‘Ain’t No Sense in Lying’

This is “Chef Tony.” Tony loves to cook. But Tony REALLY loves to cook ribs.

“Ain’t no sense in lying,” he says. “I’m a Southern boy, so I gotta have my ribs.”

Tony is a chef in the kitchens aboard Amtrak’s long-distance trains out of Los Angeles. Those are the trains that run from Chicago to LA and LA to Austin and Dallas.

Chefs like him are responsible for the hot, made-to-order meals that are served in our dining cars. If you haven’t ever eaten a hot Amtrak meal on one of our trains, go here to see what you’re missing.

“It’s my chosen profession,” says Tony, who went to culinary school in LA. “I’ve been working for the railroad ever since, and it’s been fantastic.”

Tony has a true passion for food and because of that has been serving up hot dishes to customers in Amtrak’s dining cars for almost 25 years. In fact, he’s one of Amtrak’s best chefs and even has the award to prove it!

When we met up with him at the Amtrak test kitchen, he was working along side culinary greats like Michel Richard and Tom Douglas, dreaming up new dishes for our long-distance services.

As a surprise plot twist, Tony did not actually make ribs in the Amtrak test kitchen. Instead he plated roast pork served with mash potatoes and vegetables, which he calls Sweet and Sour.