Manly Review: The Depot Diner

You would not expect the Depot American Diner to be as awesome as it is. Located on Roosevelt Ave on the West Side of Chicago, its home, next to a rim shop, and surrounded by blight, does not seem to be the type of place where you would find a hip, traditional (and vintage mind you) diner experience. But you will.

This diner was opened with the idea that everything if possible, should be made from scratch, all techniques and recipes should be mid-century, and the food should be as good as possible. The owner is a really great guy. He's a classically trained chef who wanted to start something a little different. Its great to see him cook the food right there in front of you as you sit at the counter. If you don't want to sit at the counter and gawk at his fine culinary skills, they have booths, or if you're with an unruly and larger group, they have a larger table in the back. Whenever I go there with my family, we head straght for the back of the restaurant as, it provides the most crowd control for an unruly crowd of children.

Their food is plain awesome. All of it is made fresh, and I mean all of it. The helpings are huge, and the specials are actually made from what the "regulars" like. They serve coke in bottles (with real sugar) as well as a few other strange concoctions that were around in the 50's. If you're on the west side of Chicago I would highly reccomend that you check this place out.

Be sure to check out what the food hounds at the LTH Forums have to think. They're the place to go for Chicago foodies.