This menu was issued the same day in 1961 as yesterday’s lunch menu. Like the lunch menu, the painting on the cover is by E. Irving Couse and this time depicts a Hopi Indian making an arrow.
Click image to download a 1.7-MB PDF of this menu.
A color version of this painting, taken from the Santa Fe’s 1932 calendar, is below. The little Santa Fe logo in the lower left corner was added to the calendar version by the railway.
The menu itself has some similarities to the lunch menu. Two sandwiches on the a la carte side were on both menus as was the “combination salad bowl, Lorenzo dressing.” Many of the desserts are also the same.
The main entrées, however, are quite a bit improved on the dinner menu. Walleyed pike was replaced by trout, which had the advantage of being a little more local. In place of a hamburger there was an omelet with creamed chicken. In place of frankfurters, there was a roast turkey. In place of beef short ribs, there was beef tenderloin with bordelaise sauce. Finally, instead of assorted cold cuts the dinner menu had a charcoal-broiled steak.
At $4.15 (about $32 today), the steak was the most expensive item on the menu. People who ordered any of the entrées could chose two out of five possible side dishes; unfortunately, one of them was whipped (i.e., instant) potatoes; and the hash browns were probably frozen. The smart customers probably chose the salad and peas or corn.