I had the fantastic opportunity to be a guest at the table of James Beard Chef Galen Zamarra‘s new venture, Le Depot Brasserie, located in a historic building at 660 Main Street in Park City. Formerly the location of Robert Redford’s Zoom Restaurant, and then an art gallery, it was originally the Union Pacific railroad Depot built in 1886 for the purpose of transporting ore and coal to and from the Park City mines. Thus, this is the name of the current generation of the business.
The name Le Depot is a lovely nod to the building’s history and a hint of strikingly authentic French cuisine within. I’ve always been a bit of a Francophile, and once upon a time, I made an annual pilgrimage to Paris. In the years since I’ve made the trek, I’ve never felt more transported in a culinary tractor beam directly into a Parisian Brasserie, as I felt during dinner at Le Depot.
The menu is committedly in French, with English descriptions and ingredients listed to the side.
We started with a showstopper, the Grande Fruit De Mer, an icy double-decker tower, which included a dozen oysters, perfectly poached shrimp, half a lobster with a remoulade and chilled green beans, and chilled mussels served in-shell with a pesto-y sauce. Everything is delicious and fresh, but the mussels were worth the price of admission alone. They are herbaceously surprising. Who knew that basil would pair so well with the sea? The French garlic aioli pairs particularly well with the lobster.
Other hors d’euvers included the Terrine de Foie Gras, pate-style duck liver served on top of pain d’épices-a spice bread with dark rye flour. The bread is a toasty-sweet foil to the fatty terrine. The whole dish is made bright with clementines in a syrupy sauce and a sprinkle of gritty salt to top it off.
Champignons à la Grecque, of the Greek-style mushrooms, came to the table as a cold marinated salad, tart and well oiled with shaved fennel, tomato, and lemon. It was the dish highly recommended by our server, and I can say he was highly correct in his recommendation. Saumon Fumeé rounded out our starter course, a smoked salmon with an apple, watercress, fennel salad on top, a dollop of paddlefish caviar, and a creamy orange sauce for balance.
The main menu is divvied out into sections: ‘Plat Principal’ ‘Plat Du Jour’ and a Bar Menu. I will be back for the apres-style bar menu, with tasty teasers like potato chips and formage, truffle popcorn, baked cheese puffs, and the Le Depot burger with foie gras and truffle jus.
The Plat Principal menu are the regular dishes that will appear without fail every night. And without fail, they will please the palate. Steamed mussels with frites, black cod, and Filet Mignon with truffles are classically French crowd favorites. We tried the Steak Frites and Canard Rôti es Son Pithivier. There is nothing more satisfying on a cold day than a plate of med-rare steak and crispy shoestring French fries. Served with a tangy bernaise (butter, egg yolk, lemon, and herbs for those who want to know what’s in their sauce), the fries were plentiful enough that the entire table ate their fill. And magically, they stayed hot through the extra nice touch of a heated plate. It’s the small things that make for a stellar experience.
Like any French Bistro, Le Depot has a series of Plat du Jour. We were lucky enough to snag the Merguez d’Agneau, a North African spiced lamb sausage cropping up in menus on the reg these days. Serving 2 and available on Tuesdays, the sausage is house-made and has a slow heat that builds from harissa. Arriving in a terrine with couscous (to soak up the fat from the coiled sausage) and roasted vegetables, it hit the table.
For dessert, we ended up sharing 4 plates. I suggest you save room. We didn’t, but we still managed to polish it off with a little effort. Learn from our mistakes. We got the Mille Feuille (layered sheets of pasty and vanilla bean custard and hazelnut pastry cream), the Profiteroles (pastry puffs stuffed with pistachio ice cream), and the Fondant au Chocolate Noir (a warm cast iron chocolate care with berries). The perfect ending to a decadent evening.
When you go:
660 Main Street, Park City
Reservations Recommended
ledepotpc.com
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