Traveling Feast

New England Trip #6

Seafood is clearly central to the regional identity of New England and lobster appears to be king.  Growing up in Montana we had Rocky Mountain Oysters readily available, but not a lot of fresh lobster.  Even in Seattle with its myriad of fresh fish and seafood options, lobster stayed far from center stage; appearing only occasionally on a menu and the often as part of a surf-n-turf paring listed at “market price.”

My budget usually means I don’t even both to ask what “market price” might be.

Truthfully, I’d never even heard of a lobster roll until I set foot in Connecticut, but it became evident immediately that any trip to New England that didn’t include a lobster roll was woefully incomplete.

A little reading informed me that much of New England serves up lobster rolls cold with the lobster tosses with a little mayo: a lobster salad sandwich if you will.  Yet Connecticut prides itself on its hot lobster rolls that are nothing but lobster drenched in melted butter on a bun.  No mayo, no diced celery for crunch, no nothing but lobster, butter, and bread.

The more I read the more I realized that the best lobster rolls probably were not to be found in sit-down, white-linen, big-check establishments.  Instead I realized the best would probably be found at some small seafood shack near the shore where you ordered at a window and ate at a picnic table or at least on a plastic chair.

Zagat’s probably lists a high-end spot willing to put a lobster roll on the menu, but I turned instead to Yelp and Road Food to find the perfect spot for a stellar example of ye olde lobster roll.  Road Food came through for me with a promising hole-in-the-wall recommendation in Old Saybrook, CT.

Johnny Ad’s also serves up hot dogs that have taken home awards, but I refused to be distracted from my objective: a great HOT lobster roll ($15.50).  A clear birch beer was a bonus.

The purist clam pizza might be a learned craving.  The hot lobster roll?  Not so much.  It took all of a bite for me to decide this could easily become an obsession.

Johnny’s has been open since 1957 which suggests that a number of locals probably agree since you certainly don’t head to Johnny’s for ambiance.

New England Trip #5

On a side street in New Haven, Connecticut, Frank Pepe opened his Pizzeria Napoletana in 1925 to serve up classic “tomato pies.”  And with a coal-fired, brick oven that hit 2200 degrees, he started turning out pizzas quickly famous for their thin blistered crispy-chewy crusts.

Today Frank Pepe’s feels something like a stripped-down food shrine with utilitarian booths identified by number and the faded pictures hung on the walls above.

We ended up in booth 19 after making the pilgrimage to Frank Pepe’s in New Haven for one reason only: the clam pizza.  Frank’s clam pizza is widely rumored to be the best on the planet.

Of course it is not unusual for restaurants to claim they have the very best of something, but more often than not these claims go unsubstantiated.  Frank Pepe’s clam pie is in a different category.  A few pizza fundamentalists might argue that you can find a better clam pie somewhere else, but even they have to admit it is Frank’s Pizzeria Napoletana that set the standard and remains the pie to beat.

I love clams.  I love pizza.  And Frank’s progeny and staff aren’t stingy.  Even the smallest pizza on the menu is substantial and thick with clams.  We ordered ours without mozzarella at the advice of our brisk and business-like waitress.  She didn’t beat around the bush when asked if a quintessential pie came with cheese or without.  “Without,” she said definitively and didn’t bother to explain.

Thirteen minutes later… without cheese… but with the promised thin crispy-chewy blistered crust our pie arrived at the table.

I confess to disappointment.  My West Coast pizza sensibilities and taste buds are decidedly New World and apparently assume a pizza isn’t a pizza without tomato sauce and melted cheese.  Faced with possibly the country’s best clam pizza, I found myself ogling the massive sausage pizza at Table 18 across the aisle.  It sported the same brilliant crust but was slathered with sauce and topped with a thick sheen of melted mozzarella.

Bottom line?  I’ll return to Frank Pepe’s next time I’m in New Haven.  I bet I’ll even order another classic clam pie on the premise that it might well grow on me.  But I’ll also order one of Frank’s original tomato pies and get the version – authentic or not – that includes cheese.

New England Trip #2

The first time I set foot on Connecticut soil was late in the evening of May 22, 2009, and it didn’t register that night on the drive from the Hartford airport to the home of Michael and Amanda Hyman in Avon.  I didn’t consciously notice it the next day, a Saturday, or even Sunday.  But by Monday it hit me.

Virtually every corner in New England seems to have a Dunkin’ Donuts.  Coming from the Northwest that gave birth to Starbucks, I thought I knew what market domination looked like.  I was wrong.  Market domination… at least in the Northeast… comes in pink.

It is stunning.  They are omnipresent.  Every few feet it seems on any main street  is another sign.  And behind every second or third turn in the countryside you come across a gas station and another Dunkin’ Donuts.

I don’t yet have a clear fix exactly on what the draw is.  The donuts?  The coffee?  Something else?  People across New England rave about  the coffee and the sign has a picture of a steaming cup rather than a donut, but then there is the name.

Yet I am not sure either the coffee or the donuts full explain Dunkin’ market strength.  The coffee has nice flavor without a bitter edge, and the donuts beat plenty of greasy supermarket bakery types as well as clearly pounding the best of a competing regional chain called The Whole Donut.

There is still room for a mom-n-pop shops like Luke’s in the Farmington Valley to offer something high quality and unique, but it seems that it would be a huge challenge for any smaller chains or independent stores to take on the truly massive company.   The puzzle for me is why they haven’t appeared to change their stores from the  sterile, utilitarian, and often uncomfortable feel that seems designed to push people out the door rather than welcome them in.  This might have worked in the past, but I suspect the future belongs to places that make people want to linger.  But then it is quite possible their market research tells them something different that will remain viable.  It certainly appears to have worked thus far.

S+

New England Trip #1

From May 22 to May 31 the Feast was on the road flying to, meandering around, and returning from New England.  Amanda, Michael, and Anthony Hyman served as hosts and tour guides for my nine day trip that included days in southern Vermont, Boston, the Connecticut shore and western hills, as well as New York City.  Needless to say, food surfaced as a major focus for each day’s outing and I’m contemplating a series of posts that chronicle high points, great meals, and quirky moments of the trip.

To this end, let me begin by drawing you attention to a curious close-up of the fabric on the back of the seat in front of me on the first leg of the the plane trip: Spokane to Minneapolis.  I’m sure you’ve heard tales of the Virgin Mary’s image supposedly appearing on a grilled cheese sandwhich or Jesus himself apparently showing up on artifacts far less momentous and historic than the Shroud of Turin.  A few of these ‘relics’ have even gone up for bid on EBay.

This doesn’t look like Mary to me or Jesus, but I’ve digitally enhanced the photo to draw your attention to what looks to me like the side profile of a man in a chef’s hat.  Given my fixation on food and delight in so many who prepare and serve it, you will undoubtedly accuse of me an overactive imagination.  This is completely understandable.  It is also why I took the picture so you might judge for yourself.  Is it a fabric omen fortelling 9 days of oysters, clams, lobster, hot dogs, and frozen custard shakes or just Kevin needing reading material other than the Sky Mall catalog?