Text 25150, 94 rader
Skriven 2009-06-20 14:19:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip w Sac 725
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A quite good night's sleep, courtesy of the air mattress, and
next morning Dave and I took the little car that could clear
across Massachusetts so we could do a dry run for the Clam Crawl.

As we were going to go right past his house, I gave Nicholas
a shout; he was free to join us at Farnham's but was not
inclined to visit the other places, of which he has a lower
opinion.

First stop, Clam Box. This is perhaps the second most famous
clam shack in existence, see below for #1. Thanks to the
Sterns, it may eventually displace its elder rival (and in
fact the food is generally better here). We ordered a mini
lunch, a sufficient amount of very nice but somewhat mild
clams with a sufficient amount of nice crisp but totally
bland onion rings. Sufficient means sufficient for two.

We dropped by Nicholas's and transferred our bums to his
Lexus, as there is no way one can fit a small person in
the back of the Smart, much less a Michael or a Nicholas.

As Nicholas was with us, there's no chance we would stop at
Woodman's, and anyhow we know what the clams are like there,
slightly greasy with not the greatest grease but otherwise
pretty decent, partially because of the fast turnover. We sped
past; the Clam Crawl will stop there, however, as the fried
clam was invented here, it is a historic place and a Holy Spot.

Farnham's, however, is his shrine and that of most of the
natives. Today the service was a tad slow, and we nursed a
couple beers and read an article about, of all things, clams
that our friend Beth had had published in a recent foodie
magazine. Here we had clams straight and a plate of cod cheeks
with rings and fries (the cod cheeks were not offered a la carte,
though I suppose we could have asked). The clams were good, but
more clamflatty and less fresh-tasting than those from the Clam
Box. The cheeks were tender and delicious, though both Dave and
I had pieces that didn't seem quite cheeky enough. The coating
was marginally better than at the Clam Box but not so tasty as
in the old days - I'm wondering if the places are starting to
go low-salt and low-flavor on us? Speaking of which, Nicholas
is now on a low-protein low-carb low-fat diet owing to numerous
intertwined health issues. He had a bowl of chowder, which he
jazzed up with hot sauce, a couple bites only of fried stuff,
and water to drink. How the mighty hath fallen.

I offered World Market 64% dark chocolate with chipotle, which
was deemed too mild by all and too sweet by Nicholas. The
pepper quality was mild and the smokiness fugitive. As this was
a universal disappointment, Nicholas took us to Turtle Alley
Chocolates in Gloucester for some chipotle dark chocolate bark,
which one has to admit was much superior. I got some satellite
candy (flying saucer-like rice cracker shapes with a few
citrus-flavored sprinkles inside - nasty), and Dave couldn't
resist the Chum Bucket, tiny artificial fish-flavored candies
in a tiny chum bucket. These were not nasty enough, having a
fugitive sort of seaweedish taste. An Archie McPhee product.

Cafe Sicilia has the best espresso on the North Shore, so that
was our next stop. The choices here are caffeine-filled coffee,
dairy-filled pastries, or gelati. I got half "amaretto" and
half hazelnut gelati. The proprietor, seeing that I was with
Nicholas, tried to do me a favor by giving me a giant serving.
The amaretto was not amaretto - I'm not sure what it was; the
hazelnut had an incredible nutty metallic intensity. The texture
of both was surprisingly thick and heavy. I used lots of pills.

Then off to the Fishermen's Memorial, then back to Nicholas's
for a pee and a chat, then off we went in the Smart.

As Nicholas has nothing but nasty things to say about the
place, and as we were pretty full, we passed on Essex Seafood,
which has a good reputation elsewhere.

Dropped my luggage off at the Salem place, then went in search
of Charlie's Seafood in Lynn, which is getting a reputation among
the cognoscenti (not historians, for whom Woodman's is the place,
nor the sheeple, for whom it's the Clam Box, nor for the North
Shore natives, many of whom never get to Boston or even this far
south, for whom it's Farnham's) for the best clams around. Not in
the best of neighborhoods, it's an unlikely candidate; the kitchen
crew was sitting around bored, despite it being dinnertime, and
took a while to get going, but when the clams came, they were
the best of the lot: tender, crisp, briny, everything a fried
clam should be. We've got to take the echo here, but not
maybe after dark.

To top off the day I took Dave to the Salem Beer Works, where
he had a "wicked strong" Imperial Pilsner and I two pints of
Black Bat Stout.

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