Dining With Trains At The Depot: Faribault, Minnesota

This Minne-RoadTrip series of posts is sponsored by Visit Owatonna, Visit Faribault and Visiting Northfields. This meal was hosted by Visit Faribault

I’m dedicating this short post to one of the most surprising dining experiences I’ve ever had.

After enjoying peanut butter porter at  F-Town Brewery, my Faribault guide Kelly took me to dinner at The Depot located a few blocks away.

The Depot restaurant is located in a historic train depot building. According to this document on the Minnesota Historic Society, the Rock Island Train Depot was built in 1902. This depot was the biggest in Rice County and the train line served to connect southern Minnesota to Chicago and St. Louis. Chef Jeff LaBeau, a well-known chef in the community, owns the restaurant. His website mentions that he taught at the culinary program at Minnesota State Community and Technical College. This is where I completed a year of culinary school before we moved to Iowa.

The Depot menu offers a variety of American comfort dishes such as burgers, walleye, flatbreads, and appetizers. They make their fried cheese curds with the popular Faribault Dairy curds that sell out each week at the Cheese Cave. Other items include the famous Amablu cheese.

Read my post about visiting the Cheese Cave here

I enjoyed one of the daily specials; a big bowl of Alfredo pasta tossed with shrimp and julienned vegetables. The kitchen was happy to swap the regular Alfredo sauce with the spicier version.

The really unique feature at The Depot is their patio situated about five feet from the train tracks. On nice days, you can enjoy a drink and a meal as the trains barrel by.

We dined inside on this chilly evening. After our meal, we walked around the beautifully lit (and fenced-in) patio. Serendipitously, a train whistle sounded. We waited as it moved closer and closer.

Living in Iowa and North Dakota, I’ve been stuck at countless train crossings. Sometimes the trains moved quickly, but usually they slowly lumbered by. This was what I was expecting to happen.

The train rushed by with much speed and much force that surprised me so much, I almost hit the ground. I released a silent scream that turned into laughter.

I tried to take a video before the train passed. You can see the clip in the short Instagram story I saved below in the last six seconds.

An adrenaline rush comes free with your local beer and cheese curds if you enjoy them on the patio. But if you’re not looking for a close encounter with a train, simply pull up a seat inside.

The Depot Bar & Grill
311 Heritage Place

Faribault, MN 55021
(507) 332-2825

Thanks again to Kelly and Visit Faribault for sponsoring this chapter of the Minne-RoadTrip!

8 Comments

  1. Beth Ann Chiles

    Yep. That train is close! I love trains but having them barrel by while I am eating may be more than I can handle. The alfredo looks yummy. Thanks for letting me ride along. 🙂

    • Jeni

      Thanks for joining me! Yeah, the trains are intense!

  2. Josh

    Sounds fun!

  3. Katie

    I need to visit Fairbault if only for the mill (isn’t the shop there still?) and the brewery and heck maybe even the train dining!

    • Minnesota Prairie Roots

      Yup, Katie, the Faribault Woolen Mill store remains in Faribault and has a wonderful retail shop along Second Avenue next to the river and near the Rice County Fairgrounds. I’ve lived in Faribault for 35 years and blog at https://mnprairieroots.com. Check out my blog and type “Faribault” into the search engine for tips on what to see in my community.

      Thanks, Jeni, for writing about one of my favorite places to dine in Faribault. And, yes, that roaring train makes quite the impression when seated only feet from the tracks.

      • Jeni

        Thanks for sharing your knowledge of the community!

    • Jeni

      The mill still is there! On the day I visited, the tours were full but it sounds like a fun place to visit.

  4. Nicole @ Bento Momentos

    Fried cheese curds? Sounds like a fantastic time 🙂 Thanks for sharing!

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