We’ve seen both of these menu covers before, but the menus on the inside are different from what we’ve seen before (though identical to one another). In the last couple of years before Amtrak, Union Pacific dining car menus for the City of Portland and City of Los Angeles all featured the charcoal-broiled sirloin steak, plus one seafood entrée, one poultry, and another red meat. Usually, the seafood was Utah brook trout or Columbia River salmon.
Click image to download a 1.4-MB PDF of this menu.
These two menus, however, offered Pacific Coast swordfish, a slightly more exotic seafood item. The poultry and ham entrées were also slightly different; instead of fried chicken, the chicken was “breast of spring chicken supreme,” which usually means chicken breast service with the drumstick and skin. Instead of grilled smoked ham with sliced crabapple, these menus offered broiled ham with an apple ring.
Click image to download a 1.4-MB PDF of this menu.
Despite having only four table d’hôte entrées (plus three more dinner meals on the other side of the menu), the thoughtful variety of food preparation showed the Union Pacific maintained high-quality service even as ridership was declining.