Built in 1931, Omaha Union Station welcomed all the railroads that wanted to connect with Union Pacific, including the North Western, Milwaukee, Missouri Pacific, Wabash, and even, for some reason, the Rock Island (which Union Pacific didn’t favor because it had built its own line to Denver). The Burlington, which also had its own line to Denver, didn’t use the station as it had its own across the street from Union Station.
Click image to download a 1.1-MB PDF of this menu.
Unlike many dining car menus we’ve seen, this one doesn’t have a la carte on one side and table d’hôte on the other. Instead, it has table d’hôte on both sides. Strangely, all of the appetizers, soups, vegetables, salads, and desserts are identical on both side. The only differences are the entrées, four on the left side and five on the right.
These entrées suggest that the Union Station Restaurant, like many of the Fred Harvey station restaurants, tried to do more than just serve people who were between trains. Among the entrées were oysters Rockefeller, whole Maine lobster, charcoal broiled veal t-bone steak, charcoal broiled sirloin steak, roast duckling, and of course roast turkey.
Appetizers included oysters, crab, or shrimp cocktail. There were also a choice of two soups, two salads, and five desserts. Unlike yesterday’s menus, there is no need to guess at the year this menu was used as it clearly says (in Coronet typeface) “Christmas menu 1948.”
Click image to download a 1.5-MB PDF of this menu.
I have one more Union Pacific Christmas menu that features Colorado’s Bear Lake on the cover. We’ve previously seen this cover on 1958 City of Portland menus, but it was probably used on the City of Denver as well. The prices in this menu are much too low for 1958; they are closer to prices found in 1950 UP dinner menus.
In addition to the a la carte section, the menu offered a table d’hôte “Christmas Menu” of salmon, lamb chops, omelet, or roast turkey. The only other indication that this is a Christmas menu is that the menu listings are printed in green while the top of the menu has a large red picture of Santa in his sleigh pulled by four reindeer.