New Acela Food

[JimInVa]

OK I'll admit it: I'm at least as much of a food geek as I am a train geek. And I will have to confess that as much as I enjoy the "diner experience" with new friends/seatmates, every diner meal in recent years has had me harking back to the fine steak dinner I enjoyed in 1977 on board the Lake Shore Limited, rolling northward up the Hudson as the sun set in the West.

So I was a skeptic when I heard that Amtrak was planning a major upgrade of the Acela food service, starting with the First-Class car. They turned to celebrity chef Michael Rochard, of Citronelle in DC, to shepherd the whole thing, and I just got my first taste yesterday (Thursday).

Wow.

This was really, genuinely good. I know it's utterly impractical for Amtrak to put this kind of food everywhere in the system, but that's a bloody shame because I had one of the best meals on rails I've had in probably 20 years...and that includes the good stuff I've had in France on the TGV.

A Merlot...a cheese plate for a starter...a vegetarian paella with little soy-based sausages that looked and tasted for all the world like Andouille: my doc told me last year to get serious about cutting my cholesterol, so I'm a veggie guy now. :-((

My seatmate had braised ribs...and pronounced them excellent.

Evidently they're going for seasonal stuff, so they're promising some more really interesting menu choices in coming weeks. I'm adding a link to a short local news article on it, if anyone's interested.

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1287881

Has anyone else here tried the new Acela food?

 

[rmgreenesq]

OK I'll admit it: I'm at least as much of a food geek as I am a train geek. And I will have to confess that as much as I enjoy the "diner experience" with new friends/seatmates, every diner meal in recent years has had me harking back to the fine steak dinner I enjoyed in 1977 on board the Lake Shore Limited, rolling northward up the Hudson as the sun set in the West.
So I was a skeptic when I heard that Amtrak was planning a major upgrade of the Acela food service, starting with the First-Class car. They turned to celebrity chef Michael Rochard, of Citronelle in DC, to shepherd the whole thing, and I just got my first taste yesterday (Thursday).

Wow.

This was really, genuinely good. I know it's utterly impractical for Amtrak to put this kind of food everywhere in the system, but that's a bloody shame because I had one of the best meals on rails I've had in probably 20 years...and that includes the good stuff I've had in France on the TGV.

A Merlot...a cheese plate for a starter...a vegetarian paella with little soy-based sausages that looked and tasted for all the world like Andouille: my doc told me last year to get serious about cutting my cholesterol, so I'm a veggie guy now. :-((

My seatmate had braised ribs...and pronounced them excellent.

Evidently they're going for seasonal stuff, so they're promising some more really interesting menu choices in coming weeks. I'm adding a link to a short local news article on it, if anyone's interested.

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1287881

Has anyone else here tried the new Acela food?

Thanks for the positive review. I've always thought the food in the first class car on the acela to be a bit of a dissapointment, and not really worth the upcharge.

I'm on the acela to nyp on monday and am looking forward to the new food.

Rick

 

[AlanB]

I had the new food last weekend, which now once again has hot food choices for lunch. I had the scallops, which were actually rather good, and I'm not exactly a huge fan of scallops.

I did note the cheese plate, rather than the more traditional salad on my ride up to Boston during the dinner hour, but the lasagna seemed pretty much the same as before.

 

[JimInVa]

I had the new food last weekend, which now once again has hot food choices for lunch. I had the scallops, which were actually rather good, and I'm not exactly a huge fan of scallops.
I did note the cheese plate, rather than the more traditional salad on my ride up to Boston during the dinner hour, but the lasagna seemed pretty much the same as before.

I thought they dropped the lasagna (which I actually kind of dig)? Maybe they ran out of new food?

Sure wish they still did the two little truffles in a gold box...great little "gimmes" for the kids when I got home.

 

[Steve4031]

Im thinking about riding the Acela up to Boston in back on that Monday after the railfest in New York City just so I can have the blueberry pancakes for Breakfast. LOL