While we have had some good meals on Amtrak routes nothing today seems to compare to the elegance and cuisine of the golden days of rail travel. This was the Torquoise room menu from the Santa Fe Chief from the 1950's. Imagine dining at a table with a white tablecloth, with fine glassware and china instead of sitting in a cramped luncheonette style booth as we have today.
Looking back this is what dinner was like.
Dinner ala Carte
Appetizers
Fresh Lobster
Fruit Supreme
Spiced Watermellon Cubes
Shrimp Cocktail
Pascal Celery
Collosal Ripe Olives
Pickled Herring w Sour Cream
Consomme en tasse Gelled or Hot
Cream of Celery Soup
Oyster Stew
Cream Stew
Entrees
Broiled Oysters on Toast w Bacon
Grilled Lake Superior Whitefish Maitre d'Hotel
Flaked Breast of Chicken w Mushrooms ala King
Broiled Brace of English Lamb chop with Baked Tomato
Charcoal Broiled Sirloin Steak (how did they do that?)
Vegetables
Fried Eggplant, New Peas,
Potatos
Rissoli or French Fried
Salads
Chefs Combination Salad
Fresh Fruit Salad w Chateleine Plate
Sliced Tomatoes
Breads
Rye, Whole Wheat of Dinner Rolls
Deserts
Vanilla Ice Cream w Cake
Chocolate Ice Cream Sundae
Baked Apple, Cream
Layer Cake
Cherry Pie
Poona Cheese w Tossed Crackers
Casaba Melon
Beverages
Coffee, Tea, Milk ( wheres the Coke?)
A meal on a train back then was a dining experience on the better LD trains. Just goes to show that even 60 years later the food menus are nothing like what they were in the 1950's.
Looking back this is what dinner was like.
Dinner ala Carte
Appetizers
Fresh Lobster
Fruit Supreme
Spiced Watermellon Cubes
Shrimp Cocktail
Pascal Celery
Collosal Ripe Olives
Pickled Herring w Sour Cream
Consomme en tasse Gelled or Hot
Cream of Celery Soup
Oyster Stew
Cream Stew
Entrees
Broiled Oysters on Toast w Bacon
Grilled Lake Superior Whitefish Maitre d'Hotel
Flaked Breast of Chicken w Mushrooms ala King
Broiled Brace of English Lamb chop with Baked Tomato
Charcoal Broiled Sirloin Steak (how did they do that?)
Vegetables
Fried Eggplant, New Peas,
Potatos
Rissoli or French Fried
Salads
Chefs Combination Salad
Fresh Fruit Salad w Chateleine Plate
Sliced Tomatoes
Breads
Rye, Whole Wheat of Dinner Rolls
Deserts
Vanilla Ice Cream w Cake
Chocolate Ice Cream Sundae
Baked Apple, Cream
Layer Cake
Cherry Pie
Poona Cheese w Tossed Crackers
Casaba Melon
Beverages
Coffee, Tea, Milk ( wheres the Coke?)
A meal on a train back then was a dining experience on the better LD trains. Just goes to show that even 60 years later the food menus are nothing like what they were in the 1950's.
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