I was there today and had the pot roast sandwich. It was very very good. Place was crowded around noon time and service was a little erratic. I ordered after the people next to me and was finished with my sandwich before they even got theirs. But it would be worth that slight inconvenience to eat something that good and with a Iced Tea was under 9.00.

LTHForum,

Depot Diner was dead-on Saturday, hungry lunch crowd filling nearly every seat Robert, owner and grill man extraordinaire, poetry in blurred motion lining 'em up for the friendly efficient waitresses to distribute.

Bullpen, Depot Diner



Four people, five opportunities to taste.

- Biscuits and Gravy, surprisingly light almost aerated gravy, hunks of sausage, runny over easy eggs and griddled biscuits, crisp potato delicious, an almost unnecessary touch.



- Club House Sandwich - Generous triple decker, fresh roast turkey, crisp bacon, summer tomatoes, crunchy new pickle. Even turkey white meat moist and flavorful.



- Ham and Scrambled Eggs - Chunk of quality ham, silky scrambled, crisp potatoes, near perfect rendition of an American Classic Breakfast.



- Pot Roast Sandwich - Surprise of the day, melt in your mouth tender, powerful, beefy, rich long simmered gravy accenting flavor.



- Burger with Egg - Juicy med-rare burger, runny over easy egg, summer tomato, sharp red onion, a study in the art form.




Waitress was making phosphates with skill of a Violet Hour mixologist, Chocolate Phosphate with the slight bitter edge of the very best, as opposed to the sugar sweet shanda most non 70-year-old crusty Jewish deli vets produce, and a dreamsicle like drink of orange soda and milk.

Chocolate Phosphate



Egg Cream Dreamsicle



Saturday lunch proved the perfect introduction for three Depot Diner newbies, soon to be regulars. Also served to remind me just how good the Depot Diner can be.

'Mr. Tilapia' Theresa Jazzfood



Robert



Enjoy,
Gary

Though it is very early in the morning, that picture makes me long for a burger immediately! I'm sure the good photography is part of it, but that looks like one hell of a juicy patty with mouth-watering accompaniments.

In the first photo, the plate on the left looks like a delicious, hand-formed patty. But the one next to it looks like pre-formed, factory-made ho-humness. Veggie burger?

Kennyz wrote:In the first photo, the plate on the left looks like a delicious, hand-formed patty. But the one next to it looks like pre-formed, factory-made ho-humness. Veggie burger?

Kenny,

I had the grill watch catbird seat and snapped pictures of random orders in various stages of preparation. Those particular pictures were not our order and I could not comment, aside from agreeing the second patty from the left appears slightly different.

Enjoy,
Gary

- Pot Roast Sandwich - Surprise of the day, melt in your mouth tender, powerful, beefy, rich long simmered gravy accenting flavor.

I'm surprised if this was a surprise. Its praises have been pretty widely sung (including by me on my ten-best list last year).

Mike G wrote:I'm surprised if this was a surprise. Its praises have been pretty widely sung (including by me on my ten-best list last year).

Pot roast is not something I typically order or enjoy. My taste of Jazzfoods pot roast sandwich was a surprise in that I actually liked it and would consider ordering it myself.

Hi,

I was with CrazyC at American Depot on Friday night. The look on her face when she took her very first bite of the Pot Roast Sandwich was pure delight. She promptly began making plans to bring her boyfriend back the very next day. Now that is a powerful impression from just one bite.

I had the turkey open face sandwich, which was terrific. The whole berry cranberry sauce had cinnamon in it that gave it a homemade Thanksgiving feel to it. I'm not sure if they doctored canned sauce or make their own, it simply tasted great to me who doesn't always like cranberry sauce. My only quibble: a ice cream scoop size of dressing would have completed the picture in my mind's eye.

Regards,

I haven't had pot roast on purpose in decades. My mother routinely destroyed brisket interchanged with pot roast which she topped with Lipton onion soup mix circa 1965, cooked until dried, shredded and ran through a deflavorizer. A reason I began to cook for my friends (Mr Tilapia included) and myself @ a ripe young age. In fact, I remember Mr Tilapia once feeding my basement full of unsuspecting or unconscious law breaking degenerate best friends what later became known as "kitty litter surprise" when he subbed 9 lives for Charley the tunas' chicken of the sea and served it to us w/traditional garni which we promptly demolished, while my cat looked on in horror.

As I'd never been to Depot but had read of it's glory, I figured I'd test it out by ordering something I never would... my old nemesis pot roast. I was already fairly full from the biscuits, gravy and dreamsicle like drink (think orange crush cream soda). My sanctimonious snobbery intact, I must say everything we ate was top notch. We (not the royal "we") all really enjoyed our meals.

Score one more for LTH.

Stopped by this morning and treated myself to the corned beef hash/eggs, and some donuts/mocha sauce. Both were spot-on, primetime. Still longing to try the pot roast sandwich.

We went to the Depot yesterday for what was both a wonderful and unsatisfying birthday lunch.

Wonderful because the open-faced turkey and meatloaf sandwiches were hearty and delicious, and the egg creams were lick-the-glass good. Unsatisfying because the two things we had traveled 20 miles to get - the pot roast sandwich and the donuts - were sold out. I was pretty annoyed when we were told the people in the booth behind us had gotten the last plate - the guy didn't even want to order them, but his friend talked him into it. Unfair! Unfair!

I'm over it now, because really the lack of donuts is a problem I am lucky to have, but I am still craving them and convincing my husband to travel all that way is a once-a-year thing. Guess I'll go back next birthday - earlier

Minor data point to add from a recent visit. Had a really well executed burger, done medium rare as requested. I particularly like the bun they serve (right size and amount of heft for the burger). Companion had the turkey sandwich, which was also basic food done really well. Exceptional coffee and friendly service. What more could you ask for.

Depot hit the spot tonight, and even more heart-warmingly, they were hopping at 8 PM and staying open until 10 PM. Meatloaf was the blue plate and it was a very unusual version with cinnamon and allspice notes, perfectly cooked with a great crust and a delicious gravy on the mashed potatoes. Pot roast and gravy-frites reliable as always, as were the donuts and mocha. Cream of mushroom soup was rich and satisfying with an appropriate 1950s seasoned-salt tang. Great place for a winter bite.

Santander wrote:Depot hit the spot tonight, and even more heart-warmingly, they were hopping at 8 PM and staying open until 10 PM. Meatloaf was the blue plate and it was a very unusual version with cinnamon and allspice notes, perfectly cooked with a great crust and a delicious gravy on the mashed potatoes. Pot roast and gravy-frites reliable as always, as were the donuts and mocha. Cream of mushroom soup was rich and satisfying with an appropriate 1950s seasoned-salt tang. Great place for a winter bite.

I was there that evening. I was the weirdo at the counter reading the New York Times. Had the soup, the blue plate and even finished up with the doughnuts. Everything was spectacular. The coffee was terrible, but I've had decent coffee there before so I really don't read into it. Also had me one of them there "foreigner" cokes. Awesome.


All the booths were full when I got there but I was the last customer out the door.

I'm hitting Patty's Diner tomorrow hopefully.

I stopped by Depot early on Sunday to rebound from the Xmas party the previous night. Pancakes were okay, corned beef hash (more minced corned beef) nicely done but it could have had a little more bite to the corned beef. Doughnuts wonderful, service cheery.

More than half empty at 9 am on Sunday, but it was a cold morning and any sensible person would have been snuggled up in bed.

Went early, right at opening, with the family last Saturday morning, when it was snowing, and the place filled up gradually while we were there. Excellent as usual. The kids polished off their pancakes, and my all-American eggs/ham/toast/taters were perfect.

My only only problem with the Diner thus far has been my inability to order anything other than the open-faced turkey sandwich for lunch or dinner!

A good friend, who frequents the Depot at least twice a week for lunch has informed me that for the last three days they have been closed, no notices, no "we're on vacation" signs, nothing. I sincerely hope they're not closed...

Has anyone heard anything?

Lights were on / customers present on Monday this week (didn't check on Tuesday, when the drive home on Roosevelt took 2 hours). Can't raise them on the phone (but it's early yet).

FWIW, I just called. Got the answering machine which had a routine message describing their hours and nothing about vacations or closures. . .

Well, since Tuesday the weather outside has been, er, frightful, so maybe that explains something, but still - snow's not nearly as frightening as the Depot's radio silence. It's the wrong way, but maybe I'll swing by there on the way to the library this afternoon, just to see if there are any signs of life.

I ran into Robert a few days ago and he mentioned the possibility of catering a movie. Perhaps that is what they are doing now.

i went there tonight for my pot roast sandwich fix, so they are open! yay!

Made my first visit to the Depot on Wednesday night. Only about 5 minutes from where I live, yet I wouldn't have even thought of stopping by without reading the praises sung here.

The pot roast sandwich absolutely lived up to the reputation developed in this thread, and might have been the best example of pure comfort food that I've had while eating out in months. So very tasty, and so perfect on a frigid January night. I could have used a little bit less gravy on the fries, but they still made a decent accompaniment for the sandwich. A chocolate egg cream really hit the spot, and my wife pronounced the meat loaf sandwich a success as well. We were both hungry enough that I didn't even think to snag a bite of hers before it was all gone though.

Sadly we were the only customers when we arrived just before 8:30pm (did see 2 leaving while we parked), and they opted to close up as soon as we finished. On the other hand, it was particularly cold and most people would opt to just stay home on such a night. I was disappointed to find they were out of red velvet cake, and didn't want to make them stay open for us any longer to try the donuts, so we opted for a piece of good but not great peach pie to go, and a firm resolution to return soon and try the donuts. And red velvet cake. And a hamburger. And some breakfast offerings

Good food, good atmosphere, very friendly wait staff - truly a great neighborhood restaurant indeed, and one that my wife and I plan to return to early and often.

Hi everyone. Long time lurker but first time poster here so please be gentle on me.

After reading all the nice things said about The Depot American Diner and looking at all the mouthwatering photos of the food posted here, I decided to make my first trip to The Depot on Thursday afternoon Feb. 5th. I had taken my 87 year old dad to LUMC for his doctor checkup and told him afterwards that there was a terrific restored diner less than 4 miles east on Roosevelt Road that specialized in two of his favorites - pot roast sandwiches and chocolate egg creams. I had even remembered to pack my camera in the trunk to take some photos to post here.

Pulled up to the diner at 1:20 pm and the place was closed. No sign was posted explaining why they weren't open during their listed business hours. I tried calling the phone number but all I got was the answering message giving the hours of the operation. Needless to say we were both disappointed.

When I returned home, I tried to access their website address that David Hammond was nice enough to post back on March 29, 2007 (page 5 on this thread) but even that's now directing you to something else. Is this place still in business? If so, I'd advise anyone to call first (773) 261-8422 before making a trip out there so you won't be disappointed.

Lucky for me I didn't go far out of my way to drive there to find a locked security gate and a darkened diner. I will try again, probably on a Monday as the sign posted on the right of their doorway listed meatloaf as the blue plate special on Mondays, but I'll be sure to call first to verify if they're open.

per a friend who is a regular, they are closed for the week to do some repairs - reopening tomorrow (Saturday).

How hard would it be to put a sign on the door explaining what is going on? I swear to god, how do some places stay in business at all?

If the Depot weren't so darn terrific when they're on their game, it wouldn't be so frustrating when they aren't.

I live just a few minutes away and have been there about a half-dozen times for breakfast and lunch. The people who work there are always friendly, and the music that fills the air (invariably blues, it seems) is always first-rate. And I've had some marvelous meals there. But I've also had some clunkers.

Just this morning, for instance, my son and I went for a late-morning breakfast. We both ordered eggs with meat and toast and potatoes. That doesn't sound too hard, does it? Well, our plates arrived and I soon discovered to my dismay that the sausage links, which looked so plump and scrumptious and inviting, weren't even lukewarm. Oh, and our toast didn't show up for at least another five minutes. (I had to ask for it, and by the time it arrived we were more than halfway done with the rest of our food.)

This sort of erratic, rough-around-the-edges stuff can be excused when a place first opens. And even the best places can have a bad day now and then. The problem with the Depot, though, at least in my experience, is that they have a real problem with consistency. Either they hit a home run or they strike out. I'd go there a lot more often if they'd only improve their on-base percentage.

I stopped in for lunch during the week and am starting to get a vibe that things are not going well there.

I know the economy is bad, but the crowd was small for what should be a busy time.

Stop by to give them a boost if you can.

Always glad to help out the local diner My Bride and I took a trip over for a late breakfast



I had the Corned Beef Hash and Eggs with Rye Toast with a bowl of Cream of Broccoli soup



Taking a cue from Moon's I ordered a side of Beef Gravy to spread on top



I seem to remember the Corned Beef to be chunkier? Tasted great!

My Bride had the usual Bacon and Eggs w/ Grits (I wonder why she even looks at the menu )



She likes to make a bacon sandwich



All in all a great breakfast! The place was buzzing along with most of the booths filled and a good crowd at the counter as you would expect for a weekend morning.

Panther,

Was that hash homemade, even though it was a finer grind than you remember?

stevez wrote:Panther,

Was that hash homemade, even though it was a finer grind than you remember?

Yes. They take the ground Corned Beef and mix it with the hash browns.

Tasty!