I approached the dining car on my latest trip on the Amtrak California Zephyr with some hesitation: since my last trip in April 2006, I was told that Amtrak would be switching to pre-cooked frozen meals on the Zephyr. I was happy to discover that, while there have been some changes, the food on the Zephyr is good to excellent, and the ambience can’t be beat.
We boarded in Sacramento, just in time for breakfast. I ordered the Bob Evans Breakfast Scramble, a mix of eggs, potatoes, sausage and cheese with country gravy. It comes with a half order of French toast and fruit. The Bob Evans is one of those meals that tastes far better than it looks. The French toast was beautiful and fluffy, with just the right amount of powdered sugar, and the fruit was fresh. Other breakfasts included a full order of French toast, quiche (definitely pre-made, but still pretty well-executed, served with a croissant and hash browns) and one of two omelets (a Southwestern omelet with beans and corn eastbound, a Tuscan omelet with tomatoes and cheese westbound. The eggs were good but the filling kind of bland.) A Continental breakfast of cereal or oatmeal with yogurt and fruit bowl is also offered. One former Amtrak breakfast choice I missed was a standard two-egg breakfast, with potatoes or grits. Amtrak used to make some darn good grits.
Lunch options included a cheeseburger, veggie burger or a chicken breast sandwich, both served with chips, an individual pizza with salad, quiche with salad (the same quiche as the breakfast quiche) or a chicken Caesar salad. Lunch is probably the weakest point on the dining car, everything is adequate but nothing really stands out. The chicken breast is probably my favorite but chips as a side dish always leaves something to be desired.
Dinner is where Amtrak’s dining car really shines. Like breakfast, some parts of the menu vary depending on the direction of the train. The beef choice was beef ragout eastbound and beef Bourignon westbound. I tried the Bourignon