This week on check, Please South Florida artisanal pie creations in Boca Raton.

Just the slightest char, but it was delicious.

Delicious contemporary fare in Delray Beach.

The home fries were out of this world.

Probably the best I've ever had.

And good old fashioned comfort food in Lake Worth.

They just took it to another level with the scallions and the cheese, and it was just so good.

Cultural culinary secrets and global flavors.

We have a passion for blending ingredients and seasonings from around the world.

Additional funding for check please.

South Florida is provided by George and Helen Weaver and the Friends of South Florida PBS.

I was like, wait, if Tennessee was a drink, this is it.

Everything was meant to be a certain way and it was beautiful.

It just tasted very light and milky and delicious.

Nice food, spicy food.

And the beignets were the best.

Honestly, like, the best I've ever had.

Hello, I'm Michelle Bernstein and welcome to check please South Florida, the show where regular people from all over South Florida recommend and review their favorite restaurants.

So this is how the show works.

Every week we have three guests.

Each recommends his or her favorite spot, and then the other two go to check them out and see what they think.

This week, Transportation Manager Henry Bucholtz wants us to take a trip to his favorite go to spot for sure to satisfy comfort food.

He says you'll always feel welcomed at this good old fashioned Lake Worth spot.

Minister of Metaphysical Science Nancy Perfetti says that her pick is a cool spot that is offering some of the best contemporary American food in one of the hippest neighborhoods in Delray Beach.

But first wealth manager and self-proclaimed diehard foodie Matthew Kaplan wants to invite us to enjoy the delicious artisanal pizza and laid back vibe of his pick.

He says you'll fall in love with their unique selections, fresh ingredients, and excellent customer service.

This spot is located in Boca Raton and it's called How Ya Dough'n This is Garrett Goodman coming to you from how are you doing here in Boca Raton?

So how are you doing?

Started during Covid during the pandemic.

So I had two kids at the time, and I was trying to figure out how to keep them occupied.

So a buddy of mine convinced me to buy a rock box, one of the portable pizza ovens.

I was just giving away cheese pizzas and marinara pizzas to my friends and family, just kind of over the fence in my backyard.

And people went crazy for them.

So my wife told me we should try to start selling them, and I said, if we're going to do it, we have to come up with a good name.

So a couple cocktails later, my wife came up with the name.

How you doing?

So the biggest thing that really sets us apart from like, you know, everybody else in the pizza business is, you know, first things first, we're an all-natural 11 sourdough pizza shop.

So most people use a traditional like bleached white flour.

You know, our pizza being that it's a sourdough pizza, we ship our flour in from San Francisco.

So it's a really specific flour that we use.

You know, we try to go in the polar opposite direction of every other pizzeria, you know, so if they go left, we go right.

Our menu is so unique, so different that like before people kind of roll the dice and, you know, go down the path of something crazy.

It's like, try the cheese pie, feel confident in it, believe in what we're doing.

And then after they try it, they love it.

They almost always come back the next day or within the week.

And they're like, I'm ready to try something different.

And how are you doing?

Our pizza is freaking delicious.

I love the name of this restaurant.

Did I say it right?

How Ya Dough'n?

All right, so tell me a little bit about this place.

I mean, you talk about it being some of the best pizza right in South Florida, and that's a big statement.

It is?

Yeah.

They're, uh, they started up during the pandemic, actually.

So it's a really cool story.

He was a chef.

I don't know fully everything, but I know that he just got into the pizza making during the pandemic and started selling it out of their house and out of their home.

Yeah, out of their home.

He was a chef, and, um, they just started doing it and they gained popularity.

And we know that we tried to get a lot.

Of social media.

A lot of social media.

It was always impossible to to get the pizzas.

There was actually a waiting list for like a week.

You had to, like, order a week in advance to get your pizzas.

When we actually.

Had that same thing happening in Miami with this guy that now has a brick and mortar that's so great that they finally opened.

Yeah.

And the pizza is just great.

Just super fresh.

It's sourdough dough.

It's the crust is unbelievable.

Really chewy.

Delicious.

Do all of you have like your favorite pizza places that you consider them to be the absolute best pizza in South Florida?

Yes.

Okay.

Did this place make you kind of, uh, vote for them as being some of the best pizza in South Florida?

Very good pizza.

How big are these pizzas?

We order.

Personal size.

So I was with my family and we ordered for individual size.

So we all kind of split.

So they're personal sized pizzas.

Yeah.

You can do personal or like the larger 16 inch.

You also had dough bites.

Yes.

The dough bites are literally just their pizza dough that they break off and roll into little balls.

And they, they just cook them up in the wood oven that they have.

And it's just nice and chewy.

And the vodka sauce is just.

Yeah, it's just so good with the tanginess and the creaminess and the.

Yeah, definitely creamy.

But the spiciness to it is, it's that kick and it really, really gets you.

Nancy, tell me a little bit.

First you had a salad, right?

Yes.

We had a Greek salad.

That was delicious.

Just spot on for a Greek salad.

And then we didn't know what to order because they don't have menus.

Really?

So the girl behind the counter suggested the OG pizza.

I think it was called.

And that was the I guess their standard like a margarita pizza would be with the Havarti cheese.

And we said we don't like it.

Really charred.

And she was very good.

They brought it out.

It was just the slightest char, but it was delicious.

I enjoyed the wood burning oven.

Do you see the oven?

Yes.

It's beautiful.

It's like the focal point when you walk in.

It's very pretty.

Oh that's lovely.

You also had an OG.

We had the OG and we also had the white pizza.

Okay.

Um, we had the large white and the smaller OG tell me we were the only two in there at the time, which was very nice because we were able to speak to the staff freely.

Um, the oven actually comes from Naples, oh, Napoli.

And they also just had a smaller oven that's on the trailer.

That's for events.

Tell me a little bit about the ambiance, Nancy.

Uh, it was lovely.

You walk in and there's not much distance between you and the counter when you walk in, but they had nice seating.

Uh, small, small and intimate is how I would describe it.

And we were the only two when we went there in the afternoon, and it was very nice.

Very nice.

How were the prices of the pizzas?

Very fair.

Very fair for what you got.

They also serve beer from a local brewery.

Oh, nice.

Do you remember.

The name of the brewery?

Prospect.

Prosperity.

Prosperity, prosperity.

Okay.

And did you have a beer?

We did.

We were both going to get a can of beer, and they were nice enough to say if you get a six pack, it's cheaper than two beers.

So why buy two and you can get six?

That's a good point.

So it was very good beer.

Oh that's great.

Okay I love this Matthew.

Go ahead and sum it up for me please.

Okay.

There are just a really high-quality local pizza restaurant.

You got.

It Nancy.

I enjoyed it very much.

I think next time I would take it out and enjoy it at home.

But it was lovely.

Henry.

Great pizza, great personality, great location.

Look at him for some great conversation and a unique slice you can head over to.

How Ya Dough'n Located at 4251 North Federal Highway in Boca Raton, they are open daily for lunch and dinner.

Reservations are not accepted where the average price for dinner without drinks is about $35.

Now Minister of Metaphysical Science.

Nancy Confetti is ready to introduce you to her pick.

She says this spot is always ready to impress with its delicious food, handcrafted cocktails and trendy location.

It's located in Delray Beach and it's called Lulu's Cafe and Cocktails.

Hi, I'm Nicola Fike.

I'm one of the co-owners and managing partners of Lulu's Cafe and Cocktails in Delray.

Hello, I'm Jamie Ernst, one of the other co-owners of Lulu's Cafe and Cocktails.

The idea for the restaurant came about basically, um, when Jamie and I met, we were in New York in the restaurant business, and he's from Australia, where it has a huge cafe culture.

And I'm from Ireland, which obviously has a huge bar culture.

And just from getting to know each other, we thought we'd work well together and we would marry the two ideas together.

Like Nicola said, the idea was to open up a restaurant that is open 18 hours a day, where you can come at night with a group of friends or on a date for a drink or a cocktail or some bites, and then be back in the morning at 8 a.m. for breakfast, brunch and bottomless cocktails.

Because we were marrying two ideas with the cafe and the bar, we found it important to have two different vibes.

We didn't want to get pigeonholed into a cafe, and we didn't want to get pigeonholed into a bar.

We wanted it to be married perfectly together.

I think what sets us apart from other establishments in Delray is the culture that we try and build for our staff, and just making sure that all the guests that come back as well have an amazing time.

It does feel like a little community in here.

Lily's Cafe and Cocktails is Del Rey's favorite neighborhood spot.

You're a regular.

You and your husband.

Yeah.

Yes we are.

Why is that?

Just.

It's very comfortable.

They have set it.

It's on the off the main drag of Atlantic Avenue.

So you wouldn't find it if you didn't look for it.

But they way they set it up, they have very high planters and nice palms so that when you sit there, you feel like you're off the avenue completely.

You could be anywhere.

Yes.

No cars, no traffic.

You can't hear a thing.

And it's owned by Irish family who have lovely brogues when they come out, when you're lucky enough to meet one of the partners and they'll come out and chat with you.

Very friendly, but a very modern menu that changes frequently.

Henry, you love the service.

And you said it was kind of tropical.

The vibe I did.

It felt very tropical in there.

The bar is covered with bamboo.

There's vines painted on the ceilings.

It's just it makes you feel like you're not in South Florida.

You're somewhere much more tropical, right?

If that's even possible.

But the service was great.

We sat down.

The waitress came right over to us.

She brought a pitcher of water and asked us if we would like to have a few cocktails.

We gladly agreed and they came out in no time.

And Matthew, you sat at the bar?

Yes.

Right.

And you loved the open-air concept.

However, you had a little problem with parking.

Oh, yeah.

Not too bad.

Okay.

We just had to park a little bit a little ways up the street.

We didn't really find any parking in the immediate vicinity, but it wasn't too bad.

I mean, the walk was two minutes.

All right, so let's jump right into what you had this last time to eat.

I had a blat.

It's a bacon, lettuce and tomato with avocado.

And it was lovely.

And they had fingerling potatoes with red peppers.

That was just delicious.

Really?

Is that a lunch or is that a dinner?

Lunch?

They aren't open for dinner.

Okay.

It's basically a breakfast or brunch and lunch place.

Makes sense.

Mhm.

And rosé sangria.

Oh rosé sangria.

Okay.

Very very nice.

Very light for the middle of the day.

Yeah that's perfect I love that.

What did you have him.

The breakfast burger.

Okay.

Out of this world.

Tell me tell me a little bit about a breakfast burger.

Well it was.

Just a traditional hamburger with an egg on it, but the home fries were out of this world.

Probably the best I've ever had anywhere.

Was anything else on that burger?

Cheese?

Okay, I do, I love burgers with fried egg on top of it.

Not like we need the extra fat, but it's so delicious.

It's very good.

Yeah.

No doubt.

Especially for breakfast.

How about you, Matt?

I guess I didn't get the memo that it was a brunch lunch place because I went out on Saturday night.

And.

Was it open?

Yeah.

It's open.

Is it open that like.

Okay.

Yeah.

Up until two in the morning.

Yeah.

They are open till two in the morning.

I guess I'm not.

A late person.

I went out for a nice evening with my fiancé.

Um, just sat at the bar, watched a few of the football games and ordered some great food.

We had the wings to start.

Are they fried or grilled?

They were fried, I believe we got.

They were Asian style, so kind of a tangy Asian sauce.

How were the shrimp tostadas?

Shrimp tostadas were great.

I think those were probably the best thing that we got.

Okay.

Um, yeah.

Just really creamy avocado.

Great flavor to it.

The shrimp were cooked perfectly and I got a burger, which I know this is kind of a personal thing, but it reminded me exactly of a restaurant that I used to go to as a kid.

So it really kind of brought back memories.

Oh, I don't know if.

Yeah, I don't know if you remember cheeseburger.

Cheeseburger.

But it was a I do.

Yeah.

And exact same flavor.

I'm looking for the burger that I grew up eating.

Still, to this day I make it, but I want to find someone that makes it.

And isn't that just the most amazing feeling?

Immediate memories came back to us because of that.

It had like an extra, extra kick to my to my experience, I love that.

I think that's just so great.

So there is cocktail in the name.

Did anybody have cocktails?

Yes, yes.

You had the rosé, right?

Rosé.

Sangria, which was anybody else?

I didn't have the rosé sangria.

I think I had the breakfast margarita was a breakfast.

Breakfast margarita.

What makes a margarita like just a.

Little bit more tequila.

Than normal?

Hold up, hold up.

Punch punch.

Punch punch.

Margarita.

Yes.

You know, do you remember any of it?

It was very.

Good.

So good.

You don't remember.

It?

So good.

I had two.

And how about you, man?

I had a mezcal tequila drink.

I guess it's probably pretty similar to the to the margarita.

Dear mod or.

Something.

Yeah, that sounds right.

Yeah.

It was.

It was a very good margarita.

I love the smokiness that you get from the mezcal.

The mezcal?

Yeah.

Howard.

Prices.

Prices were pretty fair.

Uh, not not too expensive.

Pretty.

I'd say pretty.

Middle of the road.

Um, yeah.

Very fair.

Not bad.

All right, well, Nancy, Lulu's cafe was your choice.

Sum it up for me, please.

Uh, tropical atmosphere in downtown Delray, which is unusual.

And what I love is brunch every day of the week.

How can you not knock you.

Uh, yeah.

It was.

It's called an oasis in on Atlantic Avenue.

It's a great little shop.

Henry.

Service was great, the food was outstanding.

And I think the price was just right.

Lovely for delicious contemporary dishes and one of South Florida's trendiest neighborhoods, you can make your way to Lulu's Cafe and Cocktails.

Located at 189 Northeast second Avenue in Delray Beach, they're open daily for brunch and dinner.

Reservations are accepted where the average price for dinner without drinks is about $50.

Have you ever heard of Tzatziki?

Kind of hard to spell.

Kind of fun to say.

If not, you have to.

You have to meet it.

I'm about to introduce you.

And if you have, just think about all the incredible things you can do with this Greek origin.

Beautiful dipping sauce.

You can use it as a vinaigrette.

You can dip as we are today.

Pita or crudité into it.

I taught my favorite tuna salad off with it.

There's a ton of things.

Salmon seared salmon.

Okay, I can keep on going forever.

I know we don't have a lot of time together, so what you do is you grate with a box grater, some cucumber without the peel.

I have it here in some paper towels.

And what you want to do is squeeze, which is a lot.

The excess water, there's a lot of water in the cucumber.

So squeeze out that excess water.

Okay.

And what you have left is this crunchy.

Oh, I forgot to tell you, I salted the cucumber.

And that allows the water to shed from that cucumber.

So salt some grated cucumber, strain it and it goes into your yogurt.

Now for this you can either use plain yogurt or Greek yogurt.

Today we're using Greek yogurt.

Here I have a microplane normally used for grating parmesan.

But I'm going to go ahead and grate some garlic onto it because you can never get the garlic fine enough for a good stick.

Next thing we're going to add to this is some fresh squeezed lemon juice.

Fresh squeezed.

Always fresh squeezed.

When you're making all these ingredients, especially something that you're serving cold with some fresh crudité, you never want to skimp on this part.

Okay, I think half a lemon should be perfectly enough.

Then I'm going to add a little bit of extra virgin olive oil to the mixture.

And then finally a little bit of herbs.

Now normally Tzatziki gets only mint, but I feel like mint and dill would be an even more delicious Tatsuki.

So let's go ahead and pick some fresh mint.

I actually grow tons of mint in my garden, so we make a lot of Tatsuki at my house.

Just kind of roll it all up together like so.

Make sure you have a good, sharp knife.

And chop it up.

And then go ahead and add this to the yogurt mixture.

You want to make sure that everything is mixed in evenly so that they're all spread into the yogurt.

And get your favorite vegetables onto a platter.

If you want to put some warm pita bread on that platter, you can also put some nice crackers, whatever it is that you love to dip with.

Go ahead and put it on this delicious platter.

And there you have it.

Beautiful Tzatziki with any kind of spread you love with it.

Finally, Transportation Manager Henry Bucholtz is ready to drive you to his favorite comfort spot.

He says this place has become a sure go to thanks to their homey dishes and family like atmosphere.

It's located in Lake Worth and it's called the Country Inn Restaurant.

Hi, my name is Sharon Wagner and I'm the owner at the Country Inn restaurant in Lake Worth, Florida.

Our family has been blessed to be serving the Palm Beaches since 1950.

Well, my father taught me to always serve excellent food.

And to give really great service and to treat every customer and employee like they're family and do everything with love.

And so that's our concept here.

We wanted to create a family atmosphere and something generational, where the customers will come in with their children, and then when their children grow up, they come in with their children or they bring their mom or grandma.

Uh, so it's a place where they can feel safe, loved and valued and treasured.

We're in Lake Worth, Florida.

My father chose this place because he grew up in the Palm Beaches.

He loves the South.

And, um, we just like our community.

We have a really friendly community here.

When people are finished eating their food at the country end, I want them to say, I love this place.

I love my food and I will be back.

The Country Inn is love.

Southern cooking at its best.

So they call themselves a little old fashioned, but they're very proud of being old fashioned.

Tell me about that a little bit.

Well, it's a little standalone building, and to drive by you wouldn't think much of it.

They recently did a renovation on it, and inside and outside added a beautiful patio area outside.

And the food is just it's really good southern cooking.

It's tough to find down here.

Yeah, yeah.

Matthew, you were really impressed with the service.

I was.

First of all, everything was homemade, which was I was very impressed with that.

Yeah, service was amazing.

We got in there.

Tiny little, little place, really intimate.

And there were no tables, but there were a couple of seats at the bar and they just sat us right down.

Nancy, first thoughts when you walked in?

It's very unassuming when you see it from the outside, but when we walked in, it was like almost like an oasis, like you say.

It was felt like a home cooking and a homey atmosphere.

And what I loved was the wait staff was interchangeable, so that if you needed coffee or whatever you needed, somebody else would come along.

If your waitress was busy so you didn't have to wait for anything.

And the food restaurant should be.

Yes, yes, it was excellent.

All right, Henry, let's talk about what you had this last time you went.

Well, I had the fresh corned beef and eggs with home fries, whole wheat toast.

And I'm a big fan of corned beef hash.

And having real corned beef with corned beef hash was just out of this world.

That's wonderful.

Very good.

That's great.

Actually, I didn't get the corned beef hash, but I specifically you wanted it.

I specifically asked if it was if it was fresher from the can, because that's kind of how I judge a diner.

Right?

If it's from the canned, it's not it's not up to standards.

So I heard it was fresh.

Why would a restaurant open a can of corn beans?

You'd be.

Surprised.

I'm a chef.

I'd be surprised.

Wow.

Okay.

All right, so what did you have?

So I had I saw I looked it up on Yelp before I went, so I knew exactly what I was getting.

You got a lot I did.

I did get a lot.

Let's sound.

It off and let's talk.

About the first thing I went I knew I was getting was the pancakes that had the bacon, the scallions and the cheese.

Piggy.

Piggy pancakes.

Yeah.

So where did the.

Bacon and scallions go?

Into the pancake.

How did that work?

Just kind of in the pancake.

Okay.

I used to get a bacon and sausage pancake back in college, and I went to school in Boulder, but.

So I was kind of expecting that, and I'd never seen it down here.

So I need to need to try it.

And they just took it to another level with the scallions and the cheese.

And it was just it was just so good.

Like the cheese got like crispy on the bottom.

And it was just so amazing.

It was a really melt in your mouth, really burst of flavor.

We also got the which I was kind of surprised that ended up being my favorite thing was the fried grits.

I've never even heard of that.

I didn't know how you could fry some grits.

And it came with this green sauce that I just.

Yeah.

Thanks, Nancy.

I had the French toast.

Yeah.

And it was excellent.

Oh, my God, it was just cooked perfectly.

Maple syrup.

Maple syrup.

And pat a little pat of sugar.

And it was just perfect.

That's wonderful.

Coffee drinks, juices, coffee.

And it was perfect.

Okay.

How was service, Nancy?

Excellent, excellent.

They had already asked us what we wanted to drink as we were being seated and showed up with it instantly, and like I said, it was interchangeable.

So there was always somebody to meet your needs.

That's great.

Prices.

Is there value to the meal?

Yeah, it was, I'd say good value.

Excellent value.

Um, really couldn't be better.

Definitely wasn't expensive.

That's great.

I can't wait to go back.

Really can't.

Yeah.

I really enjoyed it.

Yeah, I.

Was very impressed.

Well thank you.

Henry.

You're very welcome.

Yes.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Henry.

The Country Inn was your pick.

Go ahead and sum it up for us.

I think it's just really good southern, old fashioned southern cooking at its best, Matthew.

Just really homey, inviting home cook, country food.

Nice.

Nancy.

Just a very pleasant place where you felt like home.

That's lovely.

Mhm.

For delicious and good old fashioned dining experience, you can check in to Country Inn Restaurant.

It's located at 4480 South Military Trail in Lake Worth.

They're open daily for breakfast and lunch.

Reservations are not accepted where the average price of lunch without drinks is about $30.

We've had a wonderful time.

I want to thank my guests Matthew Kaplan, Henry Bucholtz, and Nancy Perfetti.

For more about the restaurants and recipes featured in the show, or if you'd like to apply to be a guest reviewer, visit us at check, please.

Com as always, you can find us on Facebook and Instagram.

Join us next time for three new guests recommending three of their favorite restaurants right here on check Please South Florida.

I'm Michelle Bernstein.

Thank you everybody, and I will see you then.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Police.

Cultural culinary secrets and global flavors.

We have a passion for blending ingredients and seasonings from around the world.