Hello and thank you to our loyal Depot Cafe fans, and to new folks curious about our cafe, for stopping by to check out our site for updates. We will be posting our specials on weekends when we are open again.

Since July of 2010, Chef Frank Schuchman and Brian Lee have been donating 100% of their time to operate the cafe on weekends, volunteering about 30 hours a week to make that happen. All of the profits from the variety of creative themed weekends food sales have been donated to Cascade Rail Foundation, while the plans to find and set up a full-time concessionaire at the site are being developed.

With the small volunteer staff, just Brian and Frank, and more recently with prep help from Holly, the Depot Cafe has served up an amazing array of fresh, wholesome tasty favorites in a nearly “can openerless” kitchen, to the delight of  both area visitors and the hometown South Cle Elum crowd for over half a year.

However (and you knew there was a “however” coming here sometime), the impact of the inevitabilities of earning a living, winter colds, holiday family obligations, and catering events (like the Mardi Gras we catered with Cajun food the weekend of Feb. 26-27) on such a small volunteer pool have taken their toll on our days of operation recently.

We have greatly enjoyed and appreciated sharing our enthusiasm for our food with everyone who has supported us, and are sincerely sorry for the weekends that we are unable to cook for you. As the days we are open have become more sporadic of late, we wanted to let you all know the reasons, and that we will continue to offer weekend specials when we are able. Watch for updates both here, and in our local newspaper, the NKC Tribune. You can also follow our Chef Frank’s weekly column there in the paper, called “Frankly Speaking … about good food”.

Or sign up for our email update list with the brief sign-up form in the right column of this website, and we will send you an email with the specials for the weekends we will be open.

In the meantime, we once again extend our sincere and heartfelt gratitude for your visit to our website today, and look forward to the opportunity to serve you again very soon.

Thank you!

Brian, Chef Frank and Holly