So, on LD trains that are not the EB or AT, do they carry enough silverware and wine glasses that they don't need to run the dishwasher, or do they do one overnight load of just those items?

Flat Iron Steak on the Empire Builder, Saturday, May 23rd. There was no mention on the Menu of the posibility of a change in the cut of meat.

Here's my steak from the Silver Star, Monday 25 May. I like my steak rare, and got exactly what I wanted:



As you can see, the ceramic plate (in Longford's photo from the Empire Builder) and plastic plate (in my photo from the Silver Star) look very similar!

I've just uploaded lots of photos from Amtrak's current menu to my Amtrak diners set on Flickr. The flatiron steak, crab cakes, Thai curry chicken, pulled pork stew, railroad French toast, key lime pie, and berry lemon tart are all there to whet your appetite When you follow that link to the photo set, the photos from this weekend start with "Thai curry chicken", the first photo in the third row. You can also compare this flatiron steak to one I ate in January 2008.

The plates do look very close to each other! Your steak is a little too rare for my taste, though. Thanks for the pics.

Fortunately, with the steaks cooked-to-order by the chef, we can all get our steaks just as we like them

(Well, except for possibly not being able to get them this rare during the summer months. We'll have to wait and see how that works. I might have to travel somewhere just to try the food again in a few months! )

the only train that has a chief is the autotrain and EB. how can they been cooked to order when there just tossed in a microwave.

the only train that has a chief is the autotrain and EB. how can they been cooked to order when there just tossed in a microwave.

The EB and Auto Train are the only trains which have an assistant chef in addition to the chef. The assistant chef is able to do additional cooking preparation in the kitchen as well as wash dishes, which is why those two trains are still able to serve meals on ceramic china instead of plastic china.

As you can see, the ceramic plate (in Longford's photo from the Empire Builder) and plastic plate (in my photo from the Silver Star) look very similar!

BTW, I would have sent the steak back to be cooked a bit longer. It is easy to cook a rare steak a bit more, but difficult to uncook an overcooked steak.

Every LD train, except for the Cardinal, still has a chef. Even the Lake Shore still runs with a chef, even though he has no oven or grill to cook on.

And except for the LSL and the Cardinal, steaks are indeed cooked to order on the grill by a chef.

That's not exactly true, Will. The EB and the Auto Train are the only two trains that are guaranteed to always have an assistant chef in the kitchen. The other LD's, except for the LSL and the Cardinal, may or may not have an assistant chef depending on the passenger load for that train.

It's easy to do, but against health regulations. They have to cook you a new steak, they can't put that one back on the grill. I'm not sure if they can put it into the convection oven for a few minutes or not.

...
Based on passenger load, they certainly could have used an assistant chef on Train 91 on Saturday--the train was sold out and the diner was packed for all meals--but the staff was just a chef, LSA, and two SAs (unless the assistant chef was hiding in the dishwasher when I peeked into the kitchen!). Then again, the service on 91 was prompt and efficient, and food arrived very promptly from the kitchen, even without an assistant.

Train 92 on Monday had a lighter passenger load, with the diner maybe 2/3 full for each meal, and it had only a chef, LSA, and one SA, and service was a little slower as a result. The difference that second SA can make is huge. I can only imagine how much improved things can be with an assistant chef too! (Well, actually I do know--I've eaten on the EB. And it was definitely a cut above even the very best dining car crews on other trains. I can only imagine how much better the food on the Crescent, Silvers, etc, will get when they also get a second chef on every train!)

It's easy to do, but against health regulations. They have to cook you a new steak, they can't put that one back on the grill. I'm not sure if they can put it into the convection oven for a few minutes or not.

I was never aware of that. Though I have never personally had to do it at any restaurant, I always thought that one could send an under-cooked meal back to the kitchen for a bit more heating.

Also, let me add, I thought serving raw meat (and poultry) was a health violation too.

The FDA requires a footnote saying uncooked meat is risky, but it's not a violation of any rules.

Possibly it is a local heath bureau thing.... most of the restaurants around here have that footnote, but then add to it, a notice that they will not serve any meat cooked less than medium.

One of the reasons, I think (just a guess) is that unlike grocery stores, I know that restaurants are legally sold known contaminated meat. Or least they could be. Because of that, they have to ensure it is cooked well enough (which is medium) to kill any of the nasty stuff (germs, etc).

......... I know that restaurants are legally sold known contaminated meat. Or least they could be.

Actually, your key word here is "most". Most cheap/bad restaurants don't trust the quality of the meat they sell, do not wish to get sued, and therefore do not offer rare meat. Offering rare as an option on a hamburger is one pre-order indicator of whether a place knows or doesn't know how to properly cook one.

Truth be told, if the restaurant does not offer rare as an option on cooked to order food, I'd say don't dine there. Doesn't matter if you like your food rare or not. It really is indicative of a lack of confidence in their ability to provide quality, safe food. I, for one, do not wish to eat in a restaurant that is not comfortable with providing a cooked but rare burger.

Moreover, and I knock wood saying this, I prefer my burgers like my steaks- rare as all get out. When I make them at home I use various different kinds of meat- kobe beef, buffalo, lamb, veal, venison, duck- usually in combination. I always cook it rare to medium rare, and both at restaurants and in my own home, I have yet to get sick from eating it.

By the way, I, for reasons that elude my logical brain, like choke-and-pukes (AKA greasy spoons, grease pits, truck stops, et al), I usually order my burgers rare there, if they offer cooked to order burgers, and I still haven't gotten sick. I don't even know what the big brouhaha is about.

You may have well built up a tolerance over time for (slightly) contaminated meat sold at less-than-fancy places. It's the kids who played in the mud who built up the most immunity and thus are the healthiest.

Truth be told, if the restaurant does not offer rare as an option on cooked to order food, I'd say don't dine there. Doesn't matter if you like your food rare or not. It really is indicative of a lack of confidence in their ability to provide quality, safe food. I, for one, do not wish to eat in a restaurant that is not comfortable with providing a cooked but rare burger.

Sorry, but I find it difficult to accept such a statement . . . that the law/regulations anywhere in the USA permit a supplier to sell contaminated meat. I'm not saying it doesn't happen - because we know it has - but I doubt any government regulations permit it. Then again, how one defines "contaminated" could change the discussion.

Exactly what do you consider 'slightly contaminated'? If you are referring to e-coli, salmonella, botulism, etc., as contaminates, there is really no such thing as 'slightly contaminated'. All of these will at the very least would make you quite ill, if not kill you. Once in the human system, they multiply rapidly and make you ill quite quickly, within hours.
The reason for the undercooked meat warning is that there is a risk that IF the meat does have these bacteria in it, you could get sick if it is undercooked.

Plus little things like section 623, "Exemptions from inspection requirements... Pizzas containing meat food products. " How in the world did Pizza get a specific exception written into the law?

How in the world did Pizza get a specific exception written into the law?

If you think that's silly, USDA changes Swiss cheese hole diameter regulation.

If you think that's silly, USDA changes Swiss cheese hole diameter regulation.

I guess the feds had their eye on the cheese on that one!
And we wonder where our taxes go? To regulate holes in cheese!
I guess we will all sleep better knowing the feds are on the job, monitoring the cheese.

I guess we will all sleep better knowing the feds are on the job, monitoring the cheese.

Hey, it's a shovel ready job!

Well some of those inspectors do have a wholier than thou attitude. laugh.gif laugh.gif

They were probably just going round and round on that one. laugh.gif laugh.gif

Aloha

Guess this tread tells us AU'ers are not Kosher, mixing meat and cheese

Definitely a goy, but do enjoy a good kosher pastrami or corned beef sandwich on rye w/ a pickle!!! yumm!!!!

I guess the feds had their eye on the cheese on that one!
And we wonder where our taxes go? To regulate holes in cheese!
I guess we will all sleep better knowing the feds are on the job, monitoring the cheese.

To monitor the holes, do they have to cut the cheese?

This topic has gone from getting good steak, to opinions as to how a good steak should be cooked, to contaminated meat, to holes in cheese and ending with cutting the cheese. Too funny!

But seriously we have no real way to know if or when we might get contaminated food till it is too late. I had rather not think about it too much or I will be afraid to eat anything.

Back to the steak discussion. If the steak was marinated in a good marinate and then cooked right it needs nothing more. No need to smother it in steak sauce. It will be good and tender even cooked well done.
Of course this is just my humble opinion.

*invokes Weber's Law*

Do you think they'll offer steak on the NOL-SAS stub train?

Hey GML, I know it's off topic, but what is a 'stub train'?

It is a train which primarily exists to provide further service from a point on a trains route to a point it does not serve. For example, the train that ran from Boston to Albany to convey passengers to and from the Lake Shore Limited was a stub train. Now, of course, we have a through train that provides that service.

Weber's law is an old joke about how if a topic goes on for too long, it will eventually result in a debate about the Sunset Limited.

I am a VERY LEAN, NO FAT at all, WELL DONE person with all my meat choices. With the exception of a good lean chuck or sirloin burger. I am aware there are "rare steak" lovers. I am just not one of them. I'll go ahead and "jump in front of the train" so to speak and add I don't eat seafood either. So depending on what the Chiefs Choice is, the only other option seems to be chicken and I only eat the white meat of chicken. So yes I am a picky eater...

That's pretty much my own thinking. Chicken on a Train is "old reliable". The steaks might be good, often times are not, so why risk it (especially in Coach, where Steak is the most expensive item on the Menu). Seafood is good in a Seafood Restaurant, but what can a Train understand of such things? BBQ is good at a Barbeque Restaurant, but probably too messy to really enjoy on a Train. And Vegetarian Lasagna is not really my idea of food.

Lamb is good, and they may have some other good meat specialties from time to time. But you really can't go wrong with Chicken. Always good, often excellent, and should have plenty of White Meat to please picky eaters.

Is there such a thing as train food then?
It seems that there is an attempt to serve regional foods based on that train, like they used to do when trains first added diners. I would expect the regional choices should be fairly good if prepared correctly.

Ok, here's some extremely current info, since I'm posting from the Silver Star in northern Florida, having just eaten the Flatiron Steak

First, there's no asterisk, star, or footnote on the current menu about beef entrée substitutions. Single asterisk is about alcohol and appetizer not being included for sleeper class passengers. Double asterisk is the FDA warning about rare steak. I can't speak for menus before Friday, or in the near future, but right now there's no such note.

Second, my server (an excellent 20-year veteran adept at carefully serving coffee over some of CSX's worst track) said steaks would be changing in June. They'll still be Flatiron, same caterer, but Amtrak has requested that the caterer do some pre-cooking to the steaks. This is temporary, just for the summer. The reason is that most people order steaks medium to well, and cooking them all that way takes a lot of time; they don't feel like they can handle that amount of cooking time per steak with only one chef during peak season. Steaks will still be "cooked to order" on board; but unfortunately, for lovers of rare steak, this means we may be out of luck for a few months. Nobody else should notice a difference. Again, this is a temporary measure for peak season, starting within the next month and probably lasting three or four months, according to my server.

Third, I had the steak tonight, prepared rare, and it was quite good. I think the other entrées are better nowadays, but I was very satisfied with my steak. It's no Peter Luger, Chicago Chop House, Amarillo Big Texan, etc, but that's fine by me--diner 8551 has better ambience, friendlier staff, and nicer scenery The corn and pepper vegetable medley was what shocked me--I'm used to the vegetables being dreadful, and these were tasty. And the baked potato was fluffy. It's nice that they're putting some care into the entire meal now.