Eating Clams in Newport, RI and the North Fork of LI

On my list of things-to-do, one of the oldest items is to write a post about a trip that TPA and I took to the north fork of Long Island and Newport, Rhode Island in early November. While I had the best of intentions of writing it while the trip was still fresh, you know what they say about those kinds of intentions. With the holidays, crunch time in the business and my husband’s surgery, this item kept falling to the bottom of the list. Having finally gotten my head above water again, I figured I could get this done and finally cross it off. (A to-do list is only as good as its cross-offs).

Last year I joined the Women Chefs & Restaurateurs. Glad was I when I got the invitation to their annual meeting, which was held in Newport, Rhode Island. My parents live on Long Island, fairly close to McArthur Airport. So it was there that we made an exchange: our son, Thor, for their car. We then drove to Greenport, a small town on the north fork of Long Island to stay at a lovely B&B, Bartlett House Inn. That evening, my parents had made reservations for us at the North Fork Table. The name may sound familiar to those who follow the New York restaurant scene. I forget who the chef is, but the pastry chef is one of my personal heroes, Claudia Fleming, formerly of Gramercy Tavern. The restaurant sources locally from the farms and vineyards surrounding it. The meal was really lovely – I had the Block Island fluke crudo with Hawaiian sea salt and grapefruit – fresh and fantastic. Mike had the Hudson Valley Foie Gras terrine. Also wonderful and especially unctuous. I ordered the monkfish as an entrée and Mike a lobster pasta dish. The flavors were really deeply layered and vibrant. The only small disappointment came with dessert, though not its execution, but instead the menu. The only locally sourced dessert was the apple tart, which I then ordered. Unbelievably rich, yet light as a feather puff pastry topped with perfectly cooked caramelized apples. Mike had some sort of chocolate dessert as he is apt to do. As a mignardise, we were given the tiny spice dougnuts, which are featured in Fleming’s wonderful book, The Last Course.

Next day, we drove out to the very deserted Montauk point to see the lighthouse and had lunch at a hole in a wall with fantastic fried bay scallops and clam chowder. We made our way back to the North Fork to visit the vineyards. Long Island wines, while better then when I lived there, are still no match for other winemaking regions. We did find some good sparkling wines from Lenz, a really great (but expensive) red from Wolffer and a very interesting blueberry port from Duck Walk. The most interesting and entertaining part of the day was when we were asked to appear on a television segment that they were filming on red wines and headaches. Somewhere in NY, they were watching my profile for a split second. That evening, we had dinner at the Frisky Oyster, http://www.thefriskyoyster.com/. Two chefs who were catering in Manhattan decided to make their way out to Greenport to open a very funky, little restaurant. While I don’t remember that much of the meal, I do know that I liked it, particularly their take on a caprese salad, which included a very tasty gougere. What I do remember was our dessert, which we did not partake of at the Frisky Oyster, but instead at my favorite Greenport establishment, Claudio’s. http://www.claudios.com/ Claudio’s is the “oldest, same family run restaurant in the United States.” I myself have been going there since I was 6 months old when my parents and I would sail there on our annual family cruise. Dessert was not chocolate, nor apple this evening, but clams – baked clams to be exact. I certainly could not have left Greenport without a batch of those.

The next morning we woke up to the first Nor’easter of 2007, not a welcome sight given that we were taking the ferry to Connecticut and then driving to Newport. We moved up our reservation, skipped the complementary breakfast and instead had the remaining freshly-made doughnuts from Wickham’s Fruit Farm on the ferry with a cup of coffee on the trip over. We made our way through the torrential rain and wind and arrived in Newport. Our first stop after being told that we had to check-in later was to Banister’s Wharf and the Black Pearl. http://www.blackpearlnewport.com/tavern.htm We started with the clams casino (I do love my clams) and then I had the grey sole and Mike the scallops. Both were very New England in their preparation, old-fashioned, yes, but also excellent. That evening, there were no official events for the conference, so we had dinner again on Bannister’s Wharf at Fluke Wine Bar. Having already had clams, scallops, and even fluke, we decided it was time for a good old lobster. We shared this and the paella – a good rendition, but not mind-blowing.

The conference theme was sustainability and the keynote speaker was Joan Dye Gussow. Her speech led into a panel discussion with the founder of Red Tomato in Boston, a company that markets products from family farms throughout New England, and Nora Pouillon. The discussion centered on local foods and why it’s important to support our family farms, which began a lively debate on bananas in the Dominican Republic and the living conditions of the farm workers. The woman who began the discussion worked for a frozen food company and she was really asking how far does the idea of “local” go. Odessa Piper, formerly of L’Etoile and a real pioneer of the local foods movement, stood up and said something extraordinary. She explained her position simply as “the distance your heart can travel” implying that it is as far as you continue to care about and seek to improve (whether by buying or not buying) the conditions of the people raising/producing/growing the product and the earth upon which it is raised. It was a personal eureka moment for me.

The next memorable event and meal was the gala dinner the next evening to which Mike accompanied me. We had a wonderful table: a Providence radio host, Ginny Lambrix, the very young director of winegrowing of De Loach and fellow Colgate alum, Lee Jones of the Chef’s Garden and Karen Waltuck of Manhattan’s Chanterelle. All of the meals were prepared by conference participants, so the food was not like that of other conferences. The evening was lovely, but there were two highlights. The first was the comic relief. During the cocktail hour, Mike was watching the Patriots’ game in the hotel bar. He met a bunch of guys who were guests at a wedding in the hotel. After halfway through the awards presentation, one of the guys pulls up a chair next to Mike. He introduces himself to the ladies around him and feigns interest in the speeches. A few minutes later, the restaurateur of the year award is given to Karen Waltuck. She walks to the stage at the front of the ballroom and our friend moves to the side of the room picks up a potted plant and carries it to the stage and presents it like one would give roses to the leading lady. He gets escorted out. While we all know about wedding crashers after the perfectly awful Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn movie, one does not often see conference crashers. The second highlight was much more inspirational and that was meeting Leah Chase of Dooky Chase who received the President’s award for a lifetime achievement. Suffice to say, she was definitely a presence and it was a moment I won’t soon forget.

Our final meal, the next day, was an oyster feast with oysterman shucking on site followed by a clambake made in the hotel’s pit overlooking the sunset. It was quite an evening.

The next day we returned to Long Island again traveling in the rain. Our last meal was at the Seafood Barge in Southhold. I shared oysters with Mike and then had a green salad – clearly the indication that it was time to go home. I had eaten so much seafood for the past 5 days that I felt like I should be taking someone’s temperature. I definitely exceeded my Mercury allotment for the month.

Great post! I'll be sure to look at this when I go to Long Island this spring or summer. I've been dying to get to Claudio's.

I used to go to the Black Pearl in Newport years ago, usually getting the excellent burgers there. They used to serve them in pita pockets, though I'm not sure they do that anymore.

We were actually in Newport for New Year's last week. We hit Sardella's, which I believe is the oldest Italian restaurant in Rhode Island. It was excellent, and the prices were pretty good. Loved the tortolloni there!

When you go to LI, make sure that you hit the north fork - it's far less populated and popular than the Hamptons, which in my opinion is a good thing. For as long as could remember when I was a kid, my parents and I took an annual trip on Labor Day out east to Orient Point (where you catch the ferry to CT), to pick beach plums. We would then travel back through the farmlands stopping at the various farm stands, including the wonderful Wickham's. I was really surprised to see that the area has not changed all that much since that time.

My wife and I try to visit Newport once a year. We love having the Black Pearls clam chowder while sitting out on the wharf with all the sea smells, it makes us very happy. Also had brunch at The Spiced Pear in The Chanler and it was excellent but pricey.
Our favorite dining, drinking and watching the world go by is at Castle Hill Inn and Resort. (bias alert) I proposed to my wife while having a fantastic dinner and then we decided to have our out-of-town wedding there as well. It is also pricey but we always have a great meal, impeccable service and a view to die for.

FWIW, Southwest has been offering $39-49 OW flights to Long Island's McArthur Airport in Islip.

I recently had a dinner while traveling in the Newport area that was a bargain so I thought I would bump this thread. (((If the moderators feel it belongs elsewhere, please relocate)))

My guests were an older couple I was visiting who have lived in East Greenwich for nearly 40 years and they wanted me to enjoy dinner overlooking Narragansett Bay. We went to the Wyndham Bay Voyage Inn restaurant and enjoyed a fine meal for a very reasonable price.

We were there on a Tuesday night and ordered from a special prix fixe menu that offered a salad and a main for two persons with a bottle of wine for $39 - a pretty good deal in the northeast IMHO. One could choose between a field greens salad with creamy champagne vinaigrette and a tomato, onion and cucumber salad. For mains, I remember a salmon option, a braised veal shank option (though they didn't call it osso bucco) and a chicken breast option. One could choose from several bottles of wine that were in the $6 - $10 range at retail. Freshly baked rolls were delivered still hot from the oven.

The food was very good, the service attentive and overall this was a good deal in dining with a great view of the Pell Bridge and Narragansett Bay.

Bay Voyage Inn
150 Conanicus Avenue
Jamestown, RI 02835
Phone: 401-423-2100

Does anyone have dinner recommendations on the North Fork other than what is contained in this thread? I will be in Montauk this weekend and am looking for a Friday night option.

Sorry I can't help you with dinner, but, if you want a late lunch, I couldn't recommend anyplace better than the Cutchogue Diner: an absolute classic diner, from the 20s, with great food in a great atmosphere.

Will you be visiting the wineries?

Geo

Cutchogue Diner
Main Rd
Cutchogue, NY 11935
(631) 734-9056‎

Ooops, I forgot: there's a small family of restos in Greenport, all run by Claudio. They're right on the pier, have oodles of charm, and the seafood is certainly up to snuff. Not fine dining, but very nice dining by the sea.

Geo

http://www.claudios.com/