(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Kae Lani Palmisano.

Each week, three different guests recommend their favorite restaurants, then try each other's picks and come together to tell us what they think.

Right here on "Check, Please!"

(upbeat music) Hi, I'm Kae Lani Palmisano, and welcome to "Check, Please!"

the show where regular people from all over the Philadelphia area recommend and review their favorite restaurants.

So here's how it all works.

Every week, we have three guests.

Each guest recommends their favorite restaurant and then the other two go check them out to see what they think.

This week, gallery owner David Pollack wants you to try the all day offerings at this swanky, historic Wilmington spot.

But tattoo artist Robert Kraiza sends his friends to a ramen joint with noodles that'll stick with you forever.

Up first though, marketer and content creator, Camille Mola says her neighborhood bar is serving up seafood dishes that really rock the boat.

For an easygoing vibe and a few dozen clams, she heads to the Clam Tavern in Clifton Heights.

- My name is Tony Blanche.

If you knew me from Catholic school, my name is Anthony.

I am the owner of the original Clam Tavern.

Originally, it was Joe Sagarsky's Bar.

Dominic and Eleanor DiPangrazio inherited the bar in 1962 and they turned it into the Clam Tavern.

I always had a dream of owning the Clam Tavern.

I worked here as a kid in high school.

I would lay in bed at night and just dreamt about, you know, one day owning the Clam Tavern.

Start out washing dishes like everybody does and then you move up to the clam station.

So one day, while I was shucking clams, I found a pearl.

I thought I was rich.

I jumped on my yellow huffy 10 speed bike.

I rode to the McDade Mall, all sweaty and clammy.

The guy says,"Oh, oh kid hit the road.

You smell and this thing's not worth anything."

Dejected, I went home, gave it to my mother.

She saved it in the cedar chest with the booties and the blankets and my shirt from when I worked here.

So I think mom's pulling strings up there and it's just been an incredible almost 25 years now.

The commitment to quality and service is, is always been there and I think I've taken it to the next level.

We sell and serve so much seafood.

We get fresh deliveries three, four times a week.

You can't find fresher, better seafood than you can find here at the Clam Tavern.

I mean, when I started here, we were doing the crab imperial and the stuffed shrimp and the baked clams and the Clams Casino.

Whatever we do, we do it great.

Clam Tavern is part of the neighborhood fabric.

We've been here since 1962 on this corner and people have come to know us and to love us and I'm so well supported by the people in the neighborhood.

- Camille, Delco isn't necessarily the first thing that comes to mind when you think of seafood.

So why did you pick the Clam Tavern?

- I know, right?

You just, you don't think Delco Seafood, just doesn't always mesh.

But the Clam Tavern is such a special place that I grew up going to.

I grew up in Springfield.

It's a place my family and I have gone to for so many years.

I have great memories going there.

I love everything about it from the vibe to the food.

So, it was an easy choice for me to pick going there.

- And as the expert, what is like a go-to dish that first timers need to try?

- That is a tough question, but I would say just like start with the linguini and clams in a white wine sauce.

You cannot go wrong with it.

It's simple, it's delicious.

It's something I would just recommend everyone try for the first time.

- Ooh David, you did well 'cause you got the clams in linguini.

How was it?

- We got everything.

We took 10 people 'cause I figured why not?

And we passed everything around.

But you gotta go with, they had their baked clams.

Really, their house clams were fabulous.

Their seafood's fabulous.

And you just described the place perfectly.

You've been going there forever and it's a place where everybody knows your name even as a first timer.

It was a fabulous, fun evening.

Staff was great.

Staff was professional.

Everything was fabulous.

We had 10 plates on a Saturday night and they all came out at the same time, which is a challenge for a restaurant too.

- That's the best way to go is like you gotta get a bunch of people to come so that you could just kind of like slide the plates and everyone gets to sample a little bit of everything.

And the winner dinner though was someone else's dish.

- My favorite of the night as a main course, and I'm not a big ravioli fan, the lobster ravioli and a pink sauce was fabulous.

Which brings me to my only complaint.

They gotta get some better bread.

So many of their meals had sauces.

That was the only complaint I have at the place.

It was fabulous.

It was killer, but get some better bread.

- You kicked off your meal, Robert, with the baked clams, which I gotta say is a best of Philly alum.

- Yes.

- In Philly Mag.

- Yeah, no, absolutely.

It was fantastic.

It was just a full dozen baked clams, garlic and butter.

They were fantastic.

Yeah, all the appetizers were great.

I had the shrimp le' jean as well and the clams casino, which like when I was a kid, was like my favorite thing to get.

So it was, and you don't see it on a lot of menus anymore, so it was great to see that.

It was fantastic.

- Man, those clams casino, they're just stacked high.

Like it's a great bite.

- Oh yeah.

- Absolutely.

- What's in the Clams Casino?

- Okay, let's see.

We got bacon, red and green peppers, breadcrumbs, spices.

It's delicious.

- And then for your entree, Robert, you got the filet mignon with some crab meat.

- Yes, I was told, so I haven't, I haven't been there before, but a lot of my family goes there regularly from Delaware County and they said it's not on the menu, but it's what they get every single time they go.

It was delicious.

The steak was cooked perfectly.

There's a generous amount of crab meat.

The sauce was delicious.

The, the only thing, and I think it kind of goes back to like the old school vibes of the restaurant, it had a lot of sun dried tomatoes on it, which it were fine.

Could have done without it.

Everything else was super delicious.

But kind of feeling like late eighties, early nineties restaurant vibes was just covered in sun dried tomatoes.

Otherwise, delicious.

- David, I heard you drop a Cheers reference in that it kind of embodies this place, but they're seafood.

- It is.

I mean it was, we walked in, everybody, nobody could have been nicer.

The staff was fabulous.

They were greeting their regular guests but we're still, couldn't have been nicer to us in a big massive table.

And it was, I know I could go back and I'd go back any time with different people and I know I'd still be welcomed like an old family member.

- So it's food first, but then it's kind of bar second.

They do have like drinks.

I know you got Pinot Grigio.

What a move.

- Yes.

With some, with some clams, it's perfect.

- And you got a virgin, what was it, the Bloody Mary?

- Bloody Mary?

- Yeah, yeah.

- [Kae] Okay, how was it?

- It was great.

Yeah, it was a perfect old school Bloody Mary.

Sometimes I don't like when places get like a little too fancy with a bloody Mary.

I just want the tomato juice and hot sauce and lemon.

- You don't want all the pizazz or all of the snacks?

- I'll take some snacks.

It's when they're adding like vinegar and some sort of bitters or something where they're trying to like change the bloody, it's a standard old drink.

I just want a standard old drink.

- David, you're not a sweets guy, but with a table of 10, y'all like ordered probably every dessert that was available.

- We ordered every dessert - on the menu and the lemon cake was loved by all.

- [Robert] Oh yeah, that was.

- The lemon cake was, everybody loved it.

And so, I have to step aside and their judgment, bow to their judgment.

- I really didn't have room for dessert at that time, but I was like, I'm doing this, I'm getting everything.

So we shared the lemon cake and it was delicious and the having a little bit of the citrus was really nice after sort of a pretty rich meal.

A lot of butter and garlic and crab meat.

So it was nice to have that at the end.

- Oh, and you got triple chocolate cake.

- I did, yeah.

- You went bold.

- We did, we went bold.

We thought it was a big meal.

We have to end it a big way and that was a really nice way to do it too.

It was, between the three of us, it was like a perfect amount of a few bites for each person and it was delicious.

Really good.

- And I know you described this place as straight out of 1989, but in a very good way.

- In a good way.

- It looks literally like a time capsule 'cause it all looks new.

The wood paneling, the ship's wheels, you know, the fish tank.

Like it, it felt like so old school but in a great maintained way.

Like it's still, it feels like you walked into a family restaurant in 1989, not that it's just been - Oh my goodness.

- [Robert] sitting there since then.

- And in terms of the value, was it a good bang for your buck?

- I'd say generally.

It's not a cheap meal because it's seafood, but especially considering how much an entree can cost these days, it was consistent with, it was not high.

It wasn't, it's not a hole in the wall cheap place, but it's, if you're going to have a nice, it's not like a once a year dinner, just a regular nice dinner for that.

It was actually, yeah, perfectly priced.

- Yeah, it seems like for the regulars, for people like your family, Camille, you go like, some people go on a weekly basis.

- Yeah, they do.

- It's like part of their family's routine.

- Yeah, I totally agree.

I think it's, I think it's fair for everything you get.

The experience, the amount of food that you get.

So I'm, I'm quite happy with with the prices there.

- Awesome.

Well this was your pick.

Sum it up in one sentence for us.

- Cozy, comfortable and clams.

- David, what's the big takeaway?

- Big takeaway is I really enjoyed that everybody I went with enjoyed it and I'd go back anytime because I know I'll have a good time and a good meal.

- Alright Robert.

And sum it up for us.

- And I'd also say, especially talking to family who, who do go, you know, close to weekly, that consistency is a big thing and that's why they've been open for 50 years and it's still good and still visited by regulars because it has been completely consistent and you're gonna have a nice time every time.

- Try out the Clam Tavern located at 339 East Broadway Avenue in Clifton Heights.

610-623-9537.

Reservations are recommended and the average tab per person without drinks is $45.

David Pollack knows how to wow his friends.

For French style brunch, lunch, drinks, or dinner in a stunning gilded age dining room, he heads to Le Cavalier in Delaware.

- My name is Tyler Akin.

I am chef partner at Le Cavalier at the Hotel Du Pont here in Wilmington, Delaware.

Le Cav is a French brasserie that, as you can see, we're in this beautiful space that operated continuously for over a hundred years.

It's the Green Room, which is the main restaurant here at the Hotel DuPont.

I love a brasserie because you know, traditionally it can be in these really grand ornate spaces, but in a way it's the sort of French version of a diner, right?

It's open all day, it's very egalitarian.

You know, you take people as they come.

You don't have to be dressed up like you used to have to be to come to the green room.

You know, we take people in and welcome them whether they're wearing jeans and a T-shirt or a tuxedo.

When I moved to DC after dropping out of law school, I began working for a bread baker, quickly moved into his catering side and then went on to culinary school, cooked in DC for a while and then moved up to Philly.

For me growing up, you know, my mom was, was a very good cook.

My grandmother was an amazing cook.

Food was a big part of our lives.

I was an athlete and I think what really appealed to me about cooking was becoming exhausted and all the physical labor that went into doing what we do and the adrenaline rush.

So my background, you know, includes having attended a very classical French culinary school where we were cooking out of, you know, Escoffier recipes and that was sort of my foundation.

And after that, I went on to work for a number of kind of Mediterranean restaurants from Greek Italian to modern Israeli, it's Ahab in Philly.

And really became enchanted with the idea of sort of merging my French foundation with some of the flavors that I knew from my own experience.

I would probably say that I think Le Cav holds its own very well in any of those major northeastern markets.

The question is whether you could pick up Le Cav and drop it into Philadelphia or DC and would it succeed and would it resonate with people?

I think it absolutely would.

Hotel Du Pont, because it's situated, you know, smack in the middle of downtown Wilmington, has this deep history of people having celebrated special occasions here and just really being ingrained in the community.

I think it's central to the identity of Wilmington and its residents for sure.

(upbeat jazzy music) - David, this restaurant is absolutely stunning.

Why did you pick Le Cavalier?

- Once in a while, you wanna go someplace and have a really nice evening.

Le Cavalier is just a fine experience in an unbelievable room that's 120 years old.

Fine seating, professional staff, really nice menu, really nice well plated and beautiful design meals and food where whether it's your first date or your 25th anniversary or just a night out with your partner or your business associate, you can sit and relax and know you'll have a nice experience.

- It is truly a stunning atmosphere to have a meal.

And this time around, you kicked off with the wedge salad.

- So I love wedge salads, but Le Cavalier does it differently.

It was grilled lettuce, which I love grilled lettuce salads and it's amazing that you can char lettuce and still have it cold and crisp with bacon and blue cheese.

What could be better than bacon, blue cheese and lettuce.

Simple, historical and fabulous.

- I had the Caesar salad and I feel like there's no better way to start a meal than splitting a Caesar salad with one of your friends and with a martini.

And we did just that and it was, my only complaint about it, I wish it was bigger.

It was so, it was so good.

It was croutons.

They had the Parmesan cheese on top and the dressing was perfect.

The lettuce was crispy, which is how I like it.

So it was a great Caesar salad.

- Robert, you shifted into soup mode.

- Yes, yeah.

- You got a classic onion soup.

- Yeah, I was at the French restaurant.

I thought I had to get the French onion soup.

It was delicious.

It had like a faint taste of sherry I think in it.

It was very peppery and it had raclette cheese, which I ate so much of on a trip to Switzerland.

So it was nice to kind of go back there a little.

Sometimes it's just a solid brick of onions and sometimes there's just a couple floating in there.

It was a perfect amount.

It definitely, it was delicious.

- David, your wife got the veal, how was it?

- She had a veal cutlet in a fabulous mint, green mint sauce with peas.

It was pretty good.

It was better than pretty good.

We liked it.

- Between the two, did you like, did she get the winner dinner or did you get the winner dinner?

- I always get the winner dinner.

(group laughs) I had Moules Frites.

The Moules Frites was fabulous.

I love Moules Frites.

The fries were good.

You know, classic French bistro food and again, good fresh bread to dip into your Moules Frites, into the sauce.

- I like how on the menu, the cheeseburger is le cheeseburger.

and that is what you ordered.

How was it?

- Oh my gosh.

It was phenomenal.

It's, I think it's easy to say, this is one of the best burgers, but this is one of the best burgers I had in a long time.

The caramelized onions were the real star of that burger.

It was fantastic.

It's really juicy, really flavorful.

It's like exactly what you wanna see with a burger.

I like a seeded bun.

And I also had a seeded bun and a great size of, a great portion of fries along with it as well.

- And Robert, you went for lunch?

- [Robert] Yes.

- How was your entree?

- Great, I had the steak frites and it was delicious, along the lines of the classic French bistro food.

It was a very simple plate steak, like a maitre d' butter with some parsley in it and a side of fries.

It was very simple, very good.

The, probably my only complaint is that the steak was not super hot, but I did order medium rare and it might've just been there for a minute, but tasted delicious.

It was cooked perfectly, medium rare, very happy with it overall.

It tasted delicious.

- Camille, you are always on the hunt for a good martini.

- Yes, I like mine a little dirty, have a little bit of brine to it and they did a fantastic job with their martini and it's even better when it comes out ice cold and that's exactly how it came out.

So, I was quite happy with it.

- Oh, and what classy drinks for such a classy restaurant.

It's giving like, it's giving explorers club, it's giving dangerous game, right?

How would you describe the Hotel Du Pont?

- [David] It's a classic old school, you know, boys club.

I hate to say it, but it's a beautiful wood room and it's a little more staid.

But you go in and the service is fabulous and you can sit there and have a leisurely dinner, which is such a nice experience.

- Perfect for like drinks in the evening.

And that's why I wanted to get some sort of cocktail there 'cause it's the perfect setting for it.

It really did feel like an old hunter's club when you walk in just seeing the mosaic along the floor and then you look up and there's the velvets and leathers and jewel tones and the gold chandeliers in the ceiling.

- David, how were your desserts?

- Fabulous.

We had the profiteroles, which were great.

- Robert, you got profiteroles as well!

- Yes, yes.

I left my choice up to my server, Audra, who was amazing.

And she said to definitely go with the profiteroles, the vanilla bean ice cream is delicious, but with the slightly crispy puff pastry, chocolate ganache and pistachios, which I love.

It was delicious.

- Well this was your pick.

Sum it up for us in one sentence.

- Beautiful room, beautiful food boast in terms of taste and plating and service.

Go there and have a nice time and a leisurely time and an enjoyable evening with fine dining.

- Camille, what are your final thoughts?

- Elegant, memorable.

Devine, some might even say.

I thought it was a really unique and special dining experience.

- And Robert, take it away.

- Comfortable, but high-end historic setting to have a really nice meal in.

- Check out Le Cavalier for yourself.

Located at 42 West 11th Street in Wilmington.

302-594-3154.

Reservations are accepted and the average tab per person without drinks is $50.

Robert Kraiza adores the rich and flavorful bowls of ramen at his Chinatown favorite.

For old school noodles with a hefty scoop of miso, he recommends Terakawa.

(upbeat music) - I'm Nelson Tam.

I'm the manager at Terakawa, as a co-owner here.

- My name's Vanness Ng at Terakawa Ramen.

I'm the assistant manager.

We're the first Japanese noodle house in Chinatown.

And I feel like Chinatown is just like a really big area where people are just always coming together.

There's always different events going on and I feel like just being able to meet the customers and like create those relationships with them is what makes us special.

So we actually have different ramen broths.

So, we have some that are pork based, chicken based, veggie based.

It just depends on the customer and their preference.

My go-to, I love eating the spicy Ramen.

It's actually not as spicy as people think it is.

Just 'cause the broth is really red, it's not that intimidating.

It's actually really good.

The broth is pork, chicken and seafood.

So it's one of our specialty options.

I think what sets us apart mainly though is that normally, for ramen, they use a lot of MSG and powders, kind of like how your typical ramen packages look.

But for us, we don't use any MSG.

We boil all our broths house made.

- If you're talking about the ramen culture, it's not expensive for they created for the worker.

But pop, like the, the soup we used for more than a hundred pound the bone to create a soup.

We take about 16 hours to make it one batch for the soup.

My personal, I like the noodle a lot.

When I grow up, when I young.

Yeah, pretty much every day.

My boss before my coworker, yeah, he say he won't do ramen.

And oh, that's my, my my, I love it.

I love that food and the soup a lot.

I think more important is the passion.

I cannot say I'm the best at ramen, but I can tell we use a lot of passion to cook every single dish.

(upbeat music) - Robert, nothing beats a great bowl of ramen.

Why did you pick Terakawa?

- Well, Philadelphia has a lot of great ramen restaurants.

Current and past, Terakawa is definitely my favorite.

It all starts with the tonkotsu broth for me.

I recently was describing it to a vegetarian friend who hasn't had it.

And the best way to describe a good bowl of ramen, I think, it feels a little naughty when you have a sip of the broth, that umami and the 24 hour pork bone with the collagen and the fat completely emulsified into the broth.

And not, I've never had really a horrible bowl of ramen.

But when you have that first sip of broth, it's either there or it isn't and Terakawa, it's always there.

- Oh yeah.

When you're eating a bowl of ramen, do you start with just the broth or do you bring some noodles in?

- Yeah, I'll always have a sip of broth.

And just to start and see where we're at and then go from there.

- So at Terakawa, there are a lot of ramen dishes to choose from.

- [Robert] Yes.

- But do you recommend for first timers?

- I would definitely go with the signature.

It is the basic bowl of ramen.

You have the tonkotsu broth, you have the standard noodles.

It has some of the chashu pork, which is amazing there.

You get an egg.

It has everything you need.

I got the whopper style when I went for the first time, actually this, this, my last visit.

And it was, if you want to get everything, that's what to go with.

It truly was like two servings.

I usually finish a bowl of ramen.

I, it looked like it was full when I was finished and I was very full.

So I would definitely recommend that.

And the, the leak oil that they put in is delicious.

- Oh, this is always a very important "Check, Please" question.

How did the leftovers hold up?

- Delicious, yeah.

They actually brought out a container for my broth and a container for the noodles so that I could separate them when I brought them home so that they, the noodles didn't sit in the broth all night.

And when I heated it up the next day, it was, it was perfect.

- I had both the spicy ramen, and I hope I'm pronouncing this correctly, but the bimbam as well, which could be served either cold or warm.

And I got the warm option and it was, it was great.

It was something different for me and I'm glad that I stepped outta my comfort zone with that.

It was almost like ramen, but without the broth.

And there were so many different textures between like the slurping of the noodles, the crunch of a corn, and the cucumbers and the chicken.

There were just a lot of different textures and flavors in that dish that were interesting.

And I maybe never tried them all together before.

- There are also other little bites on the menu that can go along with your ramen.

And you tried some Japanese sausage?

- Yes!

I never had had that before, but it seemed intriguing and it was a nice way to start the meal along with some edamame, because you can't go wrong with edamame.

- We got the Japanese sausage, we got several things.

And Robert, I've agreed with everything you've said, but I hate to be a buzzkill.

It had several fatal flaws for me.

- [Robert] Okay.

- One, within a hundred yards, boy, I could go have great Cantonese food.

I could have great Malaysian, I could have great dim sum.

I just can't go there again because there's too many other options.

Also, and I hate to say this, I don't do restaurants with QR codes.

- [Robert] Mmm.

- [David] They, I want a relationship with my waitress, even to know at the first time what to have.

- [Robert] Yeah.

- [David] And then my third, and this is my personal fatal flaw and it's only me, I like backs on my chairs.

- [Robert] Okay.

- So that's, that's a, I give that one.

That's my issue.

- Chinatown has so many excellent places and it, and for a long time, Terakawa was like the only ramen place that was at least really reliable.

- I love the atmosphere.

I love when you can walk into a restaurant and you just kind of see whether it's the waiters doing their thing, people dining, just seeing everyone in action.

And the second I walked in, I saw all of that and I knew that I was gonna be in for a good meal.

- Talk to us about your spicy ramen.

- [Camille] Oh gosh, the spicy, so I will say I have the, a very similar approach when it comes to having ramen.

I need to have that spoonful of broth first.

And exactly.

If it's good, if I'm happy with it, I know it's gonna be a great meal.

So I absolutely loved it.

- Some other great bites from like a nice, casual Japanese spot.

Takoyaki and Karaage Chicken.

- Yeah, takoyaki is one of my favorite things.

And I've had plenty of not great, like frozen takoyaki.

And there's is delicious.

It is crispy, piled high with bonito on the top.

Very, very interesting.

- [Kae] Oh my gosh.

Did the bonito do that thing?

Just like kind of - Oh yeah, dancing on top?

Dances on top, yes!

- Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

- Yeah, it was delicious.

- And how about the karaage chicken?

- The karaage was very good.

It, you know, standard fried chicken doesn't necessarily stand out as the most amazing thing on the menu, but it was crispy, salty, good fried chicken.

- And nothing beats having mochi after a bowl of ramen.

- Yes, absolutely.

Yeah, I got the, like with a lot of the restaurants we visited, I was pretty full at the end, but I thought in the spirit of it, I have to get something.

So I got the mochi ice cream and the green tea was really nice with this.

Not quite bitter, but you know, it, it's not super sweet.

So it was nice to come down from the meal with that.

- And what would you say about the prices?

- Terakawa, I'd say, is very fair.

It, I think like a lot of the places we've visited it, it's not cheap, but it's something, it's a place that you could go semi-regularly and not be a problem.

Everything's fair for what you get.

I think the standard bowl of ramen is only like $15, which is really not bad for a really full meal.

- And David, what did you think of the prices?

- Prices are fabulous.

The food was, as I said, my ramen was great.

The prices are very reasonable.

- Well, Robert, this was your pick.

Sum it up for us.

- A comfortable, unctuous bowl of ramen in a great setting in Philadelphia.

- Camille, what are your final thoughts?

Terakawa was a warm and inviting place for a really hardy bowl of ramen.

- David, bring it on home.

- Really nice bowl of ramen.

But unfortunately, there's just too many other options in Chinatown that I really love going to - Grab a bowl for yourself at Terakawa.

Located at 204 North 9th Street in Philadelphia.

267-687-1355.

Reservations are not accepted and the average tab per person without drinks is $15.

So on this week's show, we featured the Clam Tavern in Clifton Heights, Le Cavalier in Wilmington, and Terakawa Ramen in Philadelphia.

Special thanks to my guest, Camille Mola, David Pollack and Robert Kraiza.

Join us next time for three new guests recommending their favorite restaurants right here on "Check, Please!"

And don't forget to find us on Instagram and TikTok.

We're @checkpleasePhilly.

I'm Kae Lani Palmisano and I'll see you next time!

(glasses clink) Cheers.

(upbeat music)