I'm taking the Empire Builder to Izaak Walton Inn and back to Chicago in March. I took this train last in March of 2006, and was highly impressed with the refurbishing of the equipment and especially the dining car food and service. My question: Has Amtrak kept the high quality of the dining-car meals, or has it applied its dreadful new reheated-meals policy to this train? Also, does it still have the wine-and-cheese "parties" aboard the train.
Thanks.
Henry
Posted by graynt (Member # 17) on :
I took the Builder from Chicago to Seattle last fall and they still have the original menus with steak for dinner and eggs for breakfast and there was a wine tasting session in the diner. I would imagine they still have it today.
SDS isn't bad, its just not nearly as good as having a nice steak orfresh eggs for breakfast. The dining experience has always been one of the high points of train travel. Its too bad Amtrak had to cheapen it on all of its trains,with the exception of the Builder.
Posted by Henry Kisor (Member # 4776) on :
Thank you. Two weeks ago I took the Late Shore Limited to Boston and back to Chicago, and had my first experience with the new food policy -- it was awful, awful. On the way back I brought a box lunch for supper even though sleeper meals were free. Let's hope the added funds for Amtrak will bring back full-service dining cars on all long distance trains. A good experience in the dining car makes up for a lot of flaws elsewhere.
Posted by train lady (Member # 3920) on :
Henry since you have contacts with the newspaper world perhaps you could get someone to do a few articles about the needs for passenger service and the problems Congres is causing by its unresponsiveness. The meals had improved so much from earlier days and now we are back to square one. My own opinion is that congress must think if they make conditions bad enough people will stop riding the train and they can pull the plug.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
It would appear, Mr Kisor, that by purchasing a 'box lunch", you were simply "making a statement". My own experience with SDS, while hardly what pre-existed, is "adequate' and far exceeds anything an airline will serve up to Coach passengers.
Lest we note, the only "First Class" service offered by Amtrak anywhere on the System is Acela First. Any other trains are simply Coach, Business, or Sleeper and no longer imply any upgrade in the "class of service".
Now we should note that I am "spoiled' as likely 75% of my Amtrak mileage in the past 20 years has been on Auto Train. AT continues to offer 'traditional' cooked on board Dining service. I have a trip scheduled for March....we shall see.
Posted by Henry Kisor (Member # 4776) on :
"Making a statement," Mr. Norman? It appears that you have a much tougher stomach than I do. And a much tougher stomach than several of my fellow passengers on the Late Shore Limited, who agreed with me that the food did not measure up even to greasy spoon standards. I bought that box lunch to avoid dyspepsia.
I asked my sleeper attendant about the quality of the food, and he replied that in his experience the chefs often microwave the meals rather than reheat them in the convection oven, as they are directed to. This may explain the soggy texture of so many of the entries.
Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :
I'm with Mr. Kisor on this one if my experience last Monday on #14 is any indication. At lunch I had a pepperoni pizza (not the chicken pizza listed on the menu). It probably would have been alright if it had been heated in a convection oven. It had been nuked and was limp. The salad that came with it was mostly brown edged iceberg lettuce. At dinner, the "beef bourguinonne" had very little flavor and consisted of five chunks of stew meat. Same salad, but even browner around the edges. The broccoli was actually the highlight of the meal. Our tablemates, a couple in their late '70's who own a fairly famous "road house" on Mullholland Drive (Jay Leno and the Governator are regulars) were underwhelmed. He had the Roast Chicken (raw in spots) and she had the "Daily Special" of Chicken Fried Steak. She said it was cold and the only thing warm was the potato and the gravy.
I've written my first negative letter to Amtrak. There were other things that were worse than the food. The onboard Passenger Service Manager assures me that everything will be back in shape by June. He said that the Parlour Cars with attendants will be back, diner service will be the same as on the EB, and all of the cars will be rebuilt. We'll see.
Frank in VERY warm (mid-90's) SBA.
Posted by palmland (Member # 4344) on :
This year I have ridden the Capitol, Empire Builder, SW Chief, City of New Orleans and Cascade. All but the EB had SDS. While SDS is not nearly as good as freshly prepared food on board, it can be OK.
Generalizing, SDS food can vary from horrible to quite good. It depends on the chef and the caterer.
During early SDS days the food on the Capitol was ok in one direction and matched Mr. Kisor's description the other way.
However, the freshly prepared food on the EB was not nearly as good as the food I recently had on the CONO and SWC. It was way overcooked with virtually no seasoning.
Why was the food good on the SWC and CONO? I asked the crew about it. On the CONO the chef was from New Orleans and loved to cook. The catfish special was cooked to perferction with just the right seasoning. On the SWC it was equally as good. The crew commented that 'Popeye' was the chef and they claimed he was the best on the system.
Why does the caterer make a difference? The food in the diner on the Cascade to Vancouver was great and I believe it was just microwaved as I don't think they have convection. But I understand that a differenct caterer is used for the service. If true, if you could take that food and a good chef and you'd have a great meal. The trick of course, like anything at Amtrak, is to prepare it properly on a consistent basis for all trains.
Posted by Ocala Mike (Member # 4657) on :
Mr. Kisor, I just finished reading your book about the Zephyr in the 90's. Unfortunately, it seems much has changed, especially regarding food service on board. When my wife and I traveled on #5 around 10 weeks ago, I must say that the food was not bad. The roast chicken was actually quite good, as were the desserts. Maybe if the engine crew gave you another ride, this time in a P42, you'd have a better impression of the food en route.
Posted by Henry Kisor (Member # 4776) on :
During that 1992 ride we ate box lunches in the locomotive -- I cannot quite remember, but I think there was, at least at the time, some policy against feeding the locomotive crew from the dining car.
By the way, I rode a P42 (maybe it was a P32) from Glenwood Springs to Denver back in 2004, when I did a 10th anniversary story on the Zephyr book for the Chicago Sun-Times. It was like being on the flight deck of a 747.
Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
Mr. Kisor, welcome to the forum. Your book is on my 'favorites' shelf in my railroad library and I have read it several times.....most recently just before I made a Chicago-Emeryville trip in April 2006.
For comparison sake - you share that shelf with Kalmbach's guide to railroad museums and tourist trains, the last two editions of the Rail Ventures, George Hilton's 'Booked on the Morning Train', John Ehle's 'The Road' which is a historical fiction novel based on the building of the first railroad into Western North Carolina, and John Waite's 'Blue Ridge Stemwinder', a history of the narrow guage East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad aka 'Tweetsie'.
Again, welcome aboard.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
quote:Originally posted by Henry Kisor: "Making a statement," Mr. Norman? It appears that you have a much tougher stomach than I do. And a much tougher stomach than several of my fellow passengers on the Late Shore Limited, who agreed with me that the food did not measure up even to greasy spoon standards. I bought that box lunch to avoid dyspepsia.
Allow me to extend a "sorry 'bout that', Mr. Kisor. Had your posting noted to the effect of "owing to an existing medical condition that I did not wish to further agitate, I chose to purchase a box lunch and forego Amtrak's SDS fare", be assured I would have never made such a comment. My post count and registry date suggest I've been around here for a while, and hopefully others will support that my posts are generally made with tact and discression.
However, we both must acknowledge that any of these "interest" Forums have their share of participants that "make statements"; samples include refuse to fly, refuse to shop at Wal-Mart, refuse to buy Japanese autos, whatever.
Posted by Henry Kisor (Member # 4776) on :
We will simply have to settle this with a duel. Knives and forks and A-1 Sauce at thirty paces?
Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
quote:Originally posted by Henry Kisor: We will simply have to settle this with a duel. Knives and forks and A-1 Sauce at thirty paces?
And loser takes winner out to lunch at that BBQ place in Chicago Union Station, right?