The Depot Bar and Restaurant 201 W. Railroad St.
Is there anyone in Missoula who hasn't eaten at the Depot at least once? It's been around since the early 1970s, and is the first-string choice for steaks and seafood. Its bar also is among the busiest, especially a draw for after-work professionals.
“Some regulars, those who are hard-core smokers, don't come as often,” he said. They've probably found other bars to frequent; under a new Montana law, bars that ban children have until 2009 to ban smoking.
The Depot's bar menu is more casual and less expensive than at the main restaurant; appetizers, sandwiches, salads and pizzas are the foundations. On the low end of the price range: Moose Drool Stew or a large bowl of soup for $5.75, and burgers with fries for $7-$8.
Sandwiches are generous portions and could be a meal for two. The Blackened Prime Rib sandwich is one of the bar's most popular, at $12.95. Appetizers can be meals by themselves; the shrimp wontons ($9.95), made with shrimp, cream cheese and chives, served with mustard and sweet and sour sauce, and the seared ahi tuna ($12.95) are big sellers, Wells said.
An overlooked menu item is the garlic rotisserie chicken. It is $9.95 and includes a half-chicken, marinated with garlic and fresh rosemary and lemon, and served with fries or a pasta or potato salad. The rosemary-garlic permeates the restaurant as it cooks, then the chicken is crisped in the oven. Could be two meals in one, too: Take half home for another day.
The Depot Restaurant is not open for lunch.
The Iron Horse Brew Pub 501 N. Higgins Ave.
Thursdays were set aside for nonsmokers at the Iron Horse, and the pub had some nonsmoking areas of the bar. But in October, smoking was banned altogether. “I love it,” said owner Tami Ursich.
The bar-restaurant is busy for both lunch and dinner. Its Mucho Nachos (“Really BIG!” the menu translates) are famous; no need to order anything else ($10.95). But its sandwiches, salads and entrees are generous and best-sellers, too. Some samples: Spicy Tandoori Chicken Salad for $8.75, a reuben for $7.95, and one of the most popular sandwiches, The Trapper (roast beef, melted Swiss cheese, horseradish on a toasted hoagie, served with the restaurant's own French dip) is $7.95.
The Iron Horse makes all of its own soups and salad dressings. Spicy Vegetarian Black Bean Soup ($3.50 a bowl) is a signature item, offered daily, along with other soup specials ($3.75 a bowl). Wednesday's soup of the day was creamy roasted red pepper and basil.
A new menu will debut in a week or two, with “more entrees, more salads, different breads, new desserts,” Ursich said. Additions include bread from Worden's Market, its downtown neighbor; a marinaded Caribbean lamb entree, served with rice pilaf and veggies ($14.95); and a sushi-grade tuna salad for about $11.
The Missoula Club 139 W. Main St.
Mark Laslovich decided to ban smoking in the Missoula Club last September, a strategic move. “I wanted to do it before football started,” he said. “I didn't want people coming in for the first four games, and then having to tell them on the fifth they couldn't smoke.”
“Best thing we've ever done,” he said. “Business has almost doubled. For every one or two who leave, there are 12 or 15 right behind them who come in.”
The Missoula Club's been around since 1890, so it hardly needs an introduction. Its menu is short but a local classic - burgers on the grill, shakes and chips. The single hot-pepper cheeseburger is the 4-to-1 favorite, at $3. Add chips for 75 cents.
The Old Post 103 W. Spruce St.
Diners who've visited the Old Post in the last week or so got a sneak preview of a slice of a new menu that will debut in the next two weeks or so. The bar is adding pizzas and calzones, and a paper-insert menu has been floating around the tables.
Other new items will be added, too, said manager Mike Owens. But the in-house pizzas and calzones may end up to be late-night offerings at the bar, available even after the full kitchen closes down for the night.
The pizzas' style is New York, he said: thin-crust, with fresh toppings and a slick of grease to boost the flavor.
The Old Post, open for lunch, has a youngish crowd, especially on Tuesday's “wing night,” when wings are just 25 cents each, and during half-price quesadilla and nacho happy hours (Monday-Friday, 3-6 p.m.). The restaurant's most popular and signature items are its “Soon To Be Famous” fish tacos, at $7.95. Choices are cornmeal-battered cod, the favorite; blackened tuna; teriyaki halibut; and smoked salmon.
Watch for shrimp tacos on the new menu.
High-quality pub food (“It's more fun to eat in a bar than to drink in a restaurant” says the Old Post's menu) is what the Old Post strives for, said Owens. The bar makes most things from scratch. “My philosophy is I don't care if you're making chateaubriand or a hamburger, it has to be good.”
The Old Post is owned by American Legion Forgotten Warriors Post 101, formed in 1981 by Vietnam-era veterans. Veterans of all wars are recruited now; proceeds from the restaurant help local efforts.
Reach reporter Mea Andrews at 523-5246 or mandrews@missoulian.com.
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