Steaks cooked to order are back

[ScottC4746]

I went on www.amtrak.com and worked my way to the .pdf of the menus and they changed the regular menu, that is the one they use that is not route specific. It has a date of 11/09 and look what I found:

"Butcher’s Cut Marinated Steak** . . . . . . . . $22.50

The Butcher’s cut is a twenty-one day aged,

corn-fed USDA choice steak. Hand-cut

exclusively by GreatWestern Beef of Chicago.

Cooked to order and served froma temperature

range of rare to well done, these selections

are wellmarbled and flavorful. Served with a

baked potato, sour creamand vegetablemedley.

(A glass ofMerlot or Cabernet would

complement this American classic)."

ITS BACK EVERYONE!!!!!

 

[PetalumaLoco]

I went on www.amtrak.com and worked my way to the .pdf of the menus and they changed the regular menu, that is the one they use that is not route specific. It has a date of 11/09 and look what I found:
"Butcher’s Cut Marinated Steak** . . . . . . . . $22.50

The Butcher’s cut is a twenty-one day aged,

corn-fed USDA choice steak. Hand-cut

exclusively by GreatWestern Beef of Chicago.

Cooked to order and served froma temperature

range of rare to well done, these selections

are wellmarbled and flavorful. Served with a

baked potato, sour creamand vegetablemedley.

(A glass ofMerlot or Cabernet would

complement this American classic)."

ITS BACK EVERYONE!!!!!

Sign me up!

 

[Acela150]

OH YES! OH YES!

 

[TVRM610]

I thought Amtrak was lying to us when they said that they were "rotating menus" and the cooked to order stakes would appear once again in future rotations. Just goes to show you, don't believe everything you hear, especially about amtrak.

Sounds good though, I almost never order steak ever, but for some reason the idea of it being cooked to order on a moving train is so exciting that I sometimes order it just for fun, and I must say they can be quite tasty.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

One would hope the quoted description means raw steaks thrown on the grill and done to the fine turn requested by the diner, and is not just sleight of word, i.e. semantics. I'm not so sure.

"Cooked to order..." Well yes. Fair to expect that whatever the process might be there's not just a pile of meat sitting under heat lamps waiting to be thrown on a plate, and that each order is individually prepared.

"...and served from a temperature range of from rare to well done..." Call me Mr. Skeptic (or worse), but to me this sounds like steaks precooked to various levels, then reheated aboard to a temperature designed to approximate a freshly cooked version.

I'm not saying that's terrible, just that there might be a little wordplay involved in order to make the offering appear more appealing on the menu.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

The carrying costs involved in that would make it not worth the alternative of simply cooking them on board.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

The carrying costs involved in that would make it not worth the alternative of simply cooking them on board.

It would be helpful to cite actual numbers instead of making vague assertions.

 

[railiner]

It doesn't say what the "butcher's cut" is. 'Well marbled' makes me believe it's maybe a rib-eye. I would prefer a porterhouse, filet mignon, or NY strip, such as they served many years ago with the mushroom caps. Yum, yum!

 

[TVRM610]

This is the exact same description that is in the Empire Builder's Menu and they grill steaks to order.

 

[amtrakwolverine]

This is the exact same description that is in the Empire Builder's Menu and they grill steaks to order.

yeah but the EB and the AT are the only 2 amtrak trains that cook food. All the other trains just heat it in a microwave or convection oven. all there doing is reheating pre-cooked food.

 

[Tony]

The Butcher’s cut is a twenty-one day aged, ...

A pre-cooked steak that is allowed to sit in the dining car kitchen for up to 21 days ?

Reminds me of the vending machine sandwiches at work.

 

[Neil_M]

yeah but the EB and the AT are the only 2 amtrak trains that cook food. All the other trains just heat it in a microwave or convection oven. all there doing is reheating pre-cooked food.

So how was the steak I had on the CZ and SWC cooked then?

 

[cpamtfan]

Well, not to take any thanks, I knew that the new menus came out in October/November and got Amtrak to update them , abeit a month late :lol: . Amtrak food is getting interesting, from the "friaked" chicken, the multiple wordings for steaks (garlic butter marinated, Butcher's Choice Cut, etc.).

Lemon sorbet for dessert, and many many other new/improved items! Can't wait for my trip in April/May! Cardinals has "braised beef" !

PS Amtrak is starting to leave the "microwaveing" in dining cars, as there are ovens for cooking (although small). I'm not sure what they'll do with the LSL, still bordelaise, but the regular diners are back, so who knows whats next!

 

[printman2000]

This is the exact same description that is in the Empire Builder's Menu and they grill steaks to order.

yeah but the EB and the AT are the only 2 amtrak trains that cook food. All the other trains just heat it in a microwave or convection oven. all there doing is reheating pre-cooked food.

From what I understand, there are no microwaves in dining cars. Only convection ovens.

 

[AlanB]

This is the exact same description that is in the Empire Builder's Menu and they grill steaks to order.

yeah but the EB and the AT are the only 2 amtrak trains that cook food. All the other trains just heat it in a microwave or convection oven. all there doing is reheating pre-cooked food.

From what I understand, there are no microwaves in dining cars. Only convection ovens.

Not only do they use convection ovens for warming the meals that are warmed, all trains but for those using a Diner_Lite car are doing at least some cooking onboard. That includes steaks, eggs, omlettes, and a few other things. And even on the EB some of the meals are still just warmed in a convection oven.

 

[Ryan]

I thought Amtrak was lying to us when they said that they were "rotating menus" and the cooked to order stakes would appear once again in future rotations. Just goes to show you, don't believe everything you hear, especially about amtrak.

So lemme get this straight. Amtrak said that the steaks were coming back, they came back, and that's goes to show you that you can't believe everything that you hear? Color me confused.

 

[TVRM610]

I thought Amtrak was lying to us when they said that they were "rotating menus" and the cooked to order stakes would appear once again in future rotations. Just goes to show you, don't believe everything you hear, especially about amtrak.

So lemme get this straight. Amtrak said that the steaks were coming back, they came back, and that's goes to show you that you can't believe everything that you hear? Color me confused.

Several people acted like they needed to write every authority out there because Amtrak was taking steaks away, even though Amtrak said they would be rotating menus to try new items etc. and that items like the grilled to order steaks would return in future rotations.

 

[wayman]

Several people acted like they needed to write every authority out there because Amtrak was taking steaks away, even though Amtrak said they would be rotating menus to try new items etc. and that items like the grilled to order steaks would return in future rotations.

Sad but true: my reason for believing the real steaks would come back is that over the course of several rides this summer I heard the same story from two different LSAs plus a chef, each of whom I asked individually about the change. "Oh, this is for the summer months, because of increased passenger load and partly just to vary the menu; they'll be back in the fall." When one Amtrak crew member tells me something, I give it 50% odds of being correct, 50% odds of being reported rumor. But when three tell me the same thing, I figure it's probably correct. I say "sad but true" because I wish that in general crew information was accurate enough that if one Amtrak crew member tells me something, I'd have confidence it was true.

 

[TVRM610]

This is the exact same description that is in the Empire Builder's Menu and they grill steaks to order.

yeah but the EB and the AT are the only 2 amtrak trains that cook food. All the other trains just heat it in a microwave or convection oven. all there doing is reheating pre-cooked food.

this is false and goes to show how little people actually understand about the dining cars. There is not much difference between the Auto Train, EB and all the other LD trains operating with a full service diner. The main difference is the extra staff members that allow amtrak to seat the entire cars, and also add the touches of real china, glassware, coffee cups, and tablecloths.

As for the food, there is very little difference between how the food is prepared, since the kitchen has an extra cook, they can feed more people faster, but the actual preperation is almost identical, some items are cooked to order from scratch, some items are simply warmed in a convection oven. This, by the way, is no different then most national chain restaurants, convection ovens are routinely used to warm already prepared food.

There are a few extra items that are prepared on-board on the EB and Auto Train, but nothing to really write home about.

 

[TVRM610]

Also of note is the new National menu is void of all appetizers, somthing that only caused confusion from what I saw....

 

[wayman]

Also of note is the new National menu is void of all appetizers, somthing that only caused confusion from what I saw....

You mean "the appetizers caused confusion, when they were on the menu", not "the disappearance of appetizers is causing confusion", right? The first one was certainly true in my experience, largely due to the way they were not free for folks in sleepers -- that was a bizarre policy.

 

[TVRM610]

Also of note is the new National menu is void of all appetizers, somthing that only caused confusion from what I saw....

You mean "the appetizers caused confusion, when they were on the menu", not "the disappearance of appetizers is causing confusion", right? The first one was certainly true in my experience, largely due to the way they were not free for folks in sleepers -- that was a bizarre policy.

Yes that is what I meant. Also, sleeper passengers could not order an appetizer for an entree' but coach passengers could, which made no sense to me from a cost perspective. Altogether is was just confusing... to have them on the menu!

 

[Ryan]

I thought Amtrak was lying to us when they said that they were "rotating menus" and the cooked to order stakes would appear once again in future rotations. Just goes to show you, don't believe everything you hear, especially about amtrak.

So lemme get this straight. Amtrak said that the steaks were coming back, they came back, and that's goes to show you that you can't believe everything that you hear? Color me confused.

Several people acted like they needed to write every authority out there because Amtrak was taking steaks away, even though Amtrak said they would be rotating menus to try new items etc. and that items like the grilled to order steaks would return in future rotations.

I get you now - I misunderstood what you meant be the "what you hear" and thought that you were referring to Amtrak there.

 

[savoirfaire]

I can verify that yes, the steaks are back, they are on the grill, and cooked to order. I had one on Friday night on the CL, and it was pretty good. Since I am not a butcher, nor a beef afficianado, I can not verify the cut, but it tasted just fine.

-Sav

 

[EB_OBS]

Right now, the two steaks in rotation are a Top Sirloin or a New York strip. So far both are getting good reviews.