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Phantom Gourmet: Depot Street Tavern In Milford

MILFORD - Welcome to the ultimate neighborhood restaurant. It's the kind of place only the locals know about: where the beer is ice cold, the atmosphere is like a party, the prices are lower than you can possibly imagine, and the food is better than you could ever expect. It's a place where a guy like Adam Hicks would want to hang out. So a few months ago, he quit his job and opened the Depot Street Tavern in Milford.

"This is my home. This is my life. This is, everything we do is right here. This is the way that I want to live. This is the way I see the world is through this restaurant. If I would do it in my house, I would do it here."

In fact, this place actually looks a lot like Adam's house, because the cozy forty seat dining room is crammed with all of Adam's stuff.

"All the decor is a useless collection of my junk over the past few years. Everything that I had in my house that my girlfriend wouldn't let me have, she said, 'bring it to the restaurant.' We brought it to the restaurant; we hung it on the wall. It's an eclectic mixture of street signs, bar signs, antiques, Jimmy Buffett signs, just a fun place to come hang out, have a beer, have something good to eat."

Not only is the restaurant decorated with Adam's favorite things, the menu is filled with them too. This chef serves the things he likes to eat, made the way he loves to cook.

"Everything is hand made fresh, local as we can be. We don't assemble here, we cook. And the people that we have working here are the people who are passionate about what they do and passionate about food. It's just basic good food."

Most appetizers at the Depot Street Tavern are well under $10 and worth every penny, like the Parmesan Polenta Sticks served with lemon herb aioli; the Stuffies overstuffed with homemade chorizo filling; and the colorful, flavorful, affordable, Kung Pao Calamari.

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Kung Pao Calamari at Depot Street Tavern (Image: Phantom Gourmet)

"I didn't want to do a regular calamari with peppers and olive oil like everybody else is doing," Adam said. "So we take our calamari, we toss it in a Hoisin Asian sauce with some carrots and some peppers, a little bit of basil, a little bit of cilantro on top, a little bit of toasted sesame seeds and chopped peanuts. You're getting sweet, sour, lemon, acid, peanuts, herbs, crispy, crunchy deliciousness all in your mouth at one time."

Entrees here are a real meal deal too, like a pile of Steak Tips served with two sides for less than $15, and a big bowl of Bolognese for less than $12.

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Bolognese at Depot Street Tavern (Image: Phantom Gourmet)

"Ground beef, ground pork, San Marzano tomatoes, basil, garlic," Adam listed. "We finish it with a little bit of cream at the end. We put it with a tratoli pasta. It's a swirl pasta; it almost eats like a gnocchi. The Bolognese is delicious."

So is the Baked Mac 'N Cheese, that Adam kicks up with roasted jalapenos and thick cut bacon.

"We have a cheddar cheese sauce: Romano cheese, cheddar cheese, salt, pepper, heavy cream, Applewood smoked bacon, fresh roasted jalapenos. We bring it all together; we toss it with some more cheese; we melt it with even more cheese; and we top it with panko bread crumbs. It's gooey. It's delicious. It's cheesy. You pick it up and the cheese comes up with your fork, and you get a little goo, and you dip your bread in it, and it's fantastic."

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Baked Mac N Cheese at Depot Street Tavern (Image: Phantom Gourmet)

The Depot Street Tavern serves all kinds of sandwiches, or as they're known here, 'Handhelds'.

"We call them handhelds because you pick it up and you eat it with your hands. There's no forks. There's no knives. You just dig right in."

Packed with pork and ham, the Cuban is a top seller, except maybe on Friday nights, because that's the only night you can get the decadent Lobster Grilled Cheese.

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Lobster Grilled Cheese at Depot Street Tavern (Image: Phantom Gourmet)

"Every Friday on the menu I have a Lobster Grilled Cheese sandwich. Lobster, Provolone cheese, roasted tomatoes, pressed in a Panini bread. Nice and crispy with the sweet succulent lobster in the middle, creamy gooey cheese, roasted tangy tomatoes; it's fantastic."

When it comes to burgers, the Depot Burger is the one you want - a half pound beauty stacked with gourmet ingredients.

"Salty bacon, sweet creamy melted cheddar cheese, soft crispy Portuguese English muffin, angus beef that's dripping with moisture and flavor and fat and deliciousness," described Adam. "The onions we cook for three hours in their own juices. It's basically the perfect burger."

For a burger like you've never seen before, Adam has taken a local specialty and transformed it into burger form.

"We have a Porketta Burger. Porketta here in Milford it's very famous. Everybody in Milford is doing porketta some way. So we're doing a porketta burger," Adam decided.

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Porketta Burger at Depot Street Tavern (Image: Phantom Gourmet)

"It's ground porketta. We make a nice patty. We pan sear it on a hot grill. We melt provolone cheese over it. We top it with fresh shaved fennel salad with a little bit of orange in there on a homemade local Portuguese roll, with a little bit of arugula. Delicious."

Just in case you haven't figured it out yet, Adam Hicks is a guy who simply loves great food.

"Food is a passion. It's what I've done since I was 14 years old. It's a passion; it's a hobby; it's a profession. It's not easy; it's 100 hours a week. It's a little bit of everything involved, and I love it."

You can find Depot Street Tavern at 45 Depot Street in Milford and online at depotsttavern.com.

Watch Phantom Gourmet on Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 and 11 a.m. on myTV38.

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