After having my first meal at DAD last night, I think we should put this place in the Smithsonian, the Louvre. . and my backyard. Forget AIG, Citibank and their stimulus packages - this place should be first on the list of preservation. It promises a superior product and an immediate return on investment.

It should held up for all to see as that special, rare and rewarding combination of fantastic service, food as both comfort and art, and the preservation of American classics with a tip of the hat to American ingenuity. Along with Habana Libre (and ol' fave Paradise Pup) this joint provided my best meal in the past two years.

The pot roast sammich is perfectly embraced by a fluffy egg bun (I believe) that promises to hold together only long enough for you to finish the offering. By the time you're on your last bites, the bun will have wilted after vailaintly holding up mounds of steaming, tender beef, and absorbing rivers of heavenly gravy. The absoprtion of this gravy into the bun is also something not to be missed. The pot roast itsels is as tender as any you've had, and absolutely melts in your mouth like Sabri's nehari (on Devon).

I'm not a fan of gravy. I never really have been because most of the time I find it invasive, too sweet, too starchy, and too out of place. It ruins the integrity of base ingredients to me. However, this gravy is fantastic and well-balanced. It's bold but unimposing and when poured on top of the fries at DAD it's unsurpassed in my experience. I could eat this every day.

I finished the meal with a slice of coconut cream pie and the legendary donuts. The pie was a solid rendition, and clearly house-made (bonus points! If you don't make your own pies, you're not trying!)

The donuts were mana from heaven. Steaming and moist interior with a crispy shell, covered in sugar, powdered sugar, and then dipped into a chocolate sauce.

Somehow I managed to drag my overstuffed carcass from DAD and head down the street to Fitzgerald's to see Texan folk legend Jimmy Lafave embrace an entire crowd of strangers and turn them into his best friends with a simple menu of honest lyrics, emotional musings, and humbled offerings of a good man's soul. So as to music, so as to food - when soemthing is real, and True and speaks to the soul, rather than the eyes or ears, you know its something special and uncommon.

As Jimmy poured his soul over that microphone like gravy on fries, like chocolate sauce on donuts, his opening lines from the song "Never is the Moment" made me think of a very special diner down the road:

In the vastness of this world,
Baby, you are so unique.

Indeed, Jimmy. Indeed.

While enjoying my open-faced turkey sandwich lunch here today, co-owner and Chef Robert mentioned that "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" was due to descend upon our dear Depot American Diner this week to shoot for an upcoming and not yet TBD showtime.

They need him to close down for two to three hours a day for two consecutive days - looks like Wednesday and Thursday at the moment, but it's not firm by any means. Robert thought that they'd close down between 2 o'clock and 4 o'clock to minimize impact on the restaurant and patrons.

They want him to basically "make one of everything" on the menu and then they'll pick the dishes to shoot for the show. Robert said he was very flattered by the call to be on the show, but was a bit concerned about a potential "D-D-D effect". Since the fund-raiser at Klas, weekends have been extremely heavy, but he wasn't complaining, just concerned for the customers...

Nice to hear that they were picked for D,D and D. I'm sure they've been busy during more peak hours, but when I stopped by Saturday night at about 8pm with 5 friends we had no problem getting 2 booths for ourselves; I think 2 other booths were taken at the time, and there was nobody sitting at the counter. 1 other small group came in after us but finished sooner, and I believe we were the only customers when we left at about 9pm.

Great meal, as always, and a couple of orders of the donuts at the end went over very well with my friends.

I absolutely love diner's!

I saw DD&D's do a show on one of my ATF's in Kenosha,WI: Frank's dinner. It was about a year ago, and I thought Guy & co. did a great job. I'm pretty sure the big business "boom" and increased traffic they received for the next 6 months as a result has finally normalized a bit by now and on my last visit thought things were pretty much back to normal. But for a little while there, it was tough getting a seat in there!

Anyway, if anyone has been to Franks please let me know how The Depot compares to it, I'm thinking that a day trip may be in order.

Hi,

I have gone to Frank's only a few times. They are very realistic in managing customer's expectations. The menu flat out states if you are tight on time, then maybe this is not the day to visit Frank's. It is expect you strap on your patience to be rewarded with some pretty good diner food.

While they may be taping now, it will be months before Depot Diner will enjoy the benefits. Hopefully will weather the economic storms until then.

Regards,

abf005 wrote:Anyway, if anyone has been to Franks please let me know how The Depot compares to it, I'm thinking that a day trip may be in order.

I love both Frank's and The Depot, but I don't think it's easy to compare the two. Frank's is a high energy diner serving up massive portions of very good food, where the Depot is more laid back in atmosphere and you can tell that the chef is formally trained. The food is a bit more refined. Both are great in different ways.

Well, if the fundraiser did indeed raise enough funds to float the Depot to its third year, when it can secure a loan, then hopefully this TV attention will come at the perfect transition time.

I must admit I was really proud of Robert's letter in the local paper. As sad as it may be, how often is a restaurant (apparently) saved by the outright generosity of its patrons? If the Depot closed, I would be beyond bummed, so the fact that the crowds keep me away from the place on the weekends is a compromise I'm willing to strike.

Vitesse98 wrote:Well, if the fundraiser did indeed raise enough funds to float the Depot to its third year, when it can secure a loan, then hopefully this TV attention will come at the perfect transition time.

I must admit I was really proud of Robert's letter in the local paper. As sad as it may be, how often is a restaurant (apparently) saved by the outright generosity of its patrons? If the Depot closed, I would be beyond bummed, so the fact that the crowds keep me away from the place on the weekends is a compromise I'm willing to strike.

The Wednesday Journal had
Robert and and Annamarie's letter

I went on Saturday for a late-ish breakfast of biscuits and gravy. It wasn't until I received my food that I realized biscuits at 10:15 AM might not be as fresh as those in the heart of the earlier breakfast rush. I thought the gravy could have used more of a kick, but my mouth was half-numb from the root canal I had before heading to the Depot. Nonetheless, the food hit the spot. The best part of the meal was the coffee. I believe the coffee is roasted for them and freshly ground before making it. Delicious!

Vitesse- When I was there, there were easily 6 counter seats available and a couple of booths. From what I heard from the staff, they had a good crowd earlier. I wouldn't necessarily stay away on the weekends.

One of these days, I will have to get the doughnuts. When I'm dining solo on a plate of biscuits and gravy, my arteries are not supportive of such excess.

I'll be heading over there for a late lunch today if anyone should care to join me. I'll be the tiny girl with glasses trying to eat a plate of food larger than my torso.

Ursiform wrote:I'll be heading over there for a late lunch today if anyone should care to join me. I'll be the tiny girl with glasses trying to eat a plate of food larger than my torso.

"Mom, I think I found The One. . ."

i had the blue plate special today
frid chicken and mac and cheese as good as could be
very nice folks
very good food
a very professional operation
i loved it all
real food for real people
excellent

baby ray wrote:real food for real people

Contrast with SushiSambaRio, which is fake food for fake people.

I'm the worst - I was supposed to go here yesterday and wound up working. I was going to hit Patty's today and wound up here instead. Maybe it'll be Patty's tomorrow...

In any case, had a great late lunch here with the Picky Eater (Mr. Ursi). Baby Ray's review of the fried chicken special sounded so good that PE got that, and I had the open faced turkey sandwich and a chocolate phosphate. PE and I had coffee after lunch and shared a piece of pecan pie. I realize this is blasphemy, but I am NOT a fan of pecan pie. That being said, I really, really liked the rendition here, it was light and not overly sweet, my two general complaints on the pecan pie front. Overall a terriffic meal, although PE decided halfway through that he liked mine better and we switched plates. I was more than happy to do this as the skin on the chicken (that he kept pulling off) was especially crisp and was delicious with just a few drops of Cholula sauce on it - his loss, my gain!



Chocolate Phosphate - a real treat!



Open Faced Turkey Sandwich - beautiful mix of white and dark meat, light and flavorful gravy, rich and just lumpy enough to remind you they are home made mashed potatoes



Fried Chicken - the fries were very good today.



Bread Pudding, fresh from the oven. Tempting, but the Picky Eater wanted the Pecan Pie



Pecan Pie (photographed AFTER we started digging in, oops)

Incidentally, I spoke with Annemarie about DDD. She said they are going to be shooting the "customer" portion of the show next Thursday and she'd love to have the LTH crew there. She didn't know the time yet, but I'm sure someone can post it once she finds out. The "food" portion of the show is to be filmed on Saturday, so they may have to close for a couple of hours to accommodate the film crew. Robert and I chatted about vintage kitchen equipment and "old stuff" in general. Accommodating hosts, wonderful food, always a great experience!

I was there for lunch today. Got the pot roast sandwich, buddy got the blue plate special (chicken fried steak, maybe?). Anyway, it was awesome as always, but the icing on the cake (so to speak) was hearing about all the pies on their way out, fresh from the oven. I mean, how often do you hit a restaurant that is literally baking pies on site, let alone a diner?

For the record, they were pecan, peach and something else I can't remember (maybe the aforementioned bread pudding), but we were too stuffed to try them or the triple chocolate cake already on display.

Ursiform, pecan pies are not supposed to be tooth-achingly sweet - just looking at your picture tells me the Depot is doing it right.

Unfortunately, most of the world (at least the world of Chotchkie's) makes a faux-pecan pie of what must be mucilage glue and chopped saccharine tablets, that no amount of nuts on top can improve.

Mhays wrote:Ursiform, pecan pies are not supposed to be tooth-achingly sweet - just looking at your picture tells me the Depot is doing it right.

Unfortunately, most of the world (at least the world of Chotchkie's) makes a faux-pecan pie of what must be mucilage glue and chopped saccharine tablets, that no amount of nuts on top can improve.

Mhays, thank you for that reassuring bit of information. I've always wondered why I never liked Pecan Pie, I feel better now! I can say that the PP at the Depot was a revelation, I truly enjoyed it for the first time today.

Ursiform wrote:

Mhays wrote:Ursiform, pecan pies are not supposed to be tooth-achingly sweet - just looking at your picture tells me the Depot is doing it right.

Unfortunately, most of the world (at least the world of Chotchkie's) makes a faux-pecan pie of what must be mucilage glue and chopped saccharine tablets, that no amount of nuts on top can improve.

Mhays, thank you for that reassuring bit of information. I've always wondered why I never liked Pecan Pie, I feel better now! I can say that the PP at the Depot was a revelation, I truly enjoyed it for the first time today.

Sadly, Pecan Pie and I always miss each other when I wind up at the DD, makes me SOOO sad each time (until I get donuts and/or bread pudding that is.) Knowing that they don't do the sweet version is really having me think I'll be here again before this week is over. I can also vouch for traditional pecan pie being about half as sweet as what is normally produced here up North. I've had several hundred versions of pecan pie throughout MIssissippi, and almost all were mostly nuts held together with just enough gooey stuff - not very sweet at all, and not much of a "layer" per se of the corn syrup stuff at all. MOst recipes I see are pretty much 3 eggs, 1 cup of corn syrup, 3/4 cup of sugar, dash of vanilla, and a few tbs of butter. When I do mine, I use butter flavored pancake syrup, and about 1/4 cup of sugar along with, oh I dunno, about a 1/4 stick of butter. Still sweeter than what I've had down south, but not so cloyingly sweet as most of the normal recipes here up North. IMO there are only two kinds of Pie. Pecan and Blueberry, and blueberry BARELY makes my list.

Stopped into the Depot today, everything was top notch, the corn-chowder was superlative. The Picky Eater declared the Pot Roast sandwich to be the "best sandwich I've ever put in my mouth." Today's blue plate special, btw, is meatloaf.

If anyone wants to drop in during the filming of DDD, they will be there all day Thursday taping the "customer" portion of the show. There were a couple of other people there today when we came in, but we were the only ones there for the bulk of our visit, it didn't seem very busy. It would be nice if we could get a friendly group there on Thursday to support Robert and Annamarie.

Ursiform wrote:Stopped into the Depot today, everything was top notch, the corn-chowder was superlative. The Picky Eater declared the Pot Roast sandwich to be the "best sandwich I've ever put in my mouth." Today's blue plate special, btw, is meatloaf.

If anyone wants to drop in during the filming of DDD, they will be there all day Thursday taping the "customer" portion of the show. There were a couple of other people there today when we came in, but we were the only ones there for the bulk of our visit, it didn't seem very busy. It would be nice if we could get a friendly group there on Thursday to support Robert and Annamarie.

What time on Thursday? I could be (easily) persuaded to show up and eat the best sammich in Chicagoland again. I'm actually thinkin' of stopping by tonight since its only the completely opposite way of my drive home.

Ghazi wrote:

Ursiform wrote:Stopped into the Depot today, everything was top notch, the corn-chowder was superlative. The Picky Eater declared the Pot Roast sandwich to be the "best sandwich I've ever put in my mouth." Today's blue plate special, btw, is meatloaf.

If anyone wants to drop in during the filming of DDD, they will be there all day Thursday taping the "customer" portion of the show. There were a couple of other people there today when we came in, but we were the only ones there for the bulk of our visit, it didn't seem very busy. It would be nice if we could get a friendly group there on Thursday to support Robert and Annamarie.

What time on Thursday? I could be (easily) persuaded to show up and eat the best sammich in Chicagoland again. I'm actually thinkin' of stopping by tonight since its only the completely opposite way of my drive home.

I was told pretty much all day, up until 7pm.

It's not too hard to come up with a reason to go to the Depot, is it?

Had lunch here today - the Blue plate Special of chicken fried chicken, mac 'n' cheese, corn and a big salad for $9.01 - and it was excellent, as usual. All of the booths were full and the counter was about 85% occupied while I was there.

I spoke with Annemarie about the upcoming "Drive-Ins, Diners and Dives" taping on Thursday. She said that they will arrive at about 7 a.m. and that the doors will be open from about 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. for the customer comments part of the show. That's when spiky blond-haired guy Guy Fieiri will be there.

She also stated that "just about everyone who comes in here has been asking about / wants to be there for the taping." Sounds like it will be crazy busy.

The pre-production taping was done on Saturday. It was supposed to begin at 7 a.m. but were delayed for three or four hours as the camera failed and everything stopped until they got a replacement camera from a location they were shooting at up in Milwaukee. Not sure as to which Milwaukee restaurant the other crew was at...

90% of the Saturday shoot was done in the prep room off to the right and they did indeed make one of everything on the menu. I asked if the crew had any favorites and Annemarie laughed and said "just about everything".

Annemarie recalled when Steve "Hungry Hound" Dolinsky showed up and raved about the pot roast sandwich and the made-to-order donut holes with mocha dip on the television machine. Thirty seconds after the segment aired there were ten or twelve phone calls in a row all asking about the above two items. It was shown again during the five o'clock news to the same effect. "Thankfully", Annemarie said that by the time it aired for the third time on the ten o'clock news, "we were closed for the day."

For the next three or four days, despite prepping twice the normal amounts of those two items, they were sold out by the end of lunch service...

She also stated that "just about everyone who comes in here has been asking about / wants to be there for the taping." Sounds like it will be crazy busy.

Glad to hear it! I think I'll duck in there for dinner tonight instead of trying to get in there tomorrow, sounds like they are going to have a (well deserved) full house.

Got there at 8:50 PM this evening with my heart set on a french dip and they were already closed, had to settle for an appallingly mediocre meal at Millers Pub. I'm guessing they closed early to get ready for the television crews tomorrow.

Ursiform wrote:Got there at 8:50 PM this evening with my heart set on a french dip and they were already closed, had to settle for an appallingly mediocre meal at Millers Pub. I'm guessing they closed early to get ready for the television crews tomorrow.

This is one of my pet peeves. Places that close early or are closed without notice. I think it shows a disregard and lack of consideration for their customers. DD seems to do it quite a bit. Maybe they'd need less "help" if they didn't PO customers who may have driven a considerable distance to eat there.

I don't get it, should they have called everyone?

I have yet to see a website for the Depot, that would help. In all honesty, with no website, how would you suggest that they notify people if they have to close early the night before a television appearance?

Funny, I could have sworn they had a website. Maybe it's gone the way of the dodo?

Anyway, I sort of agree with the sentiment. Maybe it's just that I go to the Depot more than most places, or maybe it's just that it's nearby and I see it a lot, but it does seem to sometimes close early or at unexpected times. Not a lot, but enough that I've noticed. I'm not sure of a solution, besides simply staying open for the posted hours, but I'm sure if they're closed there's a reason. If it helps them operate better or succeed, more power to them. But that's as close to a defense as I can get, since it is a little inconsiderate for a food stop that's slightly off the beaten path for many to alter the variables, however infrequently. Menu is one thing. Hours should be generally sacrosanct, at least in America.

I don't get it, should they have called everyone?

Yes, after all they have a phone.

With this place its best to call ahead to make sure they are open.

With this place its best to call ahead to make sure they are open.

How many restaurants in Chicago earn this caveat? For that matter, how many save the Depot could survive it?