The Chadds Ford Tavern and Restaurant In Pennsylvania: Restaurant Review

Built in the 1830's, the Chadds Ford Tavern and Restaurant is located in an area rich with American history. The tavern sits adjacent to the Brandywine Battlefield in the historic town of Chadds Ford. Known for serving great food and offering excellent value, the restaurant is a long time favorite of local residents, artisits and area businessmen.

Owner Tom Drane and his family have run the restaurant for the past four decades. The decor and ambiance is exactly what you'd expect from an early American tavern. In late fall and winter, the fireplace becomes the focal point of the bar area-- unless, of course, there's a game on the big screen television.

The main dining area is warm and inviting. The walls are lined with the artwork of some of the area's most talented artists. The soft glow of Tiffany lighting and hurricane lamps on hand-crafted tables and booths invite patrons to relax, linger and enjoy their meals. A small back room is also available for those times when the restaurant is busy and for private parties.

As with the main menu, the tavern's appetizers lean heavily towards seafood. If you're a fan of Shrimp LeJon, this one is certainly worth considering. Plump shrimp are filled with fresh horseradish, wrapped in bacon and served with a flavor-packed horseradish sauce. The stuffed mushroom appetizer is made with fresh, locally grown, Kennett Square mushrooms. The caps are piled high with a rich, homemade crab imperial, lightly browned and served with drawn butter. The Crab Dip, a personal favorite, combines crabmeat and artichokes to yield a creamy, oven-baked dip that's served with toasted Italian bread.

As the owner makes frequent trips to Lancaster County to procure the freshest cuts of quality meats, patrons of the Chadds Ford Tavern can expect to find superior veal and beef dishes. The Veal Chadds Ford consists of tender veal medallions topped with hollandaise sauce. The dish is accompanied by the same artichokes and crab imperial blend found in the crab dip appetizer. Another well executed dish, the Veal Champignon, consists of veal sauteed with Kennett mushrooms and lump crab meat in a perfectly balanced, wine-laced cream sauce.

If a hearty beef dish is more your style, Chadds Ford Tavern offers several excellent choices. Their filet mignon is a whopping 10 ounce cut that is cooked to your specifications and served topped with a grilled mushroom cap. The tavern's Steak Diane is a well executed blend of tenderloin, sauteed shallots and mushrooms in a sauce flavored by the addition of brandy and grey poupon. Steak lovers cannot go wrong with the New York Strip Steak. Each nearly 16-ounce cut is well-seasoned, grilled to order and served with a flavorful port wine demi glaze reduction.

The tavern's unique, Pasta Labella combines chicken with jumbo lump crabmeat, spinach, garlic and roasted red peppers. With a splash of white wine, the savory blend is served atop a generous bed of black pepper linguini. Another well done poultry dish is the Chicken Brandywine, made with tender, sauteed chicken breast, asparagus and sun dried tomatoes in a flavorful white wine sauce.

There is no shortage of seafood items on the menu at Chadds Ford Tavern. The Shrimp Scampi sees the usual suspects-- shrimp, garlic, herbs and butter sauteed together with white wine and served over your choice of peppered linguine or rice. There's also Norwegian Salmon and a variety of broiled fish, blackened fish and filets stuffed with crab imperial.

Nonetheless, the star attraction for most seafood lovers is the crab cakes. Fresh backfin crabmeat is lightly seasoned and formed into a pair of thick and meaty crab cakes. The twins are then broiled to a perfect golden brown. Chadds Ford Tavern's crab cakes rival even the best offerings from any Chesapeake Bay seaside restaurant.

All dinner entrees include your choice of soup du jour or salad. While the house salad is decent, when chowder is on the menu, the choice is an easy one. As the tavern is well known for producing a variety of excellent soups, do not miss out on giving them a try.

The tavern's dessert menu includes homemade favorites like chocolate mousse pie, peanut butter pie and a noteworthy lemon torte. Chocolate lovers can't go wrong with the decadent chocolate mousse cake. Rich and moist, it is the perfect complement to coffee and conversation at the end of your meal.

Chadds Ford Tavern and Restaurant is located on Route 1 at 1400 Baltimore Pike in Chadds Ford, PA. For dinner reservations, call 610-459-8453. A link to the Chadds Ford Tavern's website is provided in the resources section accompanying this review.