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I just got back from a quick round trip to El Paso from LA. This was the first time I've encountered the "Simplified Dining" menu. On my last trip aboard the Sunset Limited, they were using a custom menu, but it was not the simplified menu.
I will be posting pictures shortly!
Going east (from Los Angeles): I ordered the Braised Beef for dinner. They don't ask you what kind of dressing you want on your salad-they just bring you a plain salad and let you pick your dressing packet from a bowl on each table. They still give you a roll. The beef was poor-it was the same kind of meat you would use in a stew. I like stew, but I don't like eating a big fatty chunk of stew meat. It included the usual choice of baked/mashed potato or rice. I had the baked potato, which was fair. Also included were sliced, steamed carrots. I had the Chocolate Bundt cake for dessert.
For breakfast I had French Toast. Exactly the same as the French toast on the traditional menus. Unfortunately, the turkey sausages were gray!
For lunch (we were running about 5 hours late into El Paso) I ordered the Chicken salad, and a tablemate ordered the "Today's Sandwich" which was ham and cheese. Have you seen the Chicken Caesar Salad that they sell in the cafe car? It has romaine lettuce, bits of chicken, and dressing in a "to go" tub? This salad was EXACTLY THE SAME THING. All they did was dump the contents onto a (plastic) plate. My tablemate's sandwich looked like it just came from the Cafe car too. It was a sub-style sandwich, not like the kind they used to make in the dining car on real slices of bread.
Going westbound: For dinner I ordered the Cod. It came with rice, sliced carrots, and pathetic green beans. The cod was seasoned well, and pretty tasty. I think this was the best meal of the trip.
For breakfast I was going to order the Bob Evans Breakfast Scramble, but chickened out and got the Continental. No different than the Continental on the traditional menu, which includes cereal, yogurt, fruit, and a biscuit.
I was hoping we'd be late enough into LA so they would serve lunch, but alas we arrived at 11:55AM. I was going to try the Angus burger if they were going to serve lunch.
The menus were different on both trips. I'll try and remember what was on them: Eastbound: Breakfast: French Toast Omlete Cheese Quiche Continental
Dinner: Braised Beef Basil and Thyme Cod Chicken Parmesan Pasta Tonight's Special (Country Fried Steak)
All in all a big thumbs down. As I said before, the beef dish was poor, and the salad and sandwich came right out of the cafe car. Breakfast is the only meal that they didn't mess around with too much. All meals were served on hard plastic plates. Glassware was plastic-even plastic wine glasses. The silverware was metal. Napkins were cloth. The tablecloth was a real cloth, and no butcher paper on the table!
sojourner Member # 3134
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Thanks so much for the report. But an important question for me: How were the desserts? do you remember what they offered other than the Chocolate Bundt cake you mention? Thanks
clwood Member # 3297
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There is a difference in the Continental. There is no choice of hot oatmeal for the cereal.
PaulB Member # 4258
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Going east: Bundt cake, cheesecake with strawberry or chocolate topping, and fruit. No ice cream unfortunately.
Going west: I had Mississippi Mud Pie with strawberries and whipped cream for dinner's dessert. The menu said they also had cheesecake and fruit.
Mr. Toy Member # 311
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Thanks for the report. Sounds like it wasn't all bad, but not good enough overall.
Do you mind if I repost your description on another list?
PaulB Member # 4258
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Sure, just post the link as well.
Mr. Toy Member # 311
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That's neat to see the rebuilt cars have paneling in the entry vestibule. Much classier than bare metal.
Room Service Member # 2405
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Any rebuilt cars like that on the CS?
Mr. Toy Member # 311
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I read a report that Amtrak found that convection ovens do not always work better than microwaves, particularly with steak, so they're modifying the menu as they learn more. Unlike the AMTV dinners of the 1980s, it looks like they are concerned with how the food tastes this time around.
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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Saturday's Wall Street Journal carries a "heart warming' and FAVORABLE aeticle lamenting the upcoming loss of traditional dining service. If you have access to the Journal's subscription site (thanks boss?), this one is worth a read. Otherwise, here is a brief passage:
BRYAN, OHIO – A truck zooms past us as we lumber by fields of corn stubble. But we diehard rail passengers haven't paid 4½ times the bargain one-way airfare from New York to Chicago to cover the same distance in 18 hours instead of two because we care about speed.
I boarded the Lake Shore Limited Tuesday in New York to eat a steak that is about to disappear: a strip steak grilled by a chef in a railroad kitchen and served on a china plate. In the heyday of train travel, the diners provided passengers with a taste of the high life, and even today, a few trains still serve satisfying, even classy, meals. My breakfast Wednesday morning was fresh-cooked and delicious.........Here....somewhere west of Albany, N.Y., loving the spectacle of Alex serving the entire diner by himself with the grace of an ice dancer.
Tall and lanky, he swoops down the narrow center aisle with a large tray loaded with braised lamb shanks, seared catfish blackened in the Cajun manner or rotisserie chicken, all of them garnished with two vegetables. When he reaches his destination table, he pirouettes, lowering the tray in a smooth spiral until it lands lightly, and serves each person dinner, in a quadruple lutz of spinning download.
quote:Originally posted by Mr. Toy: I read a report that Amtrak found that convection ovens do not always work better than microwaves, particularly with steak, so they're modifying the menu as they learn more. Unlike the AMTV dinners of the 1980s, it looks like they are concerned with how the food tastes this time around.
Can you provide us with a reference to this report? It sounds like they are considering bringing back steak to the menu, instead of that "Braised Beef"
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