporary and fresh food was to me. I think this is a pretty disingenuous way to drum up support for this menu on other trains. Contemporary is very subjective, and who would say no to fresh food? I answered no, fully expecting the results to be twisted to support further roll out on other trains.

 

[ehbowen]

I rode the AutoTrain last weekend, and received a pretty comprehensive survey. Regarding dining, I was asked if I preferred cold or hot meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (even though lunch is not served). The survey also asked how important contemporary and fresh food was to me. I think this is a pretty disingenuous way to drum up support for this menu on other trains. Contemporary is very subjective, and who would say no to fresh food? I answered no, fully expecting the results to be twisted to support further roll out on other trains.

Sounds a lot like those loaded political "surveys" which arrive in my mail every week en route to the nearest recycle bin.

 

[JRR]

If it is salty and tastes salty, that is isn't good, but what is worse is that so many foods have a very high sodium content and you don't notice it.

We use very little salt in our cooking at home so it isn’t unusual for us when eating out to feel that some foods are saltier than our preference.

I did find the short ribs too salty but as expressed in my previous post, I was still surprised to see how much sodium was in the serving.

Because we have no known allergies, my wife and I do not look as closely at the ingredients listed as we probably should.

 

[cpotisch]

I rode the AutoTrain last weekend, and received a pretty comprehensive survey. Regarding dining, I was asked if I preferred cold or hot meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (even though lunch is not served). The survey also asked how important contemporary and fresh food was to me. I think this is a pretty disingenuous way to drum up support for this menu on other trains. Contemporary is very subjective, and who would say no to fresh food? I answered no, fully expecting the results to be twisted to support further roll out on other trains.

This is getting so scummy. Any passenger who isn't following all the goings on of meal service on the other routes will, as you say, support a change to "fresh and contemporary" dining. This is just getting so tedious.

 

[cocojacoby]

I rode the AutoTrain last weekend, and received a pretty comprehensive survey. Regarding dining, I was asked if I preferred cold or hot meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (even though lunch is not served). The survey also asked how important contemporary and fresh food was to me. I think this is a pretty disingenuous way to drum up support for this menu on other trains. Contemporary is very subjective, and who would say no to fresh food? I answered no, fully expecting the results to be twisted to support further roll out on other trains.

Here we go. The beginning of the end of dinner in the diner as we have known it. However, Auto Train passengers tend to be elderly and regular repeat customers so maybe they voted against change here.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

You do realize that the auto train hasn't had a hot breakfast in years? Their breakast is about the same as the breakfast box.

 

[cpotisch]

You do realize that the auto train hasn't had a hot breakfast in years? Their breakast is about the same as the breakfast box.

You do realize that the Auto Train has a hot dinner with plenty of options and a choice of dessert? And you do realize that coach passengers get free meals on the AT, so if they implemented fresh choices on it, the vast majority of passengers would lose meals? I just wanted to make sure you do realize that stuff.