Stepping out: Placerville Coffee Depot is a good place to stop

“I believe humans get a lot done, not because we're smart, but because we have thumbs so we can make coffee.”

— Flash Rosenberg

Placerville Coffee Depot

If you have been wondering about the new yellow building at 70 Main St. in Placerville that looks like a small turn-of-the-century railroad station, it is the Placerville Coffee Depot, a new coffee drive-through and walk-up store.

According to owner John Mosbacher, it started out as a purchase of some surplus California state land several years ago and ended up like this.

“In 2007 my wife Cindy and I decided it would be a nice location to have a coffee place as it is visible from Highway 50, which would not only be good for us, but bring people off the highway into Placerville. It has taken a lot of work and money, but we think it is an asset to the city and brightened up a part of Main Street that had been let go. We added sidewalks where there had been none and parking for adjacent buildings that only had parking in front that required people to dangerously back out onto Main Street.

“Several years ago I went to the yogurt shop next door and asked if they wanted to be involved in what we were doing. They said they really wanted to get out of the business, so we ended up buying that place and running it. When it became available, we changed the name to Whistle Stop Yogurt. It has a good business which really made this place possible.

“I was not really a railroad fan when we started, but when we found out that the original depot was right in front of this place, that became our theme. We rounded up old pictures from the El Dorado County Historical Museum, first to find out the history of a large a hole in the ground, which the City needed identified before we could continue. It turned out from a picture to be a well, and not an old mine shaft. Then we found several more pictures from the 1880s when the railroad first reached Placerville.

"To make the place look authentic, we went looking for old railroad signals and equipment. We found the semaphore in Utah and on the way obtained the ladder for the pole from a Southern Pacific wrecking crew. We even rounded up a couple of old Railway Express wagons which we have outside.”

The Placerville Coffee Depot serves coffee, coffee drinks, chai tea, soda, baked goodies and more. They have regular and sugar-free syrups and use premium Vaneli’s handcrafted coffee and Ghiradelli chocolate in the products. The  Mosbacher's plan on adding, in the future, more breakfast items and possibly lunch and afternoon treats. It has a commercial kitchen so they also plan on baking more kinds of pastries soon.

“My niece and a young lady who applied for work are both experienced baristas,” added Mosbacher. “They were very valuable in helping us develop our recipes and our training program and getting us open in early December.”

Placerville Coffee Depot is open from 5 a.m. until 9 p.m., Monday through Friday and from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m., Saturday and Sunday and can be reached at 530-295-3920.

Friday, Jan. 13, there will be an official grand opening from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. Customers can get a free small hot chocolate or hot mocha from 9 until 11 a.m. and enjoy live music from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. The ribbon cutting is at noon. Stop by if you can.

Restock the cellar at dkcellars

It is the fifth annual Restock Your Cellar at dkcellars, 7380 Vineyard View Drive in Fair Play, on Jan. 12-16, 19-23 and 26-30.

On the first two weekends the current releases will be on sale. The third weekend the library releases of meritage and cabernet sauvignon will be on sale.

The current releases include: 2008 Sauvignon Blanc, 2008 Semillon, 2002 Semillon dessert wine, 2007 Herbert Zinfandel, 2009 Walker Reserve Zinfandel, 2006 Cabernet-Shiraz blend, 2007 Merlot, 2005 Reserve Cabernet, 2007 Meritage and 2008 Short Bus Zinfandel.

Library wines on special include: 2001-2006 Meritage; 2001, 2002 and 2004 Reserve Cabernet.

Wine must be picked up in January or arrangements made to have it shipped.
Tasting room hours are Thursday through Monday from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. For more information call 530-620-1132.

Patriarche Barrel Tasting

Holly’s Hill Vineyard, 3680 Leisure Lane in Pleasant Valley, will be holding a Patriarch Barrel Tasting on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 14 and 15, from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. each day.

Holly's Hill winemakers, Carrie and Josh, will guide visitors through the 2011 Patriarche components (mourvedre, syrah, grenache and counoise) from the barrel and the 2010 Patriarche, which is bottled. Futures of the 2010 and 2011 Patriarche will be offered as well as light appetizers.

For more information on tickets call 530-344-0227.

Events at Miraflores Winery

Miraflores Winery, 2120 Four Springs Trail, off Sly Park Road, has a couple of interesting events this weekend.

On Saturday, Jan. 14, chef Giovanni Gaudio will be presenting “The Alchemy of Food and Wine, 101,” featuring the 2010 Chardonnay, 2010 Pinot Grigio, 2009 Barbera, 2006 Syrah, 2008 Botricelli, and non-vintage Principe Port. Join chef Giovanni for this interactive and experiential class in food and wine pairing. The class starts at 1 p.m.

On Sunday, Jan. 15, enjoy “San Francisco Style,” a cooking class with chef Jordan Grosser. The menu will be posted on the Website at  mirafloreswinery.com.

For more information on either of these events call 530-647-8505.

MORE El Dorado Art & Wine Festival

This is one of the annual events you don’t want to miss, the MORE and Kiwanis El Dorado Art and Wine Festival, which raises money for the community. This year it will be on Saturday, Jan. 21, from 6 until 9 p.m. in the Mark D. Forni Building at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds in Placerville.

Lots of appetizers provided by local restaurants, wine tasting by the premium wineries, a live auction, silent auction, art from the Something MORE Gallery and music by Ray Brown pro sound, DJ services and recording will be offered.

Sponsors include Wells Fargo, Umpqua Bank, PG&E, El Dorado Disposal, Union Bank and the Mountain Democrat. For more information and tickets call MORE at 530-622-4848.

El Dorado Epicurean

Don’t forget to get tickets for the El Dorado County Visitor Authority’s El Dorado Epicurean, an extraordinary county-wide progressive dinner for culinary adventurers being held on Sunday, Jan. 29.

Choose from seven different itineraries from El Dorado Hills to Fair Play that include a delicious four course dinner with each course served at a different location.

For more information call 800-457-6279 or visit visit-eldorado.com/culinaryadventure.php.

Celebrate the day

Birthdays to celebrate today: American clergyman and author of more than 100 popular books for boys Horatio Alger Jr. (1834); founder of the Fuller Brush Company Alfred Carl Fuller (1885); artist and sculptor Frank Gallo (1933); actors Janet Hubert-Whitten (1956), Charles Nelson Reilly (1931), Robert Stack (1919) and Gwen Verdon (1926); and writer Jay McInernty (1955). It is also the anniversary of the first radio broadcast to the public, arranged by radio pioneer and electron tube inventor, Lee DeForest in 1910. Broadcast to several receivers in the New York City area were the voices of Enrico Caruso and other stars of the Metropolitan Opera were heard.