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When I walk into a steak shop to get a cheesesteak, there's no better sight than a giant pile of thin-sliced meat on the grill with someone wielding two giant metal spatulas, pulling meat off of the pile and chopping it into bits for a cheesesteak.
That sight is exactly what greeted me on a recent trip to the Claymont Steak Shop, on Philadelphia Pike. The shop has been owned by the same family since 1969, so they've had plenty of time to perfect their version of the cheesesteak. They start with thin-sliced ribeye, which they slice in-store. Then they pile that on a nice, soft roll with your choice of American or Provolone cheese. (And onions, of course, but I don't want fried onions anywhere near my cheesesteak.)
And when I say pile it on, I'm not exaggerating. I got a small cheesesteak ($6.50, $11 for a jumbo), and didn't even make it a quarter of the way through it. A small is easily enough to feed two hungry people. The meat had good flavor, and the cheese was well-incorporated, not just slapped on the top. My only qualm is that Cheez Whiz wasn't an option.
There were no qualms whatsoever surrounding the buffalo chicken cheesesteak ($7 for a small, $11 for a jumbo). Another soft, warm roll came packed with chicken, hot sauce, blue cheese dressing and American cheese. If you're of the chicken cheesesteak school that likes the chopped up version (instead of the huge chunks of chicken), you'll be very happy. Again, the hot sauce and blue cheese were evenly distributed throughout the entire sandwich, which is extremely important. The hot sauce had a good bite, and the blue cheese wasn't overwhelming. I also tried this sandwich with ranch dressing, which is what I prefer with my hot wings, and it was equally as good.
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the french fries ($2.50) that we had with our cheesesteaks. They were thick steak fries, crispy and crunchy on the outside, with a soft inside that tasted like the inside of a baked potato. Their Claymont supreme fries ($5.95), an order of fries topped with melted cheddar and mozzarella cheeses, bacon and ranch dressing, sounded downright indulgent.
Along with the various incarnations of cheesesteaks on the menu, they have the usual suspects of cold and hot subs ($6.50-$12.50), along with burgers ($4), a chicken sandwich ($7-$11) and a hot sausage sandwich ($2.75).
But it's not all sandwiches at this steak shop. They also offer a large selection of pizzas and strombolis. The pizza isn't a thin-crust, New York style pizza, but rather a pan pizza with a substantial crust. On my mini cheese pizza ($3.75, $8 for a large), the crust managed to be thick without being heavy, with a crisp bite on the outside and a soft inside.
If you're not in the mood for pizza, try one of their strombolis, like a meatball stromboli ($9.50) or a traditional cheese ($6.50). One of my dining buddies has a weakness for feta, so we tried their spanikopita stromboli ($9.99). The pizza dough on the outside was crisp, and completely surrounded a filling of mozzarella, feta, spinach, olive oil and garlic. It tasted like a traditional spanikopita, but with pizza dough instead of the filo.
They didn't skimp on any of the ingredients in the stromboli, but were a little heavy-handed with the mozzarella, which almost overwhelmed the other ingredients. Next time I'd ask them to go a little easy on the mozzarella. That is, if I can convince myself not to order the buffalo chicken cheesesteak.
CLAYMONT STEAK SHOP
3526 Philadelphia Pike
Claymont
798-0013
Hours: 10 a.m.-11 p.m. M-Th
10 a.m.-midnight F & Sat
11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sun
Cuisine
Pizza and hoagies
Dress Code
Casual
Prices
steaks: $6.25-$12
sandwiches: $2.75-$12.50
pizzas: $3.75-$19
INSIDER TIPS
Call ahead
They get pretty busy here around lunchtime, so if you're taking your order to go, do yourself a favor and call the order in before you pick it up.
Or eat in
They have one of the more spacious, and nicer, dining rooms than any steak shop I've been in. This is one place that you can plan on eating in, instead of having to take your cheesesteak to go.
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