Summer Food

When the Craving Bites

We all get an urge for a certain food or dish combination. When the craving strikes you often try to ignore it but sometimes the craving just will not go away. When this happens there is little else to do but give in.

In Search of Great Fried Clams

by
Ray Mongeau

Now that summer’s finally arrived, I find myself with an insatiable craving for fried clams. You know, it’s the kind of craving that refuses to go away. It’s like having bill collectors’ calling- haunting you for payment on over due bills. It eats at you and no matter how hard you try to ignore it the nagging compulsion keeps gnawing away at you until you finally give in.  I have to have some fried clams.
I tried several of the local restaurants last year and I am not impressed.  In fact, come to think of it, I haven’t had truly good seafood since I left the Rhode Island –Connecticut seacoast. That’s not to say there isn’t any good seafood in New Hampshire or Maine. I just don’t get out to the coast that much.  The problem with a lot of inshore restaurants and dinners is the seafood has been frozen. Frozen seafood just does not have the same fresh taste as seafood caught the same day or the day before. I suppose I could drive out to the coast and chance a restaurant or roadside stand. But, with the price of gas and all the bills I need to catch up on I would like to find a place closer to my home in Chichester.

It’s been two years since I moved to Chichester, and I haven’t had time to meet many of the residents. When I need a break, I usually run down to the Epsom Circle and stop in at the Evans Express Mart for a coffee. At the express mart during certain times of the day a gathering of individuals congregate to chat and socialize. I have befriended a few of them; so, I put forth the question, “Where can I get good fried clams?” For quality and price four out of five say that Johnson’s on Route 4 in Northwood is the best around.

I have past Johnson’s hundreds of times on my way to and back from school. I stopped once; brought an ice cream cone, but never stopped to order any clams or seafood. I always wanted eat there but I couldn't afford to eat out anywhere; the cost of going back to college forbid it. With the rising cost of living I considered myself lucky to enough to have money for gas to get to classes. Now that I have graduated, and I can work a bit, I am ready to splurge a little. So, this weekend I plan to head on out to Johnson’s. I hope the recommendations were right and I am not going to be disappointed.

Today I drove to Johnson’s Seafood and Steak on route 4. On arrival I saw that the parking lot looked almost full. I was worried I would have a long wait for a table; however, I was surprised when I entered the restaurant - it was only half full. The wait staff’s service was impressive. I was escorted to a seat, had my order for fried clams taken, and it was all done within a few minutes.

While the service was good I was a bit disappointed with the clams. When I order fried whole belly clams I expect to get clams with large juicy bellies. The clams I got were little more than clam strips. The bellies were small and with many of the pieces the bellies were dry. I will give them credit for the tasty fried coating that was crunchy and not dripping with grease as you see in many clam bars and restaurants. There were two other faults I found. One was an insufficient amount of tarter sauce supplied with the meal, but this is common with many restaurants. The other was I did not see any hours of operation or posting for the hours the restaurant is open. It may seem to many that not finding the business’s hours is menial but today’s busy schedules require planning, and if I like a restaurant it is convenient to know their hours. There is little more in disappointment than having a craving for a certain cuisine at a restaurant and when you arrive finding them closed.

With the meal I had a choice of baked potato or French fries. I chose the fries. While not being the best I have tasted, they were decent. They are thin sliced and crisp with white steaming hot potato inside. I also had coleslaw with my meal and have to say that I was impressed. At least the coleslaw was first-rate. I would have to rate on a scale of 1 to 10 the overall at an 8.0 and the clams at a 5.0 to 6.0. I guess if you like small belly clams that you would give a higher rating, but this writer likes full-bellied clams that are large and juicy, with a crispy well-seasoned coating on the outside. While I am a bit disappointed with the clam dinner all the meals that people were eating around me looked enticing, and they definitely seemed to be enjoying their food. I know that I will go back to try some of their beef and other seafood dishes. Yes, I will go back and give them one more chance on the fried clams. I hate to be negative on one try, but the next time better be Good.