The Antidote to Amtrak: The Napa Valley Wine Train - Page 4

Two of the Pullmans are fitted as 50-passenger lounge cars. Each has 26 cushioned seats that swivel 360-degrees and six four-person booths for passengers riding the brunch, lunch and dinner trains. Another 1915 Pullman, originally built for the Southern Railway Company, was rebuilt as the kitchen car, featuring a stainless steel galley. Executive Chef Kelly Macdonald and his crew of six use propane-fired gas ranges and electric appliances as they prepare all brunches, lunches and dinners for passengers aboard the railroad as it journeys through the Napa Valley. Macdonald and his chefs can be observed by passing patrons from a mahogany-paneled passageway with a window wall on the kitchen.

The Napa Valley Wine Train's dining car, with more than 60 seats at 20 tables for the three-star, white linen service, was originally a 1917 Pullman sleeping car.

How's The Food?

Macdonald has been with the Wine Train since 1993, eventually holding the dual positions of special events sous chef and director of purchasing. In October of 2001, the NVWT issued a press release announcing that Macdonald was taking over from their previous award-winning Executive Chef, Patrick Finney, who departed for a National Director position with the American Tasting Institute.

When we first rode the Wine Train on a weekend in August of 1999, we were surprised at how good the train's food was, considering its obvious tourist-destination theme. Many of the weekend passengers had the look of folks dolled up for "their big night out". Yet unlike (stationary) "tourist trap" restaurants, the surprisingly subtle food on the Wine Train was designed to hold up under the most rigorous pallets (like ours!).

Macdonald's food tastes nothing like his fast food namesake. When we returned on a weekday excursion in mid-November of 2001, the menu included roast angus tenderloin over sauteed oyster mushrooms in a red wine and shallot reduction sauce, with fried leeks and gorgonzola cheese. And chicken prosciutto, baked and stuffed with layers of sauteed spinach, wild mushrooms and provolone cheese with sun dried tomatoes and wild mushroom sauce. As well as center cut pork chops, grilled and served over sauteed wintergreens and shiitake mushrooms in a Chinese mustard sauce with mango ginger chutney.

Prior to Boarding

Most trips begin at the railroad's handsome downtown Napa station, located at 1275 McKinstry Street, and normally include wine tastings, brief seminars on what to look for in fine wines and a brief discussion on the history of the Valley. Schuyler frequently mingles with guests, and has met a number of celebrities before they boarded the Wine Train, including Joe Montana, the ex-San Francisco 49er quarterback, Herb Caen, the well-known, now-deceased columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, and Fess Parker, famous for playing Daniel Boone on TV, but who also is now in the California wine business, although based in Santa Barbara.

Article Author: Ed Driscoll

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