>be me>ride Amtrak for cross-country tour across the United States>have lunch>can't have a burger and friesExplain yourselves Americans.
What's a hebrew national all-beef hot dog?A regular hot dog with the tips cut off?
what do you think an angus burger is...
>>2006872What the shit? Amtrak has a fixed menu? You eat the same shit every day on a multi-day trip?Took VIA Rail's transcontinental, and every day on the train had a completely different menu. And on top of that, the staff were open to preparing custom meals from what they had available, because I had food restrictions.I sure paid for that fucking trip, but the food was no complaint. You should come to Canada instead.
>>2006897>Took VIA Rail's transcontinental, and every day on the train had a completely different menu. And on top of that, the staff were open to preparing custom meals from what they had available, because I had food restrictions.What food did they have? I've been thinking of taking The Canadian.
>>2007360It's been a while and there were a lot of different meals over 7 days (because the menu was different every single day). Each meal had at least 3 options. I think the breakfast menu rotated slightly less, but that's because there's a certain type of person who only has grains/cereal for breakfast and so I think they were catering to that.Some items I specifically remember were: a pulled pork open-face sandwich, a chunk of roast beef with a very rich sauce, some absurdly good cake (pro-tip, you can ask if they have ice cream to go with your cake/pie), the usual chicken/fish dishes in the rotation, a bacon and pancakes breakfast (and when we arrived at the final stop, the last breakfast continued until everyone had a chance to eat), stretching my memory a bit but I had a pasta at least once.Overall, I'd say the meals were like eating at a nice, "middle class" sit down restaurant. They weren't superlative like an expensive (let alone famous) restaurant. But it was a great experience because you probably aren't eating every single meal for a solid week in a "middle class, sit-down restaurant" unless it's on a train or a cruise.Of course, if you go for the prestige class service, then I'd have all confidence they would be delivering an expensive restaurant experience. But even if I can afford it, I don't know that I'd do that tier without bringing someone else/a family along to fill out the cabin. And if you were comically rich, Canadian Pacific offers truly absurd luxury trips.
>>2006872Are you really complaining that your burger came with chips instead of fries?
>>2006890No fries
I'm on Amtrak right now. Delayed for 1 hour because the engine overheated. Then a crackhead died on the train so we were delayed for another two hours. Going hungry because the food is outrageously overpriced. 20 dollars for a basic ass breakfast?? Next time I'll have to bring my own.
>>2007386oh i thought terra chips was a fancy name for fries and not a literal bag of chips
>>2007398>he doesn't have a room with meals includedshiggy diggy
>>2007398I'm also on Amtrak right now. Was running a couple hours late, and I was sitting in a car for six hours with no AC in this lovely 39°C heat. Our engine ALSO just overheated and we died in the middle of the tracks. They've given up on fixing it so now we're getting dragged by another train that happens to be going the opposite way (that is only able to grab us because its running two hours late). All-in-all probably about nine hours in this oven. Glad I'm not old or a crackheadThis is not the first time I've had an engine die, though this is the first time I've seen them not get it started again. Ive lost count of the times there's been no AC or power.
>>2006875It's a brand of hot dog.
>>2006872The true American trip is and has always been the open road.>chance to try regional cuisine>any cuisine you want>anywhere from fast food to nice restaurants, or visit supermarkets as well, which often have prepared foods (or at the very least, sandwich ingredients)
>>2007480>hey've given up on fixing it so now we're getting dragged by another train that happens to be going the opposite way (that is only able to grab us because its running two hours late).Can they not just uncouple the engine and hook up a new one?
>>2007512>Can they not just uncouple the engine and hook up a new one?Sure, but the nearest available engine could be hundreds of miles away
>>2007537If it's on a Class I railroad, I imagine they always have a few spare locomotives handy at any given moment.>inb4 not Amtrak>inb4 no HEP>inb4 no steam generatorWhile that is true, the train is stuck on their tracks so they have an incentive to at least pull it to the next station where they can put it in a siding.
>>2007398My pro-tip is to grab a six-pack of liquid meal replacement when taking the train. If you end up with a meal you dislike, just down a bottle. If the food is great, then it's not like that stuff goes bad.
>>2006872In these glory days of rail safety, nobody wants a vat of hot oil sloshing around in a confined space
>>2007663For a moment i thought you were talking about beer...Then i realized there was no sarcasm... and i felt really horrified.
>>2007604The freight lines and Amtrak only fool with each other's equipment out of absolute necessity. Otherwise it opens up liability that the freight carriers do not want. If an Amtrak train can limp into a siding, yard, or some other place where it's not tying up the main, the freight railroad is content to let them rot there.No one uses steam generators anymore though
>>2007691>In these glory days of rail safety, nobody wants a vat of hot oil sloshing around in a confined spaceI mean, you can literally make fries in a pan. If nothing else, you can use butter or even bake them.
>>2007882If nothing else there's the air fryer
>>2007885Amtrak is buying new long-distance rolling stock in the 2030s and should bring updated kitchens
>>2007691>In these glory days of rail safety, nobody wants a vat of hot oil sloshing around in a confined spaceMcDonald's was briefly contracted to handle catering for Deutsche Bundesbahn in the early 90s and they did manage to rebuild a pair of surplus dining cars into restaurants that offered the full McDonald's menu, using custom-built deep fryers similar to the ones used on ships.From a technical standpoint, the project was a complete success. It only failed due to poor sales, poor logistics (restocking had to be done with McDonald's restaurants along the route instead of from fixed mid-journey stops), and the fact that the 90kW power consumption was very taxing on the cars.https://www.thedrive.com/news/38221/the-mctrain-the-rise-and-fall-of-mcdonalds-ambitious-plan-to-conquer-the-railroads
>>2007901They didn't do much with the Viewliner II procurement in the mid 2000s, but this round is supposed to be the single largest rolling stock purchase in amtrak's history, so we could see some push for real dining innovation.We will see.
>>2007935Interesting
>>2006897>Amtrak has a fixed menu?Even worse, that's the NATIONWIDE menu. Meaning that basically every overnight passenger train in the country serves it. The cafe cars are even worse.
