Is that the one that made too many salads??LOL

I can't "Say it ain't so". However, if "misery loves company" I've been involved in the restaurant industry for about 25 years, (owner, operator, but mostly sales to restaurants) and I have NEVER been in a kitchen 1 star, 2, star, 3,4,5 star that doesn't subscribe to that rule. OBVIOUSLY some are more strict than others. It's amazing what a quick rinse of water does. (or at least what they THINK it does......)

Go ahead, order, eat, and enjoy. Just keep your mind on the scenery outside the window, and trust that about 95% of the time, your meal is professionally prepared in a sanitary manner.............

Actually, the Empire Builder did not get the new braised flat iron steak (which some call pot roast) for the summer peak season. It still has a grilled steak, the "Butcher's Choice Cut Steak." When I rode the Empire Builder in June, I ate it, and it wasn't very tender, but it was a steak. Here is the current Empire Builder menu.

I ordered a steak while eating in the westbound EB dinning car on 25 November 2009 (day before Thanksgiving). It was one of the best steak's that I ever ate--probably in the top five. It was cooked to perfection!

My top five: Spencers for Steaks (Hilton owned chain in Spokane and elsewhere; Morton's anywhere; Smith & Wolensky (any of their locations; Chicago Chop House; and Ruth's Chris (anywhere). While an Amtrak flat iron steak can be tasty, I don't see it in top five, top ten or top??? No insult intended to you for your ranking, and I am glad you enjoyed it.

This was not the flat iron, but the "Butcher's Cut Special."

The steak was changed on the Empire Builder back in October. On train #8 it's now a sirloin steak and train #7 again has a New York strip steak. So far I've tried them both several times and all have been excellent.

You and I are in agreement there.

i like meat tender and juicy also but i don't want the juices to be blood.

That isn't blood.



http://www.drquincy.com/blog/why-you-shoul...our-steak-rare/

I cut steaks for summer jobs-- its tissues that have broken down and are colored red through oxygenation.

I hope you don't butcher it, Micah.

It came to us in cryovaced sections, Jesse.

On a recent GBB to DEN ride on the CZ, I had a "no name" steak. It was one of the best I've had in a while; almost as good as the long departed NY strips. I didn't know what to expect since the menu gave only a flowery description, not the name of the cut.

I had the opportunity on a recent trip to have the flat iron both braised and broiled, as well as the New York strip. I thought that the flat iron was better braised (even though it was warmed in a microwave in the LSL lounge car) than broiled, but that the New York strip on the Empire Builder was better than either. Almost made up for missing the Buffaloaf once again.

1st, the flat iron on the LSL is made in a steam table, not a microwave (plus they use a convection oven, not the microwave like everyone thinks).
2nd, the steak on the RB is a butchers choise cut. I'm not sure if it was actually a flat iron as the butcher's cut thing, but who really knows/
I also want to know, does the national and Crescent menu list the steak as a "butcher's cut" or flat iron? For some reason Amtrak hasn't put the new menus up on their website (which I will contact them AGAIN about), which is what they always do now.

You are mistaken.

The braised flat iron was the evening meal on the Boston section of the eastbound Lake Shore Limited on November 22. No dinette. No steam table. No convection oven. Those all go to New York. Just the lounge car and an attendant who complained about how hot the microwave was running. Heck, he didn't have any plates and so we were served the dish in the microwavable container. The potatoes were pretty cold, and the meat itself was unevenly heated, so I think I'll continue thinking that the attendant knew what he was talking about when he said that the dishes were microwaved.

Second, on #7 on December 4 the dinner special was... wait for it... New York strip steak. Maybe they were lying, but that's what Ken said and it sure looked like a New York strip to me. This was in addition to the regular "Butcher's Choice" steak, which has always looked like a top sirloin cut to me. Certainly the shape and marbling are not what I'd expect from a flat iron cut. I still would have liked to have tried the buffaloaf, but there you have it.

Web site menus are all fine and dandy, but I'm going to my own eyes, ears, and taste first. YMMV, of course.

I don't remember what the beef offering was on the Crescent. Mrs. Ispolkom had the crab cakes, while Wayman and I had the turkey dinner special.

I thought the LSL Boston section served a cold "beef" plate, not a flat iron piece of meat. Strange that they serve a NYS as the special but hey, it had to be better than the old chicken fried steak special from a few years ago ! The menus on my Amtrak.com are the old summer ones, which are a little out of date compared to the current fall menus.