New National Menu February, 2020

[TinCan782]

I have been on the Sunset four times between 2013 and 2015. Three times by sleeper and once by coach. All of these trips were in May. It was a pretty crowded train each time.

Same experience for me...including #1 last October.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

I agree that the Sunset has a target on it, and I frankly can't care because I've never been able to figure out how to use it with the three-a-week schedule.

You can’t figure out how to ride a train on a particular day?

 

[neroden]

You can’t figure out how to ride a train on a particular day?

Like many people, I actually have scheduling restrictions for my trips. They make the Sunset Limited unusable for trips to anywhere I want to go. The schedule of the Sunset Limited simply never works for trips I would like to take to New Orleans, Houston, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Antonio, or even Tucson.

My scheduling restrictions are actually much looser than those of many people who have 9-5 M-F jobs.

Normally, I pick a place where I want to go -- often for a convention or special event -- figure out how much time I have to go there, and then figure out how to get there by train. Stations on the Sunset Limited route? I end up concluding "I can't get there from here" and not making the trip. Same with stations on the Cardinal route. It's the three-a-week schedule.

Even when I'm already on a long trip to Los Angeles, I can't justify a side trip to Tucson (*where I have friends*) because the three-a-week schedule adds *days* of unnecessary downtime (not train time!) to the trip.

Three a week has *got* to end. Daily or bust.

 

[LookingGlassTie]

The French Toast IS pretty good. I had it on the Silver Meteor a few years ago............

 

[Sauve850]

Good, we are back to menu. I too have enjoyed the French Toast in the past.

 

[iplaybass]

(snip)Normally, I pick a place where I want to go -- often for a convention or special event -- figure out how much time I have to go there, and then figure out how to get there by train. Stations on the Sunset Limited route? I end up concluding "I can't get there from here" and not making the trip. Same with stations on the Cardinal route. It's the three-a-week schedule.

Three a week has *got* to end. Daily or bust.

Yep. Wanted to take the Cardinal to a conference in DC. Not without spending an extra night in the conference hotel ($$$) and losing an extra day of work (time). And I work for an employer who allows overnight train travel. Still picked the Cap Ltd. Much more chance of making a 4 pm departure from Union station than DCA after it ends.

 

[Qapla]

train trips are special and the excitement of eating something new adds to the pleasure of the journey.

the Unacceptable Dining on the one-night trains, where the prices you can charge for decent food are highest (many riders are used to dealing with NY, DC, Chicago, New Orleans, Orlando, Miami food prices), and the ridership lost by not offering decent food is massive.

These two comments hit the nail right on the head ... while it is true that many who ride the Silvers do not always ride from terminus to terminus, there is something that should be kept in mind - something that seems to have escaped those in charge of Amtrak:

• Both Silvers terminate in Miami
• Both Silvers terminate in New York
• Miami is a "food city" - and host to quite a number of Food Festivals
• New York is a "food city" and host to several Food Events
• Tampa is home to Gasparilla which runs from mid-January through early-March ... the Silver Star stops there each direction

Since these cities are renowned for their food and that food is on display several times a year ... it should follow that, like Maglev said, "train trips are special", that, as neroden said, "it is unacceptable" that there is such sub-standard food available on trains that terminate and/or turn (Tampa is almost a terminus, of sorts) in these cities.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

I hadn’t thought about that point either... people traveling to and from Chicago, New York, DC, Miami, and New Orleans are all going to be people that are used to paying high prices for eating out.

Even after paying high sleeping car prices, I would willingly pay more for better food.

 

[Qapla]

Have you ever seen the program on Food Network called "Restaurant Impossible"? It is the one where Robert Irvine goes to a restaurant that is failing and helps it to head in the right direction. In all the episodes I have ever seen I don't think he as ever told anyone that the way to turn a profit is to lower the quality of their food or buy "cheap pre-packaged food" so they make "more profit".


Too bad he was never invited to Amtrak to fix their food service ... just imagine!

 

[SP&S]

On the CS today just finished lunch and although they had the new menu the wings were not in stock. The good news was they still had mussels. Yum. Now, will they have French toast tomorrow morning.

 

[Skyline]

Have you ever seen the program on Food Network called "Restaurant Impossible"? It is the one where Robert Irvine goes to a restaurant that is failing and helps it to head in the right direction. In all the episodes I have ever seen I don't think he as ever told anyone that the way to turn a profit is to lower the quality of their food or buy "cheap pre-packaged food" so they make "more profit".


Too bad he was never invited to Amtrak to fix their food service ... just imagine!

That would make an awesome show. Would likely have to be a multi-parter. It would NEED to include Irvine growling at Congress!

 

[F900ElCapitan]

An Amtrak employee posted this updated full dining menu on FB. Looks like Amtrak French Toast is going to make a return! The other changes appear to be the mussels will be replaced by BBQ pork wings, the lunch salad is now a Caesar, the addition of a Cubano Bowl, the salmon was replaced by cod, and the dinner pasta is now a baked manicotti. It also appears the prices have taken a bit of a hike to. I’m not sure what date it will make it’s official appearance.

MODERATOR NOTE: This comment was originally posted in the flex dining thread. Because it pertains to the new menu, the comment and responses thereto were moved to the existing thread on the topic of the new national menu. Thank you for trying to keep comments on topic.

 

[cocojacoby]

I have never had them, but there are many posts by people on different websites that loved the mussels. There are going to be many disappointed Amtrak passengers.

And personally I would prefer cod over salmon but that may also not go over very well.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

View attachment 16940

An Amtrak employee posted this updated full dining menu on FB. Looks like Amtrak French Toast is going to make a return! The other changes appear to be the mussels will be replaced by BBQ pork wings, the lunch salad is now a Caesar, the addition of a Cubano Bowl, the salmon was replaced by cod, and the dinner pasta is now a baked manicotti. It also appears the prices have taken a bit of a hike to. I’m not sure what date it will make it’s official appearance.

This is the new menu for trains that still offer full dining (for now....).

So this is the menu for Empire Builder, Califronia Zephyr, Southwest Chief, Sunset Limited, Coast Starlight, and Texas Eagle.

(Edited my post to make sense now that it’s in the proper thread).

 

[JRR]

I have never had them, but there are many posts by people on different websites that loved the mussels. There are going to be many disappointed Amtrak passengers.

And personally I would prefer cod over salmon but that may also not go over very well.

My wife and I always had the mussels. They will be missed. While I like cod, I like salmon better.

 

[Dakota 400]

The Auto Train in late January had a reduced version of the new dinner menu. No cod at that time; salmon was available. My steak was well prepared and delicious.

 

[F900ElCapitan]

I will definitely miss the mussels and I don’t see pork wings as a sufficient substitute. As for the salmon, I can grill a marvelous salmon so I’m for sure more skeptical than most, but I tried it once and wasn’t impressed so hopefully the cod dish will be an improvement.

Also, thanks MOD’s for moving my post. I completely forgot about this one.

 

[JC_620]

The Southwest Chief is untouchable thanks to the political coalition behind it. And it should be -- in addition to everything else, it's the *fastest* train from Chicago to the West Coast. That's four two-night trains rather than three.

I agree that the Sunset has a target on it, and I frankly can't care because I've never been able to figure out how to use it with the three-a-week schedule. Its current situation is no good -- it needs to go daily or be replaced with something else. It also has the longest population-free stretch of any Amtrak train route, between El Paso and San Antonio, which is an unsolvable problem for ridership. And, uniquely for any Amtrak train, the Congressional representatives of the districts where it has stations mostly vote against Amtrak. (In practically every other community with a station, the Congressional representatives vote for Amtrak. Not on the Sunset.) If there were money available, I would support a restructuring where the train from the west ran through Odessa/Midland and Abilene to Dallas, while the train from the east added stops between Houston and San Antonio and ended in San Antonio; or even went from Houston to College Station and ended up in Dallas. But there isn't even money to get the train to stop in Phoenix due to local disinterest, so I don't see how to get backing for any improvements.

I am currently most concerned about the Unacceptable Dining on the one-night trains, where the prices you can charge for decent food are highest (many riders are used to dealing with NY, DC, Chicago, New Orleans, Orlando, Miami food prices), and the ridership lost by not offering decent food is massive.

Not to get off topic here, but I commented about the Sunset in the Gulf Coast thread and it seems ridiculous that there is no public interest in returning the Limited to Phoenix? The current station is some 30 odd miles south of Downtown Phoenix. I always thought that they diverted to Maricopa, in part, because of the Sunset Limiteds Hyder, AZ derailment of 1995, but I could be mistaken. They STILL do not know what happened with that either. At least bump the Sunset to daily service or somehow reroute via Dallas/Fort Worth and connect with the Eagle there? While at it, the Eagle definitively could profit from daily service. This thrice a week garbage is not customer service friendly travel wise. I know. I know. Where is the equipment going to come from?? I get that feedback a lot.

 

[jis]

The Texas Eagle is a daily service between Chicago and San Antonio.

 

[Anderson]

So, let's see...

Breakfast is solid, no real change there. Dinner is a modest improvement (I'd be more interested in the Cubano Bowl if it didn't look like it was designed by a bunch of hipsters from Brooklyn) but it's a mixed bag (I'm not a fan of cod but this isn't an ideological view, and I'm glad that they finally changed the sauce...the previous sauce wasn't bad, it just got old). And lunch...sucks. Which, to be fair, is nothing new. Basically, it's a Caesar salad, a burger, or an entree that looks like a royal mess.

 

[jiml]

The more I think about it the addition of a pork product to a menu seems unusual in these politically-correct times. Many hotels have dropped it entirely from their menus. One hotel we stayed at recently even had a sign at breakfast ("out of respect...") and they served turkey bacon and vegetarian sausage.

 

[tricia]

The more I think about it the addition of a pork product to a menu seems unusual in these politically-correct times. Many hotels have dropped it entirely from their menus. One hotel we stayed at recently even had a sign at breakfast ("out of respect...") and they served turkey bacon and vegetarian sausage.

There is nothing "politically" incorrect about pork. It's against some religions to eat it, just as some religions favor eating no meat at all. If you're a hotel hosting a large gathering of religious folks who avoid pork, taking it off the menu makes sense. Amtrak doesn't fit that definition.

 

[jiml]

There is nothing "politically" incorrect about pork. It's against some religions to eat it, just as some religions favor eating no meat at all. If you're a hotel hosting a large gathering of religious folks who avoid pork, taking it off the menu makes sense. Amtrak doesn't fit that definition.

I'm well aware of the religious implications, having grown up in an ethnic area. The comparison between a hotel hosting a religious gathering vs. a chain hotel next to the Interstate is a bit of a stretch, and I would certainly say Amtrak does compare to the latter. Perhaps you live in an area where this is not an issue, but there are plenty of places that don't serve pork and other products for fear of complaints. There are supermarkets that have removed pork from their meat departments and coffee shops where only certain employees can handle a breakfast sandwich with bacon on it. I am currently residing in Florida at a hotel that only serves pork at breakfast a couple of times a week, with clear notification of such, but they have turkey products every day.

 

[cocojacoby]

Am I the only one totally out of the loop here about pork? What are you guys talking about? There has been so much advertising lately about bacon being added to everything and pork ribs are everywhere.

Oh and BTW . . . pork in all its forms is delicious!

 

[tricia]

I'm well aware of the religious implications, having grown up in an ethnic area. The comparison between a hotel hosting a religious gathering vs. a chain hotel next to the Interstate is a bit of a stretch, and I would certainly say Amtrak does compare to the latter. Perhaps you live in an area where this is not an issue, but there are plenty of places that don't serve pork and other products for fear of complaints. There are supermarkets that have removed pork from their meat departments and coffee shops where only certain employees can handle a breakfast sandwich with bacon on it. I am currently residing in Florida at a hotel that only serves pork at breakfast a couple of times a week, with clear notification of such, but they have turkey products every day.

I still think your framing of this is off. Instead of "fear of complaints," with an implication of some big PC Conspiracy, I'd say what's going on is businesses looking at their specific customer base and adapting menu and other business practices to make sure those customers are comfortable, well-served, and want to come back.

Since Amtrak these days doesn't seem to be doing much of this for ANY of its customers' preferences, why should anyone think pork on the menu would be any sort of priority for them?