Move Over Krispy Kreme, There's a New Donut in Town

I hardly ever trek east of Austin on Roosevelt, so I didn’t know Depot American Diner existed until some fellow Twitterers threw the name out this a.m. and then proceeded to rave.

I had the kids and was doing chores around the house, so I dispatched the iFarmer and a friend to check it out after their round of golf.

Lucky for me, they came back bearing gifts: a fresh made-to-order batch of donuts and a delightful chocolate mouse dipping sauce.

From what I’ve been told, the diner is super clean (no yellow-stained Formica in sight) and the food is delish.

I can only vouch for the donuts, which will for sure get me in the door, and soon.

Despite my best search efforts, I couldn’t find a website for the diner. If anyone’s seen one, please pass along the URL.

I did see that in 2007, Chicago Magazine named the eatery The Coolest Retro Diner. And Oak Leaves’ John Huston did a nice review at this link.

In this Wednesday Journal from 2007, we learn that this is indeed a true neighborhood diner throwback:

Everything (except the bread and French fries) is homemade at the restaurant. They bake their own doughnuts, roast their own coffee and brew their own tea “loose leaf” without any tea bags.

“Our real focus was to do scratch-cooking, make everything in-house” co-owner (at least at the time) Robert Nava said. “All our salad dressings, all our cakes, our pies, coleslaw, we make it all.”

The Depot features all your regular diner fare: burgers, omelets, chili, and open-faced sandwiches. Thrown in are authentic 1940s items like phosphates (flavored seltzer water fountain drink) and red velvet cake (a cocoa-based cake with cream cheese icing fashioned to look like red velvet).

Photo is from agashi’s Flickr photostream.