Alas, we were not able to have a group dinner at this year's Gathering, but nonetheless, we still had to eat. I thought I'd post this thread with my food reviews both off and on the train to get it out of the way, and thus focus my travelogue post on the trains of the Gathering and the general sites of Chicago and places along the way to get there.
The first food or drink I had on the trip was a nice can of ice cold Coca-Cola served to me with a cup of ice by the cafe car attendant on Northeast Regional 174. This was a freebie for me, as I was traveling in business class. As I mentioned in a previous post, they closed the cafe car just after Metropark, which seems kind of early.
Next, another free lunch from Amtrak, courtesy of the Metropolitan Lounge at the Moynihan Train Hall in Pennsylvania Station. (Kind of ironic that a major train station in New York is named after a nearby, neighboring state.
)
Fig and Gouda sandwich, garden salad with ranch dressing, and root beer made with cane sugar. I also got a coffee cup filled with penny candy and a charcuterie pack for me to take with me on the train.
On board the Lake Shore Limited, yes, indeed, they had packed my kosher dinner. I'm not sure it was much of an improvement over Flex meals, though.
First, however, my first peek at the V-2 diner:
The car is top-notch, and a great place to eat and hang out. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to hang out in the early evening after dinner service, as I had a synagogue board meeting, which meant I spent my time in my roomette at a Zoom meeting. Fortunately, the Lake Shore's wifi worked very well for the purpose.
Here's the kosher dinner, courtesy of Borenstein caterers, who also does the food for El Al Airlines and provides kosher meals for pretty much every other airline in the US.
Actually, the staff messed this up, as they should have served me the hot fish plate double wrapped to ensure that no non-kosher stuff contaminated the food. This was done with the other kosher dinners I received, and thus I was stuck with unwrapping the hot tray myself. The cold tray is also frozen, and staff needs some lead time to thaw it out or else you might end up with a salad popsicle. I ordered a gin and tonic for my freebie booze, and they served me rum with a can of tonic water. That was quickly corrected, but I wonder what a rum and tonic tastes like?
Here's the cold tray in more detail. The cabbage salad was actually pretty good. The roll was very dry, and according to the kosher protocol, they cant take it out of the wrapper and heat it up for you. The "butter" is non-dairy margarine, as this is considered a "meat" meal. The meal also included a small container of Turkish spring water. That was still partially frozen, so I took it back to my room with me and used it in the morning to help me with swallowing my pills.
The fish itself was OK, the sweet potatoes were fine, but the sugar snap leas were a bit overcooked.
Next morning, time for breakfast:
Here's the cold tray. The fruit salad was definitely appreciated, the bagel was a travesty of all things Jewish and New York, I don't care how strictly kosher it was, and the little sweet roll was definitely on the dry side.
The potatoes were good, the ratatouille was good, but the omelet! Horrible, yucky. It was supposed to be a cheese omelet, but no cheese could be found. But beyond that, it was like eating cardboard. Really, I took a couple of bites, and that was that, as far as I was concerned. Fortunately, between the potatoes, the ratatouille, the weird bagel with cream cheese and the dry sweet roll, I had enough calories in me to last to lunch.
OK, so we roll into Chicago. Given the line at the entrance to the Lounge, I didn't bother with it, but just went out the Adams St. exit to walk to my hotel. After checking in, I realized it was time for some eating. I couldn't make up my mind about what to eat, and passed by a barbecue place on Adams St. that looked interesting, but after some consideration, I decided I wanted a deep dish Chicago pizza, and Giordano's was just around the corner on Jackson St. This may not have been the best choice, as it took them over 45 minutes for them to make my pizza, and I thought that the waitstaff was paying more attention to the larger parties than little old solo diner me with a simple order of a personal pan pizza. But they did come by and refill my bottomless soft drink, so I guess they weren't totally AWOL.
Because the waitstaff was so slow in presenting the check and ringing it up, I left the place in a bit of a hurry, and inadvertently left my raincoat there. I realized this when I was way on the other side of the Loop, so the rest of my afternoon expedition consisted of going back to Giordano's to retrieve it. Then it was back to my room and a rest until it was time for dinner.
For dinner, I had been scanning Google Maps for restaurants in the Near North Side and had a hankering for beef, grilled and pink. Then I saw the Fogo de Chao Brazilian Steakhouse. Having waiters walk around with skewers of meat, slicing it off to order, sounded kind of neat. The website advertised a special wine-tasting dinner, which was even more expensive than the usual expensive menu, but it did include four wines. Unfortunately, the web site also said this was "sold out," but I made a reservation anyway for the regular dinner. Much to my surprised, when I arrived at the restaurant, on time for my reservation, the tasting dinner was not "sold out" after all. They ushered me over to a table, and I not only got the special dinner, but I also had some pleasant dining company that I hadn't expected. (after a couple of glasses of wine, it's easy to make new friends, at least for dinner.)
This dinner was a schtick sponsored by Daou Vineyards, and their wine, was pretty good. Three of the wines were in the $20-25 a bottle range, but we were also served a reserve cabernet sauvignon that retailed for $50. So these would be $40-$100 a bottle served at a restaurant, and maybe pushing $20 or more a glass. The pours were pretty good, too, and you could have seconds, if you wanted. The wines were, of course, also for sale to take home, but despite the fact they were pretty good wines, I didn't want to have to deal with schlepping heavy wine bottle home on the train. Anyway, most of them are for sale at my local Total Wine store, so why bother.
We had a charcuterie plate and a salad with two large shrimp accompanied by a rose. Then all the meats came around, accompanied by, first, a proprietary red blend, then their regular cabernet sauvignon, and finally the reserve cabernet.
The meats included sirloin, which I think is what is pictured here, New York Strip, filet mignon, and little lamb chops. I think there was a ribeye, too. It was all really good, and I certainly had enough grilled meat to last me for a while. At then end, they served us a dessert that was some kind of soft meringue. It cost more than I usually spend, but it was fun, and I did enjoy the fairly well-matched food and wine.
On the way back to the subway, I passed this establishment, where I believe some other Gathering attendees were eating. I'll have to try it the next time I'm in Chicago.
After a short ride back to the Loop, I found my hotel, and, off to bed, ready for train rides (and maybe some more food) the next day. Little did I know that, while I'd be getting more than I was asking for on my train rides, and my food experience was seriously disrupted.
-- to be continued.
The first food or drink I had on the trip was a nice can of ice cold Coca-Cola served to me with a cup of ice by the cafe car attendant on Northeast Regional 174. This was a freebie for me, as I was traveling in business class. As I mentioned in a previous post, they closed the cafe car just after Metropark, which seems kind of early.
Next, another free lunch from Amtrak, courtesy of the Metropolitan Lounge at the Moynihan Train Hall in Pennsylvania Station. (Kind of ironic that a major train station in New York is named after a nearby, neighboring state.
)Fig and Gouda sandwich, garden salad with ranch dressing, and root beer made with cane sugar. I also got a coffee cup filled with penny candy and a charcuterie pack for me to take with me on the train.
On board the Lake Shore Limited, yes, indeed, they had packed my kosher dinner. I'm not sure it was much of an improvement over Flex meals, though.
First, however, my first peek at the V-2 diner:
The car is top-notch, and a great place to eat and hang out. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to hang out in the early evening after dinner service, as I had a synagogue board meeting, which meant I spent my time in my roomette at a Zoom meeting. Fortunately, the Lake Shore's wifi worked very well for the purpose.
Here's the kosher dinner, courtesy of Borenstein caterers, who also does the food for El Al Airlines and provides kosher meals for pretty much every other airline in the US.
Actually, the staff messed this up, as they should have served me the hot fish plate double wrapped to ensure that no non-kosher stuff contaminated the food. This was done with the other kosher dinners I received, and thus I was stuck with unwrapping the hot tray myself. The cold tray is also frozen, and staff needs some lead time to thaw it out or else you might end up with a salad popsicle. I ordered a gin and tonic for my freebie booze, and they served me rum with a can of tonic water. That was quickly corrected, but I wonder what a rum and tonic tastes like?
Here's the cold tray in more detail. The cabbage salad was actually pretty good. The roll was very dry, and according to the kosher protocol, they cant take it out of the wrapper and heat it up for you. The "butter" is non-dairy margarine, as this is considered a "meat" meal. The meal also included a small container of Turkish spring water. That was still partially frozen, so I took it back to my room with me and used it in the morning to help me with swallowing my pills.
The fish itself was OK, the sweet potatoes were fine, but the sugar snap leas were a bit overcooked.
Next morning, time for breakfast:
Here's the cold tray. The fruit salad was definitely appreciated, the bagel was a travesty of all things Jewish and New York, I don't care how strictly kosher it was, and the little sweet roll was definitely on the dry side.
The potatoes were good, the ratatouille was good, but the omelet! Horrible, yucky. It was supposed to be a cheese omelet, but no cheese could be found. But beyond that, it was like eating cardboard. Really, I took a couple of bites, and that was that, as far as I was concerned. Fortunately, between the potatoes, the ratatouille, the weird bagel with cream cheese and the dry sweet roll, I had enough calories in me to last to lunch.
OK, so we roll into Chicago. Given the line at the entrance to the Lounge, I didn't bother with it, but just went out the Adams St. exit to walk to my hotel. After checking in, I realized it was time for some eating. I couldn't make up my mind about what to eat, and passed by a barbecue place on Adams St. that looked interesting, but after some consideration, I decided I wanted a deep dish Chicago pizza, and Giordano's was just around the corner on Jackson St. This may not have been the best choice, as it took them over 45 minutes for them to make my pizza, and I thought that the waitstaff was paying more attention to the larger parties than little old solo diner me with a simple order of a personal pan pizza. But they did come by and refill my bottomless soft drink, so I guess they weren't totally AWOL.
Because the waitstaff was so slow in presenting the check and ringing it up, I left the place in a bit of a hurry, and inadvertently left my raincoat there. I realized this when I was way on the other side of the Loop, so the rest of my afternoon expedition consisted of going back to Giordano's to retrieve it. Then it was back to my room and a rest until it was time for dinner.
For dinner, I had been scanning Google Maps for restaurants in the Near North Side and had a hankering for beef, grilled and pink. Then I saw the Fogo de Chao Brazilian Steakhouse. Having waiters walk around with skewers of meat, slicing it off to order, sounded kind of neat. The website advertised a special wine-tasting dinner, which was even more expensive than the usual expensive menu, but it did include four wines. Unfortunately, the web site also said this was "sold out," but I made a reservation anyway for the regular dinner. Much to my surprised, when I arrived at the restaurant, on time for my reservation, the tasting dinner was not "sold out" after all. They ushered me over to a table, and I not only got the special dinner, but I also had some pleasant dining company that I hadn't expected. (after a couple of glasses of wine, it's easy to make new friends, at least for dinner.)
This dinner was a schtick sponsored by Daou Vineyards, and their wine, was pretty good. Three of the wines were in the $20-25 a bottle range, but we were also served a reserve cabernet sauvignon that retailed for $50. So these would be $40-$100 a bottle served at a restaurant, and maybe pushing $20 or more a glass. The pours were pretty good, too, and you could have seconds, if you wanted. The wines were, of course, also for sale to take home, but despite the fact they were pretty good wines, I didn't want to have to deal with schlepping heavy wine bottle home on the train. Anyway, most of them are for sale at my local Total Wine store, so why bother.
We had a charcuterie plate and a salad with two large shrimp accompanied by a rose. Then all the meats came around, accompanied by, first, a proprietary red blend, then their regular cabernet sauvignon, and finally the reserve cabernet.
The meats included sirloin, which I think is what is pictured here, New York Strip, filet mignon, and little lamb chops. I think there was a ribeye, too. It was all really good, and I certainly had enough grilled meat to last me for a while. At then end, they served us a dessert that was some kind of soft meringue. It cost more than I usually spend, but it was fun, and I did enjoy the fairly well-matched food and wine.
On the way back to the subway, I passed this establishment, where I believe some other Gathering attendees were eating. I'll have to try it the next time I'm in Chicago.
After a short ride back to the Loop, I found my hotel, and, off to bed, ready for train rides (and maybe some more food) the next day. Little did I know that, while I'd be getting more than I was asking for on my train rides, and my food experience was seriously disrupted.
-- to be continued.
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