(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 am 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, food and beverage consultant, Roland Bui says his date night spot has a certain je ne sais quoi, but security professional Eric Went is a big fan of the sandwich game and family style tasting menu at his Italian market, BYOB.

But up first, legal editor Matt Gale, loves to dine at this eclectic vegan spot.

For brunch, lunch, and dinner, he heads to Lesbiveggies.

- My name's Brennah Lambert, I'm the owner of Lesbiveggies.

So me personally, I transitioned to a vegan diet because just for health reasons, I just wanted to kind of feel better, to nurture my body a little bit better.

So that's my personal reason.

Then the gluten free came along as kind of like a secondary deal just 'cause just meeting the demand of what people were looking for really.

And that's really my goal with the menu and opening up the restaurant, I wanted it to be a place where if you enjoy good food and you just wanna have a good experience, that's the whole reason why I'm here so.

I just feel really comfortable getting into the kitchen and doing honestly what I love.

You know, at times it's like, it's stressful and like you're doing a bunch of stuff at once, but overall, like every time I come in there I feel like I'm at home to an extent.

I just want to kind of just cook it up, cook it up, and just make things work.

So I really wanna highlight the catering business as well.

I want that to eventually be as equally represented as the restaurant.

Yeah, I mean I just want people to leave like kind of like a little question mark in their head.

I feel like that's kind of cool, like okay, maybe I had like this cream cheese underneath the pancakes, but I don't know how that was made or what that was, but it tasted really good and it was wholesome and you know, I feel good afterwards and I wanna come back.

- Matt, Lesbiveggies has something for everyone.

Why did you pick it?

- I love Lesbiveggies because I need gluten-free food.

I have celiac disease, so it's very important for me that all of my food be very, very strictly gluten free.

Which means every time I dine out it's sort of a negotiation with the menu and the restaurant staff to make sure that there's something there I can eat.

But at Lesbiveggies, everything is gluten free.

So I know I can order whatever I want.

I don't have to sort of go through that kind of preliminary negotiation.

I can just have a sort of normal restaurant dining experience, which isn't always accessible to me everywhere.

Plus the food is really, really, really good.

So this sort of soul food, soul food, Southern flavor I remember from growing up in Virginia and I love it.

- You usually kick off your meal with the zucchini fritters.

- I do.

The zucchini fritters are actually on the entree menu at Lesbiveggies and they're large enough to be an entree for sure.

They're like pretty big.

It's zucchini and corn fritter and the bulk of it is zucchini, but the flavor in it is from the corn and then on top, a sort of arugula and chopped tomato salad with a sriracha remoulade on top.

Perfect entree, but I love it too much to wait.

So I always have it as an appetizer.

- Another classic are the cauliflower like buffalo wings?

- Cauliflower buffalo wings.

- [Kae Lani] Yeah.

- They're also, again, portion sizes that are huge.

So yeah, there were basically like, not the whole floret but like cut and then battered and then fried with like a lime sauce.

It was so good.

- [Kae Lani] They have other flavors as well, like the barbecue.

- [Eric] There's barbecue we used too.

- [Kae Lani] Do you?

- [Matthew] It's like a maple barbecue.

- [Eric] Maple barbecue.

- [Matthew] It's also really fantastic.

So all they're, I'm not vegan, I don't need vegan food, but I love this vegan food.

Plus it's hard to find gluten-free fried food.

So whenever I have fried fritters, fried cauliflower, fried everything off that menu.

- [Eric] Yeah, the fried eggplant was delicious.

- Oh that's right.

You had the eggplant parm.

- The eggplant parm.

Yeah, it was perfectly breaded and fried right.

- When it comes to eggplant parm, it can be a little finicky.

Yeah, like you can over fry it where it's like too crispy on the outside and then the eggplant kind of turns to mush.

Or like you can maybe not fry it enough and then it's too tough.

How was the balance?

- They have two eggplant dishes there, And I know you said you got the eggplant parm dinner and I think that's great when I would say if you ever go back, get the yes, get the appetizer because it's the exact same eggplant, but instead of the gluten-free pasta, which is like, it's fine, but it's gluten-free pasta.

- [Eric] Yeah it's not pasta, pasta.

- Right, so skip that, more eggplant.

And then they do this vegan cheese made out of almonds.

That is incredible.

It's so rich and flavorful.

You would not guess it's not ricotta and parmesan and but it's as much food as the entree but for the appetizer.

- Eric, how were the coconut curry noodles?

- They were so good.

They were really good.

I liked the broth.

I liked the sauce.

Yeah, the tofu was crispy inside the sauce.

- And Matt, you had the brussels sprouts, which had maple glaze or what was that on top?

- Do you like brussels sprouts?

Like do you guys dine?

- I do like brussel sprouts.

- I'm a fiend for brussel sprouts.

I always get brussel sprouts whenever I can get them gluten-free.

It's not always, but whenever I can get them available, because sometimes it's in a shared fryer with like breaded fish and stuff.

- [Roland] I see.

- [Matthew] These aren't deep fried.

They have this fantastic maple glaze and you might think that's too sweet, but it's not.

It's like this smoky counterpoint and perfect.

- Lemonade and tea are another big thing.

And both of you had tried the, what was it, wild blueberry?

- Wild blueberry iced tea, yeah.

And then they also have a blueberry papaya drink I think that we had as well that's really good.

- Oh, you sat outside and Audubon, that's a cute little area.

That's a nice little main street.

What did you think?

- It's great.

There's a little restaurant right across the street.

There's a brewery and distillery next door.

Audubon has evolved a lot over the last 10 years, and it's really exciting to see Lesbiveggies sort of be part of that.

- Eric, how was your dessert?

- Oh my gosh.

The brown butter peach cobbler was fantastic.

It was actually very full for my meals, so I actually did take it home and ate it later and it was still really good.

- [Kae Lani] Was it a la mode?

- [Eric] It was a la mode.

It came with a vegan ice cream.

I don't remember what it was on the menu.

I think it had blueberries in it, possibly again with the blueberries.

Yeah, it was a nice counterbalance with the peach.

- [Roland] How was the crust on on the cobbler?

- It was good.

- [Roland] Yeah.

- You're right 'cause with those gluten-free desserts sometimes I kind of, ah, it was more chewy than crusty.

- Okay.

- Which can be, you know, but again, it was, you're right.

If you're looking for that crumbly crumble that's on a cobbler, usually it's not that.

It was more of a cakey style.

- Okay.

- But it was delicious.

- [Roland] Nice.

- Roland, you had a little bit of a sweet breakfast treat for your dessert.

The lemon poppy seed pancakes?

- Yeah, the lemon poppy seed pancakes.

Just the right amount of citrus.

I like the poppy seed in it.

It's very, it's different than, give it a different texture on the pancakes.

But yeah, it was a nice way to end my lunch.

- I go there for brunch frequently.

I always get the lemon poppy seed pancakes.

And what's amazing about them is that gluten-free pancakes tend to be flat.

A real problem with gluten-free baked goods is lack of chew.

So the inclusion of the poppy seeds to me is genius because they sort of make up for that.

They give you that sort of chew sensation in the mouth that you wouldn't otherwise have from the pancake dough.

So I don't know what to make of them.

I will always eat them.

Fantastic.

- It's a modern marvel.

Matt, this was your pick.

Sum it up for us.

- Oh I love Lesbiveggies for sort of casual American innovative dining that's celiac safe, gluten-free.

The entire menu is gluten-free.

The entire menu is vegan.

But it's the sort of food that you would not guess is vegan when you eat it.

And that you aren't limited to enjoying if you're vegan.

I think that's sometimes a concern for people.

In sort of a downtown environment where you can hang out and listen to the music from the brewery down the street and have a good time.

- Roland, what are your final thoughts?

- I think it's nice that Lesbiveggies stands out in Audubon.

It's also, it was nice to test also myself with food that is a little different than from what I'm trying, what I'm used to having.

You know, especially when it's vegan and when it's gluten free.

It was nice.

It was nice just to see how they would handle those restrictions I guess.

And how they can accommodate people, you know, that seek out different flavors.

- Eric, what's the big takeaway?

- I enjoyed my vegan meal there.

It was really good.

I enjoyed everything I had.

I thought the portion sizes were good.

The smoothies were great too.

Yeah, I'm definitely intrigued to try more 'cause there's a bunch of things I didn't order this time.

But I will definitely order next time.

- Try out Lesbiveggies located at 112 West Merchant Street in Audubon.

856-323-8458.

Reservations are accepted, and the average cost per person without drinks is $15.

(upbeat music) Roland Bui raves about the exceptional French technique at his pick.

For a rotating seasonal menu and meticulous attention to detail, he recommends June BYOB in Collingswood.

(gentle music) - My name's Richard Cusack.

I'm the chef owner of June BYOB.

So we opened back in August, 2019 on Passion Oak Avenue and then we moved here in August, 2021 and we've been here since.

So what makes June unique is the duck press.

It's very old school.

No one really does it anymore.

The press is from like 1938, I have.

It's a, so it's a duck that's marinated in red wine and cognac and then it's roasted and then carved tableside and then the carcass is pressed to make the, thicken the sauce.

And it's really nice like rich, delicate dish.

Yeah, it's entertaining.

I go out and talk to people.

I give 'em chef hats.

And like I do like a show so it's fun.

Yeah, we have great service.

Our servers are awesome.

The food's unique 'cause I'm constantly changing it, and my mind is crazy and I just change it all the time.

Honestly, I never wanted to do French.

I wanted to do Italian so I ended up working for a French guy named Pierre.

And then I just like fell in love with it.

It's very like detail oriented, unique.

You could do anything with it really.

There's a lot of different cultures involved.

People think French is just like cream and butter, but there's like a little bit of everything.

It's just very old school style, but it's just like not stuffy here.

It's like it's yeah, casual, like laid back sort of so.

- Roland, June BYOB is a special little place in Collingswood.

Why did you pick it?

- June reminds me of the French cuisine that I grew up with having grown up in Belgium.

Very similar food and techniques, yet it doesn't necessarily have the pretentiousness right?

It's elevated traditional French cuisine.

Mostly traditional.

And it reminds me of an old restaurant that was a favorite of mine, which was called Bibo BYOB, which was in South Philly.

- This last time.

- [Roland] Yeah.

- You did the Sunday dinner, the Sunday tasting menu.

- Yes, you get to choose between two options for each course.

And we wanted to have a family dinner.

So I have two daughters, two young daughters that are eight and nine.

And I think it's important to have them understand table manners.

It also made for a very nice family outing on Sunday.

- It's always a surprise 'cause you go in there and you look at the menu, you place your order, and then all of a sudden, an amuse bouche comes out.

This is like extra surprise right at the beginning.

And Matt, you really loved your amuse bouche.

- I loved it.

It was honestly my favorite part of the meal.

It was, it was a sunchoke soup with like a fennel pollen on top.

I'm convinced that the wide rim on the dish was to defeat me from licking the bottom of the bottle.

- I mean, nobody was stopping you.

- It was delicious.

I loved it.

I would've had 10 times as much of that.

- [Kae Lani] Oh, but that's the whole point of an amuse bouche.

- [Matthew] I know exactly.

- It's the chef's big ideas in one bite.

It's all of that technique, and you know, expertise distilled into one bite.

And you had an amuse bouche as well that you were raving about.

- Oh my gosh, it was so good.

I do have a small complaint about it, but it was lobster soup.

He, I don't think they called it bisque.

My server was very quiet, so I couldn't really understand exactly what he said.

But it was lobster soup with a black truffle and it actually, it wasn't shavings, but they didn't cheat with the oil either.

They actually, it was like a little flecks of it inside of it.

It was so good.

Like you were talking about the classic techniques of that place.

- [Roland] Sure.

- [Eric] I'm actually trained in French cuisine as well.

- [Roland] Oh.

- [Eric] Yeah.

- Look at you.

- Mm.

Anyways, it's been, it's been a minute since I've done it.

But you could taste the sauce work, like you could taste the shell in the stock of the soup.

It had such a nice deep rich flavor of the lobster.

It was fantastic.

My only complaint, it wasn't hot.

- Oh it wasn't hot.

Was it just like room temperature or was it cold?

- [Eric] It was more like room temperature.

- Oh, interesting.

- Yeah.

And I'm not sure why necessarily.

- But you also got the escargo.

- [Eric] The escargo, Calmel's way.

- [Kae Lani] Calmel's way.

- Yeah.

It brought me back to the Bebo days and I, that was a million years ago, so it was very nice to have that experience again.

So good.

My mouth's watering just thinking about it.

Actually the other app was really good too.

The other app we had was the Parisian gnocchis.

- [Roland] Yes.

- With tomato.

And then you could, again, you could taste the crab in the sauce and the tomato sauce.

It wasn't like crab like physically on the dish or if it was, it was very well hidden but yeah, deep rich flavor of the Parisian gnocchi.

Oh, so good.

- You got the duck a l'orange?

- Yes.

- Yeah, how was that?

- I'm very, very glad I had the experience of that dish because I'd never had duck before.

- [Roland] Oh.

- And I think like if you've never driven a car and you're gonna have one chance in your life to see whether you like to drive a car, it's probably better to be in a Lamborghini than like a Fiesta, right?

- [Roland] Sure.

- So this was absolutely the Lamborghini of duck and now I know I don't like duck.

- [Eric] Ohh.

- Oh there you, that's yeah.

- I don't have to worry about eating it anywhere else because it will never be better than that duck.

If I didn't like that duck, I just don't like duck.

- But I like that you can recognize that it's like, oh this isn't me or this isn't the duck, I.

- No, no, no, no.

My dining partner was all over my duck.

- Ohh.

- Right.

- I wanna go back for more.

I wanna do the duck dinner that they do.

- Oh, you said, did you see anyone getting the duck press?

- No, nobody did it while we were there.

It was a slow Thursday for us.

- [Kae Lani] Ah, okay.

- But yeah, there's in the decoration, he's got a couple of the different presses around and he is got it sitting back there by.

- [Kae Lani] It's a spectacle.

- [Eric] I'm in.

- That is some way to make a reservation where you know that somebody else in the restaurant is having the duck.

- Just so you could watch.

- [Eric] So you don't have to get it yourself.

- It's not my favorite part of the meal, so it wouldn't trump the amuse bouche which was, the table next to us got duck.

- Oh you saw it?

- [Eric] Oh you saw the duck?

- Incredible, yeah, the flames.

- [Roland] Table side.

- [Matthew] Tableside preparation and then the (indistinct).

- Oh, it turns heads, turns heads.

- Oh my gosh, it was incredible.

And it smelled amazing.

- Yes.

So I didn't have it at the time we went 'cause it was a Sunday, somebody else got it.

And you know, they break down the whole duck.

They filet the breasts and then they took the carcass into the deck, the press, they squeeze out juices and then the flambe sauce.

- [Eric] Bone sauce.

- [Roland] Yes the bone sauce.

- [Eric] Bone sauce.

- I love when there is a kitchen appliance for one sole purpose and is just to crush those duck bones into a sauce that you then light on fire.

Amazing.

- But we previously, I've been with friends and we shared it and it's a hundred percent worth it.

- How was your beef Wellington?

- It was really good.

You know, it was just, it was a standard puff pastry with the filet inside with a duxelles of mushrooms.

But I didn't, I guess I didn't read the description or maybe it wasn't on there, but there was spinach in it.

- [Roland] Oh.

- [Eric] Which I've never seen that before.

And it was an interesting addition.

I wouldn't say it needed to be there necessarily, but it didn't really detract from it either.

It was really good.

And then it came with buttery potatoes.

- Matt, how was the creme brulee?

- I study the creme brulee because it is no, truly creme brulee is the only gluten-free restaurant, only gluten-free dessert available at lots and lots and lots of restaurants.

- [Kae Lani] Wow.

- [Matthew] So very typically the only dessert available to me is creme brulee.

So I've had creme brulee everywhere in town, everywhere in the country.

I've had creme brulee around the world.

I love creme brulee.

- [Kae Lani] And how does this compare?

- [Matthew] This was fantastic.

The custard was perfect, but the trick of the creme brulee is you want the caramelized sugar to be crisp, right?

- [Eric] Yes.

- [Matthew] And what I loved about this creme brulee is that the caramelized sugar was perfectly crisp, but there was like a little floater of Grand Marnier on top.

- [Kae Lani] Oh.

- That was applied at just the right moment so that it didn't sog the sugar, the sugar stayed perfectly crisp, and then when you punched through the sugar, the Grand Marnier goes down into the custard and altogether, it's heaven here.

- [Kae Lani] Do they?

- It's exquisite.

- Do they give it to you with the Grand Marnier already in it or did they come to the table and like, hmm, pour it in?

- It arrived that way but it was perfect.

We had one to share.

We should have had one each.

- Matt, what are your thoughts on the decor?

- I loved it.

The only addition I would've made to the decor is that my dining partner and I decided she was not drinking that evening and if she wasn't drinking, I wasn't gonna drink an entire bottle of wine by myself.

And so I realized, you know, wine is such an important part of French cuisine, it would've paired with this meal so wonderfully.

And I wish we had had our own wine glasses to add to the decor.

That would've like made it perfect.

But next time I will definitely bring wine.

But aside from that, I thought it was lovely.

- We didn't bring wine either.

I was getting over being sick, and I didn't think that I needed to.

Plus we had to drive home after the meal.

- Fair, fair.

But sometimes we might do like, get an Airbnb and like stay the night so we can drink and wine with our French duck dinner.

- You don't have to stay overnight in Collingswood.

You can actually take Patco.

- Oh right.

- [Kae Lani] Just stumble into the train and ride back to the city.

- That's a good plan.

- [Kae Lani] Did you get a chance to walk around Collingsworth?

- [Eric] I did actually.

There's a really cool grocery store, like a gourmet grocery store up the way.

- [Kae Lani] Patton Culinary.

- [Eric] Yeah it's nice.

- Good one.

Roland, this was your pick.

What are your final thoughts?

- All the thrills with the frills but not the pretentiousness.

- Love the rhyming.

(group laughs) Matt, what's the big takeaway?

- I cannot wait to go back for the tasting menu.

I'm very excited about that.

- And Eric, what are your thoughts?

- I really enjoyed the food.

I'm really glad that it got recommended to me, and I definitely want to go back for the French press duck dinner.

- [Roland] Yes.

- Gotta do it.

- Check out June BYOB for yourself.

Located at 690 Hadden Ave in Collingswood.

856-240-7041.

Reservations are required, and the average tab per person without drinks is $70.

Eric Went says this Italian joint is slicing and stacking up the good stuff.

For your cured meat and antipasto fix, he recommends Paizano's.

- My name is Chef Peter McAndrews.

I'm the owner of Paizano's Philly style here on 9th Street in the Italian market.

Paizano's is a place where you go with friends to have a good time.

Paizano's in Italian means like countrymen and Philly style just means I think Philly has a certain connotation.

So I want people to know that we definitely are Philly style, which means we, I feel that we have a lot of attitude.

It's gregarious, it's comforting, and it's being humble.

I opened up the sandwich shop as an offshoot of my restaurant.

I'd actually, I would come down to the market to buy sandwiches for my guys 'cause we were busy.

And I would have, I would bring them back, and I would always fix them.

Fix meaning it has enough salt, it has enough balance.

We use sharp provolone, which makes your mouth water.

But if you use sharp provolone, you should have something a little sweet on there for balance.

So when you have our sandwiches, it's a, should be a love song.

(upbeat music) - Eric, you picked Paizano's?

- I did.

- Okay.

Tell us why you wanted to bring it on the show.

- Because it's probably the best sandwich shop in all Philadelphia.

It's been in some kind of iteration in some form for a long time now.

And then he magically reappeared back in the Italian market in an old restaurant space that had been vacated.

- And how have the sandwiches held up over time?

- Pretty standard.

I mean he's basically had a similar menu the entire time.

Like the Paizano's sandwiches is kind of his version of a cheese steak.

Classic on the menu, he's got an added egg with a horse radish cream sauce.

Fantastic.

Recommend that sandwich.

The daddywod, yeah, he's got a, like a very large menu of menu options for sandwiches.

- And they're very over the top sandwiches.

- They're very over the top.

They're huge.

I call him a maximalist.

Peter McAndrews is the chef there.

This experience, this time my wife noticed on, I think it was on Facebook or Instagram.

He was doing, it was called the Sunday Sit Down Sandwich Lunch.

- [Kae Lani] Hmm.

- Yeah, it was $40 a person.

And he comes out and he was like, this is what we're gonna, we're gonna do.

Don't eat too much bread 'cause there's gonna be too much bread.

And basically, we started out with a bonanza of appetizers.

We got a mozzarella stick with the mustard on top.

We got the arancini rice balls with marinara, we got the eggplant rollatini.

- [Kae Lani] Ooh.

- And I was talking about adding stuff.

I've never had this before in rollatini before, but he put prosciutto inside it, so yeah.

So why not right?

It's one of things where like sometimes too many ingredients can be a bad thing.

Not, not, not with Peter.

He, everything's thought out, perfectly balanced.

He also got mussels white as an appetizer too.

It was like all.

- [Kae Lani] You got muscles as well?

- We got mussels, arancini, rollatini.

- You got the works.

- We got everything.

It was a lot of food.

- Matt, with a gluten-free diet, how did you navigate the menu?

- Well so I knew in advance that they offer gluten-free rolls there from Taffit's Bakery, which is across the street right there in the Italian market.

- Oh.

- The best gluten-free bakery in the city by far, by far the rolls there are so good.

Unfortunately, they were closed when I was there.

I think maybe that is why they only had one roll left.

One gluten-free roll left at Paizano's and it was not the freshest.

- [Kae Lani] Oh.

- So I'm really looking forward to going back when Taffit's is back open, and the rolls are a little fresher.

- For appetizers, you got a couple of salads.

- Yeah, really fresh.

One had this fantastic like citrusy vinegarette that sort of got me ready for the much bulkier sandwich meal.

I love the salads.

I thought they were great.

- Roland, you went by yourself.

- [Roland] Yeah.

- You only got the gustayo?

- [Roland] I got the gustayo.

I love lamb sausage.

- [Eric] That looks so good.

- I love blue cheese and arugula.

I love the sandwich.

Lamb, it's ground against blue cheese, against arugula, which also have very strong flavors.

So you want that gaminess to go with it, but it's also very umami like and savory.

So it was great.

- Definitely intense flavor there.

- [Roland] Yes.

- I had to sort of, I mean this sounds awful, but I sort of discarded the gluten-free roll because it was doing this like crunchy crackly thing everywhere.

- Oh.

- You just ate the innards.

- So you just ate.

Wait, but you, of the daddywod?

- Yeah.

- [Kae Lani] Oh wow.

- It's a very that's a very wet sandwich that's got like sort of peppers on it that are kind of juicy.

I guess I'm not sufficiently sophisticated in terms of classic Italian deli meats and was imagining a classic like daddywod is described on the menu as like the classic Italian hoagie and I was like, oh this is gonna, or however it's described, it's like classic Italian deli meats in a sandwich or something.

I misinterpreted it and was thinking it was going to be like a Wawa style hoagie.

- [Eric] No.

- And therefore very approachable and was really surprised to find this like toasted garlic clove, stuffed mortadella, wrapped around some kind of salami and prosciutto.

Thick, sharp provolone and then these wonderful peppers.

It was incredible.

But it was so much more flavor than I was expecting.

And not, just it was not what I expected and I loved it.

But it took me a minute to like appreciate this was not the sort of South Jersey hoagie I was expecting.

- [Eric] Typical, oh no.

- [Matthew] But it's a whole different thing.

And once you accept that you can enjoy it.

- [Roland] Then the roll is almost there to counter that or encase that.

- [Kae Lani] The roll is really the vehicle for everything else to get into your mouth.

- Yeah, but also like cuts, I mean 'cause otherwise you're going straight flavor.

It's so exactly, so intense.

But if you have the roll it kinda helps balance that out, the ratio.

- [Eric] It definitely recommend the potato or roast toast.

The tagline is as much pork fat flavor as we can muster.

- [Matthew] Ohh.

- [Eric] So roasted.

Oh it's fantastic.

And then they melt a little bit of sharp provolone on top.

- [Roland] Nice.

- Don't skip the roasted potatoes unless you've already ordered everything else.

- Paizano's, it's in the Italian market, like quintessential.

Roland, what do you think of the neighborhood?

- It's nice.

I think it's nice to have options.

I think it's nice to have Paizano's back in the Italian market.

I thought it was great.

I mean you always like walking down 9th Street and smelling different flavors, hearing different languages.

It's fun.

- Matt, do you find yourself in the Italian market often?

- I don't because I live in South Jersey and so what I loved about Paizano's is that for me, getting to the Italian market is kind of a drag, right?

We have to drive across the bridge and then find some place to park, and circle and circle and circle and find some place to park.

So if I'm going to do that, I really want there to be some anchor thing that I'm going to do while I'm there.

So I love the idea that I can browse the whole Italian market and then know I'm definitely getting a really good meal while I'm there, which makes the trip worthwhile.

- What were your thoughts on the price point?

- Well, I wasn't able to eat the roll that I was served.

So for me it was a not quite a lot of sandwich for $18 or $17, whatever it was.

- [Eric] Wow.

- [Matthew] The person I was with had the Paizano's sandwich, which was massive and to my mind worth twice what they charged.

But there was so much meat on that sandwich.

Yeah, so much, so much everything.

Which is a huge sandwich.

So I think if I had had a roll I could have eaten, I would've been really, really happy.

And I looked forward to going back and trying that.

- Eric, Paizano's this was your pick.

Sum it up for us.

- I would say that Paizano's is a delicious experience, maximalist flavors, and a comfortable environment.

- Matt, what's the big takeaway?

- Oh, this is an old school Italian sandwich shop in the center of the Italian market with this classic vibe, vintage tiles, heirloom candles.

You would've guessed it'd be there forever.

But the flavor is not anything you could've gotten a hundred years ago.

Absolutely fresh.

Loved it.

- And Roland bring it on home.

- OG, South Philly, Italian American flavors.

Despite, you know, moving, moving around, it's still the same in a good way.

In the best way.

- Expand your hoagie horizons at Paizano's.

Located at 943 South 9th Street in South Philly.

267-294-3162.

Reservations are accepted, and the average tab per person without drinks is $20.

So on this week's show, we featured Lesbiveggies in Audubon, June BYOB in Collingswood, and Paizano's in South Philly.

Special thanks to my guests, Matt Gale, Roland Bui, and Eric Went.

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 at Check Please Philly.

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

(glasses clink) Cheers.

(upbeat music)