Page 24 - flip_2015_USA_West_By_Train_The_Complete_Amtrak_Travel_Guide

24 Dining On Board
Dining On Board
Two types of food service are generally offered aboard Amtrak trains: restaurant-style in the Dining Car, and more informal food service in the snack or observation car. Short-distance trains typically will not have a Dining Car, while trains that operate overnight almost always will.
TTfTo reduce food service costs, Amtrak
has implemented a “Simplified Dining Service” for all of its national network trains, with the exception of the Empire Builder. The new service, introducing precooked entrées, disposable plates and reduced Dining Car staff, has been successful in maintaining expected food quality and has been generally well received by passengers.
Dining Car
On almost all long-distance trains, Amtrak offers a dedicated Dining Car, which serves hot meals prepared on
board by trained chefs for
breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sleeper-class passengers are entitled to all meals (except alcoholic beverages), while coach-class passengers may
dine for an additional charge.
In general, you will find the Dining Car prices roughly similar to typical sit-down restaurants.
Typical Menus
Passengers in long-distance trains can relish an assortment of food in the Dining Car. One set of food choices is offered on the outbound trip and another set on the return trip. Amtrak calls this a rotating menu, and it provides passengers with a pleasing number of choices.
• Breakfast—Breakfast menu selections include a variety of hot and cold entrées such as omelets, French toast, a rotating
Chef’s Special and a Continental option. Sides available for breakfast typically include bacon, sausages, grits or hash browns.
• Lunch—For lunch, you can usually opt for a cheeseburger or a vegetarian burger, an entrée-sized salad, specialty sandwiches and a hot rotating Chef’s Special. Lunch is probably the weakest point in the Dining Car menu; everything is adequate but nothing really stands out.
• Dinner—Dinner is where Amtrak’s Dining Car food service really shines. Dinner entrée options
typically include a red wine– braised flat iron steak, a
seafood selection complemented by a special sauce; a herb- roasted half chicken, a
vegetarian pasta selection and a rotating Chef ’s
Marketplace Special. Dinner entrées come with a small tossed
salad, warm roll, seasonal vegetables, and potatoes or rice.
• Desserts: For sweet-toothed travelers, cheesecake, chocolate cakes, Häagen-Dazs ice cream, and other fruit or nut dessert specialties are typically available on each of the lunch and dinner menus.
• For Children: Kid-friendly choices for meals include French toast for breakfast
and hot dogs, pizza, grilled-cheese sandwich, meatballs with tomato sauce and penne or chicken breast tenders for lunch and dinner.