fried clams? do they exhist near chi- town?

Big fan of fried clams. I will even eat the strips once in a while. Do any of our little fried shrimp houses do home breaded clams, not the prebought strips?

The best fried clams that I have found in Chicago are at (believe it or not) L.Woods, the LEYE faux Wisconsin Supper Club on Lincoln Avenue in Lincolnwood across the street from Lincolnwood produce. They have been listed as an appetiser on the specials menu for the last year or so. The in-house breading is outstanding and they serve up a big pile of them. The only downside is that they are a bit overpriced (approx $8.00), as you might expect from such a restaurant. L.Woods is one of my go to places when I have non adventurous friends or parents to entertain, but since they put the clams on the menu, I don't protest going there as much as I used to (although the food is pretty good for what it is). The clams are the strip type (no bellies). Most of the shrimp houses in town use pre-frozen/pre-fab clam strips even if they bread the shrimps in-house.

L.Woods Tap & Pine Lodge
7110 N. Lincoln Ave
Lincolnwood, IL
847-677-3350

I have to second the L. Woods rec. Just had them on Sunday and honestly, they were better than the clams we ate on Long Island last summer. They were served with both a cocktail sauce and a horseradish sauce but tartar came when we asked for it.

Lawrence's Seafood on S Canal (around 22nd) has them. I'm not fond of the breading but a lot of my friends love their food.

I'm 95% certain lawrence's are mass-produced pre-breaded/frozen/etc.

But they might be worth a shot anyway.

Joe's Goose Island Shrimp Shack on Division slightly west of Halsted (near North Branch) has them too - and I'm also 95% certain that they come frozen and pre-breaded in a bag.

DiCola's Seafood down in Beverly has them, but not sure if they're pre-breaded. They are tasty, though....

DiCola's Seafood
10754 S. Western Ave.
773-238-7071

miss ellen

I think most of the fried-fish places have them.

We had some nice clam strips from Goose Island Shrimp House on a recent midnight. Don't know if they make them or buy them frozen, but they were tender and lightly breaded with the same coating that comes on the shrimp. The jumbo shrimp were wonderful: eight-to-the-pound, meaty, tail-on specimens 4 inches long and an inch in diameter, served with a choice of hot or mild sauce.

Goose Island Shrimp House
312/642-3640
1013 W. Division St
Chicago, IL 60622
11 a.m.-4 a.m.Tu-Th; 10 a.m.-5 a.m. F; 11 a.m.-5 a.m. Sa
No seating

I rarely eat fried clams (more of a fried oyster guy myself) but I'm guessing that any place that has clams and a fryer will oblige.

Three north side haunts come to mind: Davis St. Fishmarket, Hagen's and (my childhood favorite) The Fish Keg. Davis always has clams, the other two I'd call first.

If you go to Davis St., don't forget the tater tots!

Davis Street Fishmarket (Get your own tots! Gosh!)
501 Davis Street
Evanston, IL. 60201
847-869-3474

Hagen's Fish Market
5635 W. Montrose
773-283-1944
http://www.hagensfishmarket.com

The Fish Keg
2233 W. Howard St.
773-262-6603

Best,
Michael

eatchicago wrote:Three north side haunts come to mind: Davis St. Fishmarket, Hagen's and (my childhood favorite) The Fish Keg. Davis always has clams, the other two I'd call first.

If you go to Davis St., don't forget the tater tots!

I can't speak for Davis Street, but both Hagen's and the Fish Keg use the pre-fab frozen variety, as does every other shrimp shack that has been mentioned in this thread. That doesn't make them bad (they don't bother me at all), but the OP was asking for freshly breaded ones.

I've had great fried clams (bellys) at davis street, they were on special and not always available

depending on how much you want to look into it, you could call them and see when they might have them again

stevez wrote:

eatchicago wrote:Three north side haunts come to mind: Davis St. Fishmarket, Hagen's and (my childhood favorite) The Fish Keg. Davis always has clams, the other two I'd call first.

If you go to Davis St., don't forget the tater tots!

I can't speak for Davis Street, but both Hagen's and the Fish Keg use the pre-fab frozen variety, as does every other shrimp shack that has been mentioned in this thread. That doesn't make them bad (they don't bother me at all), but the OP was asking for freshly breaded ones.

I've definitely had fresh raw clams on the half shell multiple times at Davis St. and seen fresh ones at least once at the Fish Keg and at Hagen's. Never had them breaded and fried at any of these places, but as I said, if they've got a fryer and clams...

Glory, the former restaurant on Damen, had glorious fried clams, plump bellies et al that could not have been of the frozen variety. Does anyone know if the chef/owner is still around, maybe another venue, because she had the perfect touch?

MLS wrote:Glory, the former restaurant on Damen, had glorious fried clams, plump bellies et al that could not have been of the frozen variety. Does anyone know if the chef/owner is still around, maybe another venue, because she had the perfect touch?

Those were supurb. R.I.P.

Each time I see this heading, my mind wanders to a snippet of dialogue in one of the best Simpsons episodes ever. Principal Skinner has invited Superintendent Chalmers over for dinner and hilarity ensues. I include the exchange here in an effort to dislodge the association from my brain so I can get on with my life. This reply adds nothing to what had been an informative thread, and its inclusion here may even detract from its overall value. All of LTH may be dumber for having read it, and may God have mercy on my soul.

Skinner: I hope you're ready for mouth watering hamburgers!
Chalmers: I thought we were having steamed clams?
Skinner: Oh no, I said steamed hams. That's what I call hamburgers.
Chalmers: You call hamburgers "steamed hams"?
Skinner: Yes. It's a regional dialogue.
Chalmers: Uh.. what region?
Skinner: Uuuh. Upstate New York.
Chalmers: Really? Well I'm from Utica and I've never heard anyone use the phrase "steamed hams".
Skinner: Oh not in Utica, no, it's an Albany expression.
Chalmers: Uh I see. You know these hamburgers are quite similar to the ones they have at Krusty Burgers.
Skinner: Hohohoho. No. Patented Skinner Burgers. Old family recipie.
Chalmers: For.. steamed hams.
Skinner: Yes
Chalmers: Yes, and you call them steamed hams despite the fact they are obviously grilled."

Next up, monologues from Homer's Castanedian trip following the ingestion of a Guatemalan Insanity Pepper at the Springfield Chili Cook-off. Really, just kidding.

CoolerbytheLake wrote:Skinner: I hope you're ready for mouth watering hamburgers!
Chalmers: I thought we were having steamed clams?
Skinner: Oh no, I said steamed hams. That's what I call hamburgers.
Chalmers: You call hamburgers "steamed hams"?
Skinner: Yes. It's a regional dialogue.
Chalmers: Uh.. what region?
Skinner: Uuuh. Upstate New York.
Chalmers: Really? Well I'm from Utica and I've never heard anyone use the phrase "steamed hams".
Skinner: Oh not in Utica, no, it's an Albany expression.
Chalmers: Uh I see. You know these hamburgers are quite similar to the ones they have at Krusty Burgers.
Skinner: Hohohoho. No. Patented Skinner Burgers. Old family recipie.
Chalmers: For.. steamed hams.
Skinner: Yes
Chalmers: Yes, and you call them steamed hams despite the fact they are obviously grilled."

Speaking of steamed hams:
http://www.hamburgeramerica.com/TedsSteamed.gif
http://www.hamburgeramerica.com

Just contributing to this thread veering completely off-topic...anybody want to add anything about candied yams?

hey...don't forget http://www.whitecastle.com

I bring in fresh strips from surf clams(Stimson Surf Clam) from Gloucester which are great.I use them for our chowder.
The real deal for frying are steamers or "piss" clams ( as they will squirt when you stamp down from air holes at low tide to reveal where they are).
These , I bring in on special order for customers and are usually not a problem as my lobster man in Maine always has them in season and we bring in 3-4 shipments a week. The shucked ones for frying are lesser known to my chefs ,so on top of being expensive, I get few requests.
I would be happy to bring some in and have my chefs fry them up for all comers on Fridays when we do fried shrimp.But would need some feedback.
Bill @fishguy.com

Fishguy,

Any updates on red tide? When on Friday would you fry the clams, I'm a sucker for them. I made my husband stop on our honeymoon at HoJos so I could get a clam roll

Fishguy,

give me some dates, I'll be there for an early lunch.

I am going to have some fresh shucked steamers in on Friday a.m. for a regular customer who wants to fry some up at home. It will be 25.00 per pint.
We can fry up an order for those of you that would like this friday for 14.95 per order and it will come with some house slaw and either tartar or cocktail sauce.

I have been having a craving for fried whole belly clams the past week... I have only found clam strips when I have looked in the past. Does anyone know where I might find some here in Chicago?

This article from July by Chris Borrelli is about the search for shole belly fried Clams: Grand clams: We go digging around Chicago for 'the real thing'.

When you find what you adore, please report back.

Regards,

Keep digging because you won't find it.
Simply put, whole belly clams don't travel well.
Browne Trading won't ship steamers because of this and 'strips' are just not acceptable if you have eaten the real thing outside a 'Shack'.
Best to find a source for fried fresh lake perch and celebrate what we have and they don't have!-Dick

To save a few folks from following the link, Fish Bar (2956 North Sheffield Avenue) prepares very passable fried clams. I say this as a transplanted Bostonian, raised on the Clam Box in Ipswich and Bob's in Kittery, Maine. I hear that the newly opened New England Seafood Company Fish Market (3341 N. Lincoln Ave.) also has them on the menu, but I have not verified this personally.

Other than this, Chicago has been a clam desert since Glory closed many, many years ago.

I made my way to Fish Bar today for clams.... They come in 1/4 lb serving so a buddy of mine and I ordered two. They satisfied my craving just fine. Smallish whole belly clams battered, fried, and served with tartar sauce. Also ordered a crab patty sandwich and a fried cod sandwich. The crab cake was mediocre but the cod sandwich was quite good. Clams were the hit, however.

Anyway - thanks for the suggestions! I may try the New England Seafood Co as well.


(sorry for any grammar or spelling issues ... Not used to typing on iPad)

We took a groupon to Chinn's 34th Street Fishery in Lisle recently. I was generally underwhelmed. Oysters on the half shell fresh enough but not the briny wonders I was hoping for (and only Blue Points available). Haddock fine, but under-seasoned. But the fried clams were spectacular. Light, fresh, tender. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, they only come as part of a fried combo platter, which is how we had them. Nothing wrong with the rest of the stuff in the combo (shrimp, scallops, calamari, fish) but all clams--or clams and shrimp--would have been better.

Chinn's 34th Street Fishery
3011 W. Ogen, Lisle
630 637 1777.

Clams at New England Seafood Co are my go-to order--delicious, tender, well-fried. I will say that they may have changed their fry batter--I swear that the first few times I had them, the batter was more of a flour based light coating and you could still see the clam--while now they are more like fried oysters with a thicker batter. Still great--liked em both ways. Will try to remember to ask next time I'm in. If you have a preference, you might be able to request one way or the other since I'm pretty sure they're battered and fried to order.

I have never been able to get decent fried clams in the Midwest, not strips but belly clams from soft shells as available from any Clam Shack on the Eastern Seaboard.
Even the purveryors appear to be drying up, DiggersChoice is only wholesale.
Last month I called Browne Trading and discussed the problem. Browne Trading had been reluctant to ship soft shell clams in the past as they simple don't travel well.
This year they have a frozen variety with a minimum order of a gallon, comes in two flat plastic bags and one bag can feed a lot of people. I fried them myself, not difficult and they were very very good. We still have bag left. Everyone thought they were great.
The pricing was more than competitive and actually cheaper than a few on-line sources.
As to Chinn's, we never go there anymore, more often than not the seafood was not quality.
So that's about by only suggestion as I have struck out from any restaurant over the years and finally just got tired of being dissapointed. Many Chef's in the Midwest have either not been exposed to truly fresh seafood and/or cannot get fresh seafood at resonable prices.-Dick

FWIW, New England Seafood Co.'s fried clams are clam bellies, not clam strips. As a lifelong fried clam strip eater, they just didn't satisfy my craving.