Depot lunch was perfect in pacing, service, and flavor as usual today. Pot roast sandwich is as good as ever and corn beef hash competes with the best in the city (though my dad longs for sharp brown mustard to accompany it). Their chocolate egg cream is to my mind one of the strongest chocolate drinks in the city (chocolate soda at Petersen's and champurrado at Tamale Hut Cafe, when they have it, being other strong contenders).

Getting ready for back surgery on Wednesday and potentially a few weeks of not being able to go out to eat, or doing so rarely at best, I had a definite desire to go somewhere dependable tonight with my parents, and desperately craved a little comfort food. As always, the Depot fit the bill.

Blue plate special of meatloaf with green beans and mashed potatoes very much hit the spot, and a salad to start off was a nice change of pace from the heavier fare I'm more accustomed to eating there. The slice of peach pie for dessert was much better than the first time I tried it nearly a year ago, and while it still has not attained the lofty heights of the bread pudding, donuts, or sweet potato pie, I would gladly order it again when craving a dessert with a bit of fruit.

I'm not sure if tonight was an off night though, or if perhaps the DDD Food Network effect has already worn off a bit, but the only other customer when we walked in was a Chicago cop regular I've seen there before, and we never saw anyone else after he left. We arrived at about 7:15 or so, so that was definitely disappointing to see things so quiet tonight. I did find out today that they'll be on Check Please! on Feb 12th though, so hopefully things will stay busy enough until they get another boost early in 2010.

Was there yesterday afternoon. I had the Pot Roast Sandwich, excellent as usual. My wife had the Meatloaf Sandwich and that was very good, I had never tried it before and would now. She also had the Mushroom soup, it was OK more like mushroom gravy than soup, would not order it again. Wife had the Chocolate cake that was great, I had the egg cream, chocolate and that was good. I like this place solid dependable food. The place was pretty full, had to wait about ten minutes for a table, we were there around 1 O'Clock in the afternoon. The people at the next table were visitors and checking out places they had seen on TV. The were very impressed.

After a long hiatus, I was also at the Depot yesterday. 2146, we left right around 1, so you might have taken our table. I hope we didn't linger.

I also got the Pot Roast Sandwich and enjoyed it. The pot roast fell apart beautifully. It was a little dry and I could have done with more frizzled onions, but these are minor quibbles. This is still a very good sandwich. Plus, I had extra gravy on the side.

I have never been a fan of the fries at the Depot, but found their breakfast potatoes to be excellent and will be my sub for fries on all future orders.

I was so full that I had to turn down donuts that were accidentally being delivered to our table (we had considered ordering them), so that is very full indeed.

We were at the Depot on Sunday too, probably about the same time as gastro gnome, just before noon I think. Walked right in and had a seat, only a couple tables occupied at the time. We shared the obligitory pot roast sandwich and the ruben. I wasn't wowed buy the ruben, but it was better that many I've had.

Nice article in today's Tribune - http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/ ... 2615.story

Dave148 wrote:Nice article in today's Tribune - http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/ ... 2615.story

I've only been once & I wasn't hungry when I went. I do want to get back there & today sounds perfect. Now if only I can convince my husband that it isn't to soon to eat after last night's Gastroextravaganzathon

The Depot American Diner segments from Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q_ugg_CK6w

just saw the triple D segment again. I really want to try this place. bookmarked.

only problem is it's way west of the city. they made it sound like it was IN Chicago. Don't have a car, so that's an issue.

Chitown B:

For LTHers in search of great food, way West of the city might be, I don't know, Elburn, maybe. The Depot is completely within the boundaries of the City of Chicago... It's worth the trip.

Chitown B wrote:just saw the triple D segment again. I really want to try this place. bookmarked.

only problem is it's way west of the city. they made it sound like it was IN Chicago. Don't have a car, so that's an issue.

It's only a few blocks from the Austin Blue Line stop, and it's also a couple blocks from the Central/Roosevelt stop of the #12 bus.

yeah, but it's still about 8 miles away from my work, and that's downtown. Not to mention about 15 miles away from my home up north. That's pretty far for public transportation to a diner.

Not saying I'll never go there. Just a bit far, that's all.

It is well worth the trip as they are unique as far as I know.

A nicely redecorated diner that serves diner food as best as it could be served. Not like Glenn's Diner where the menu has gone upscale but great, solid diner food at good prices.

You will be happy you made the trip!

Chitown:

I regularly make the drive from Oak Park to Argyle and Broadway for the food; sometimes I re-enact the Lower Wacker Drive portion of "The Blues Brothers" - albeit at less than half their speed...

The AS family hit the Depot last Saturday. Everything was spot on.

But I did notice that they have replaced the phone with a modern model. No idea why.

AngrySarah wrote:But I did notice that they have replaced the phone with a modern model. No idea why.

The circle is complete!

Ah, but they still do have a more modern telephonic relic - a payphone in the front window.

Let the pictures commence!

I've been to Depot a couple times in the last two weeks. Robert said that Depot will be on an upcoming Check Please. After DDD lines were long with the diner going through 4 times the usual food and still running out of some stuff like pot roast.. It will be interesting to see the effect this time.

Will you be happy you made the trip? When you're eating, sure. However, I love this place but I hate public transportation even more. If I had to take a bus/train rather than drive five minutes, I'm not sure I would. I, too, have gone from Oak Park to Argyle/Broadway for the food, but you can't get Vietnamese anywhere around here. Were there Vietnamese here, I doubt I would go up there. Likewise, so far can't muster to energy to visit Patty's knowing that I could always hit the Depot, as good as Patty's may be. Am I sad? A little. But I'm also relatively busy. And/or lazy.

gastro gnome wrote:Ah, but they still do have a more modern telephonic relic - a payphone in the front window.

Let the pictures commence!

What's a payphone?

mchodera wrote:Chitown:

I regularly make the drive from Oak Park to Argyle and Broadway for the food; sometimes I re-enact the Lower Wacker Drive portion of "The Blues Brothers" - albeit at less than half their speed...

Do you exit in Indiana like them, too? Always makes me dizzy, that.

Continuing the free association - do you think that the use of GPS's will slowly kill all traffic except locals on the Lower Wacker since one really cannot get a satellite down there? Was musing about that while enjoying the ride recently and having my GPS whine at me.

I love the Depot Diner, and often suggest it as a good place to meet and eat to my friends, but the way I describe it consistently fails to motivate them to choose it. Diner food prepared in a pleasantly homey atmosphere with great ingredients by an accomplished chef, so the ideal diner in short. But that description only seems to excite me, for some reason.

Anyone have a better way to entice friends to Depot Diner?

Anyone have a better way to entice friends to Depot Diner?

You can always say that you will pick up the bill....

dicksond wrote:Anyone have a better way to entice friends to Depot Diner?

The easiest way I can think of that will be 100% effective would be to deliver a sampling of DAD's bread pudding.
As much press as the donuts get, I think the bread pudding is better.

seebee wrote:

dicksond wrote:Anyone have a better way to entice friends to Depot Diner?

The easiest way I can think of that will be 100% effective would be to deliver a sampling of DAD's bread pudding.
As much press as the donuts get, I think the bread pudding is better.

Hey! I thought we were supposed to be keeping quiet about that to make sure we can actually get it when we want to

On that note, I think I'll be hitting the Depot either tonight, or tomorrow for lunch.

The Mrs., I and the three kids decided to drive in from the west 'burbs for our inaugural visit the Depot. We arrived at about 4:45 this evening needing a table of 5. Luckily, there was a group just finishing up at the large table in the back, so we only had to wait about 5 minutes. All but one booth was filled and there was no one sitting at the bar.

From the moment that we sat down it started to go downhill. First, we were told that they were out of turkey (how can you be out of turkey even before the dinner rush? Did someone forget to put it in the oven in the morning?) Next, we ordered the drinks...A diet Coke for the Mrs. and I and the three little ones wanted chocolate milk. After waiting about 5 minutes for the drink, our server came back to say that he could not find any chocolate around to make the chocolate milk. On to choice #2, lemonade...we were promptly told that they were out of lemonade. Our third choice was water, and I certainly hope they did not run out of that too...

My son ordered a ham and cheese omelet with fries instead of potatoes, my wife had the pot roast Sammy, the oldest daughter a short stack and the youngest one a cheeseburger. Our daughter's pancakes and the gravy on the pot roast were the ONLY good things. First, my son received potatoes and not fries. I had asked for my yolks hard on my corned beef hash and they came out runny. My wife a warm scoop (that's generous, it was close to a teaspoon) of cole slaw with her Sammy. Our daughter never received her syrup or butter for her pancakes, so after about 3-4 minutes, while our server was just standing behind the counter, I had to walk up to one of the cooks to get some syrup. About 5 minutes after that our server came with the syrup stating, oh I already brought you the syrup...um, no you didn't.....his all while there was a booth empty and only 4 people at the counter, so its not like they were in the weeds.

I personally did not experience any of the praise that others had while at the Diner. I like to give places the benefit of the doubt, but this was so unenjoyable, it will be hard to return.

Before people jump on me, I just want to let everyone know, that this is just my opinion...And opinions are like A$$%)(*$, everybody's got one.....

Duck and cover!

KevinT wrote:I personally did not experience any of the praise that others had while at the Diner. I like to give places the benefit of the doubt, but this was so unenjoyable, it will be hard to return.

Before people jump on me, I just want to let everyone know, that this is just my opinion...And opinions are like A$$%)(*$, everybody's got one.....

It sounds like you were having a WC Field's kind of day. Did you order the mocha java?

TDAD was one of the restaurants reviewed on this week's Check, Please! and it didn't fair too well. One rave review (a LTH Forum member?), one lukewarm review and one reviewer didn't like it at all.

If you missed it and want to view it, the show will be replayed on WTTW three times in the next few days. Scheduled replays are: Saturday 2/13 @ 4:30pm, Sunday 2/14 @ 9:30pm and Monday 2/15 @ 4:30am.

Check Please, IMO, is like watching the movie critic shows to help you find a good movie. It's a rare day that you will agree and disagree with the critic's opinions on the same topic. Almost every one of those CP shows features at least one segment where the reviewers are hating and loving the same thing.

also, one had a bad time because they were out of pot roast and turkey. which is a bad thing, but it doesn't mean the food was bad - just bad timing.