The discussion about Amtrak diners in palmland's trip report thread got me to thinking about a question: What is the BEST (or at least the most memorable) meal that you have ever experienced in a railroad dining car (pre- or post-Amtrak)?
Unfortunately I pretty much missed the pre-Amtrak era; I was seven on May 1, 1971. While I did take one trip aboard the old Missouri Pacific at the age of four the dining car didn't make much of an impression on me. I do remember my first dining car experience aboard Amtrak on the Lone Star from Houston to Chicago; I had the chili with cheese for lunch. It looks as if my last steak aboard Amtrak will have been in July 2004, as I took the Texas Eagle back from Chicago to Houston (via bus from Longview). On our most recent trip out to Disneyland, I was favorably impressed by the lamb shanks, although most of the rest of the meals were forgettable. But for the best meal that I can remember...
It was June of 1985. I was traveling from Annapolis to Houston, with a stopover planned in Chicago. I was taking the Broadway Limited from Philadelphia west to Chicago. That night, as the Broadway was passing Altoona, the steward in the dining car (an ex-Santa Fe Texas Chief car with the big hammered-copper Lone Star murals above the windows, a twin to the one I had first ridden back in '79--or maybe even the same one) recommended the "Chef's Special". It turned out to be red snapper, seasoned with lemon and a touch of red pepper, and broiled just right. You've heard the phrase, "melts in your mouth"? I still class that snapper as the best piece of fish I have ever had, at any time and any place.
So, what's your story?
Posted by John Hull (Member # 4465) on :
My most memorable meal was in April 2004 when, with my wife, our son and his girlfriend we were having dinner at sunset climbing Soldier Summit on the west-bound Zephyr. I don't remember what we ate, but the combination of magnificent scenery and good food while sitting on a train was something we still talk about. The dining car steward was a real character, carefully balancing a tray of drinks, spilling nothing in spite of a very poor section of track. It was so good we came back again in 2006 and are now planning a coast-to-coast ride in 2008. John
Posted by train lady (Member # 3920) on :
Over the years I have had a number- of excellent meals on board. But the one that is most outstanding was on the Crescent going to Birmingham in 2000. I love crab so when I saw crab cakes on the menu I had to order that. It came piled high on a fried green tomato. I had minute filler and was the best crab cake I have ever eaten When I told the waiter he smiled and said that this was the chef's spceiality. I had the same thing coming back and it was just as wonderful. The chef, who was a woman, happened to be standing next to our table so I told her she was a magician with crab. She said she was the only one who made this.
Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
I can't pick just one but I do have a top 5 dining car meal list in no particular order.......scheduled passenger trains only -
Best steak was June 2002 on the northbound City of New Orleans. Check the thread with the SWC trip report for my story about that.
Best service period was supper on two consecutive nights aboard VIA's eastbound Canadian Vancouver to Winnipeg in April 2004. I can't remember exactly what I ate even.....beef one night and chicken the next maybe......but the service was exquisite.
Best Amtrak fried chicken was aboard the southbound Floridian somewhere around Birmingham in July 1978. The old-fashioned ACL diner with the triangular tables was pretty cool.
Finally, best fried chicken period was a July 1976 trip from Atlanta to Washington, DC aboard the Southern Crescent which was still operated by the Southern Railway at that point. Our chef was the legendary old school railroad man Louis Price who wound up being killed in a derailment of the Southern Crescent about 18 months later.
Disclaimer - I think I'm a tweener on this board age-wise. I'm happy to have my one trip and two meals on the SOUTHERN Crescent so that I have a point-of-reference when the conversation turns to meals consumed aboard the Panama Limited or the North Coast Limited but, had Southern Railway not waited until 1978 to join Amtrak, my only dining car experiences would be Amtrak ones.
Posted by Ocala Mike (Member # 4657) on :
Not too many truly memorable meals, either pre-or post-Amtrak, but I will say that the best dessert I ever had was around 3 months ago on the W/B CZ. I had left a pretty good tip for the dining car attendant the first night out, and the second night out he was all over us. He gave me a huge cut of cheesecake covered with extra strawberry sauce, and encouraged me to take it back to our bedroom to enjoy. My poor wife, who is a diabetic, cheered me on as I plowed into the calories and cholesterol while we rattled through Utah.
By the way, and this goes back to pre-Amtrak days, does anyone remember when you ordered your food in the dining car by filling out a form? I seem to remember this on trips I took many years ago.
Posted by Mr. Toy (Member # 311) on :
Oh, yes I remember the form. I filled it out many times on the Starlight during my school daze commute between home and boarding school. That was in the mid '70s.
In more recent history, my favorite meal was a breakfast on the Zephyr in 2000. The dish was called the "Golden Gate" and had the smoothest buttery breakfast potatoes I've ever encountered.
Amtrak always seems to do chicken right, even in this age of simplified dining service. My favorite chicken dinner, though, was a few years ago on the Starlight. Everything about it was perfect, as was the apple pie a la mode with the crumbly topping. I was stuffed happy.
My table companions also helped. I was seated with three older women, two retired teachers and a writer. They thought it was a bad thing that I never went to college, but eventually they conceded, based on my ability to carry on an articulate conversation, that maybe I turned out OK without it. We were at the last seating, and we leisurely closed up the place. I think we sat at the table for two hours.
Posted by RRCHINA (Member # 1514) on :
Oh my, how can I summerize?
The Panama Limited north from NO in the mid-1960's the shrimp creole was magnificent.
Late 1960's on the Capitol limited leaving DC, a wonderful crab cake dinner.
Several times on the Chief, El Capitan and Super Chief, the Fred Harvey French Toast for breakfast. Always perfect and with the FH coffee what a way to begin the day.
Posted by sojourner (Member # 3134) on :
The best meal I had was on the SW Chief a few years back, when I took my first trip on Amtrak west of the Mississippi. There was a new chef on board with some desire to create a good "culinary" experience, and using the materials at hand he fashioned a dinner with really nice seasoning and trimmings. I had the steak, which was good in an of itself, but what I remember is that he did something with the baked potato, and he put on the plate a tomato--not a listed item--filled with some blue cheese crumbles. . . . and they had those tasty chocolate pyramid desserts then too. OK, it was not haute cuisine, but it was really tasty comfort food, and nicely presented too. Other more seasoned passengers (pun intended?) all commented on how very good the food was too.
Posted by dixiebreeze (Member # 3224) on :
It seemed like all the meals were very good when I rode the SL and CS in the early and mid-'90s. But one of the best food memories was on the Starlight when the wine and cheese parlour car was still a luxury experience.
Absolutely huge trays of freshly cut and sliced strawberries, pineapple, oranges, pears and other fruits, along with a bounty of delicious cheeses and crackers. There was a folk singer to entertain and the wine poured freely.
Posted by dixiebreeze (Member # 3224) on :
Almost forgot: A truly memorable meal was aboard the Starlight one night about 10 p.m. The Sunset (of course) was late and we were bused from L.A. to Oakland, barely making the Starlight connection there N. to Portland. No one had eaten since breakfast.
Someone called ahead and there was a sumptious buffet for all of starving late arrivals. Whatever it was, it was marvelous!
Posted by Mr. Toy (Member # 311) on :
Speaking of forgetting...
The best dessert I ever had was a key lime cheesecake on the Starlight in 2001. Actually, it was the best cheesecake I've ever had anywhere!
Posted by CoastStarlight99 (Member # 2734) on :
I have met tons of interesting people, but my most memorable meal would be the Twin Medallions of Beef (Tenderloin). This was by far the best steak I have(had) on Amtrak.
Now it's Braised Beef.
Posted by palmland (Member # 4344) on :
I think the best breakfast I ever had was on the SW Chief in 1973 or 1974. In fact it may have still been called the Super Chief in those early Amtrak days. We had our two very young boys with us so everything was a struggle. But the French toast was spectacular. I believe the staff were still all ATSF veterans and the service was outstanding.
Best lunch was on the L&N's Pan American on our annual Tennessee pilgrimage. I don't know how they did it but I can still taste that wonderful turkey sandwich as we raced by old Strawberry yard. Of course this was followed by warm Apple pie a la mode as we climbed Muldraugh's hill.
Best dinner had to be the King's dinner (surf and turf) on the Panama Limited (as I have posted before.)
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Is overseas fair game?
If so, a Veal Medallions plate and a "half' of a Montrachet served aboard "Le Mistral' Paris-Nice June 1971.
Stateside is a UP Steak with one of their own vitnered Red varietal served in the Upper Level of the Dome Diner. This even has steaks served aboard both the Super and the Panama beat, but not by much.
Best Breakfast? French Toast on either the Super or Panama.
Posted by Cozyharbor (Member # 4868) on :
Just about every dinner I've had aboard either the Empire Builder and Lakeshore Ltd. was surprizingly tastey. The catfish, steak, and chicken were all pretty good. The only really bad entre was the ravioli. It tasted like something out of can.
Some have talked about how the individual chef makes a difference and I agree. But what also helps are the hosts and waiters/waitresses.
I've had some hosts, particularly on the LakeShore Ltd. who sat me with perfect dining companions. In fact whoever does the seating on the LSL seems to have a gift for putting the right parties together.
One seating in particular, worked out particularly well and the 4 of us continued to hang out together, enjoying additional wine! Then upon arrival in Chicago, the 4 of us continued to enjoy each others company while in the lounge. Too bad each of us were taking off to different points then or I'm sure we would have dined together over and over again.
Of course there have been some hosts/wait service people who have made the dining experience quite unpleasant and I try to forget about those as they have been far and few between.
Great thread!
Cozyharbor
Posted by Seattle Shue (Member # 4363) on :
Breakfast on the Empire Builder, very early in the morning, somewhere in Idaho. It was my first long distance trip and I was traveling in coach. I was very very broke, so I never expected to eat in the dining car, but my seatmate John insisted that I join him for breakfast. I have no memories of the food, just that it was hot, the roaring river below was stunningly beautiful and a very sweet older gentleman heading to his brother’s funeral in North Dakota was treating me to breakfast. I knew then and there that I was hooked on train travel, that there would be many more rail adventures in my future. And I was right!
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
quote:Originally posted by Cozyharbor: I've had some hosts, particularly on the LakeShore Ltd. who sat me with perfect dining companions. In fact whoever does the seating on the LSL seems to have a gift for putting the right parties together.
Mr Cozy, you must be from Southport.
But to the rails, it is pleasing to learn that even on the Lake Shore today, the tradition of "Cary meets Eva Marie' lives on.
Posted by 20th Century (Member # 2196) on :
Mr. Norman,I just watched (again!) North By Northwest on TV on Sat.night on AMC. In the Century dining car while the Century raced along the Hudson Ms.Eve Krandall(?)(Eva Marie Saint) advised Mr.Thornhill (Cary Grant) that the trout can be "trouty".
Posted by PullmanCo (Member # 1138) on :
Breakfast: Union Pacific French Toast in a Dome Dining Car on the City of Saint Louis, 1967.
Lunch: Split Pea Soup on an Deutsche Bundesbahn Inter City train (several trips), 1983-1987.
Supper: Sirloin steak on the Coast Starlight coming home from ROTC Camp and commissioning at Fort Lewis, WA, 1978.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
quote:Originally posted by 20th Century: Mr. Norman,I just watched (again!) North By Northwest on TV on Sat.night on AMC.
Actually Mr Century, I believe you mean TCM; just as well as ever since AMC morphed from American Movie Classics to America's Movie Channel, they see a need for "commercial interruptions'. So far, and fortunately so far, Turner Classics does not.
Can't speak for Fox; as around here you have to order another "bundle' from Comcast to get it.
Posted by rresor (Member # 128) on :
Ah, memories. I have actually had some good meals on Amtrak, especially during the Claytor-era "CIA" initiative (sending Amtrak cooks to school at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY and then encouraging them to individualize their menus).
Red beans, rice, and andouille sausage for lunch on an eastbound Sunset in 1988 sticks in my memory.
But the pre-Amtrak meals were the best. I remember two especially:
1) The time my mother and I were on the "Silver Comet" returning from Atlanta in February 1967. Grilled shad roe were on the menu, and I'd always wanted to try them. My mother said, "They're probably out of a can", but they weren't. Two beautifully grilled roe pods wrapped in crispy bacon. I can still taste them.
2) Dinner on the "Florida Special" northbound in the spring of 1970. We were on the tangent between West Palm Beach and Okeechobee, doing what seemed to be 100 MPH, and I remember the sound of the silverware jingling with the train's motion as I entered the diner. Dinner was a pompano in a parchment bag, with cream sauce and stuffed with tiny shrimp -- a classic New Orleans dish, done very well by the dining car crew.
As good as Amtrak has sometimes been with its diner meals, I doubt that either fresh shad roe or a pompano has ever been seen in an Amtrak comissary.
Posted by 20th Century (Member # 2196) on :
Yes Mr. Norman,thanks it was TCM. Inevergetthem right. Yes, rresor, pre Amtrak was the time for exceptional meals. The railroads would run the dining cars at a deficit to keep the passengers. Is that correct Mr.Norman? I remember reading that bit of info in one of the classic train books. Maybe it was James D.Porterfield's "Dining By Rail".
