Chowder and BBQ

Quick note about something cool going on this weekend, there's a BBQ rib tasting/ street fair in East Cambridge that is going to include some of my favorite restaurants in town. East Coast Grill, Tupelo, Atwoods, and more will have food. And there's going to be live music as well. Stop by on Sunday and enjoy some food and fun. The ribs are the reason for the tasting, but apparently they will have other food too.

And now, for something completely different: A couple weeks ago, I went to a chowder cook off on Spectacle Island (scroll down a few entries, you'll see the details) but I've since realized I haven't talked about chowder, or where to get the good stuff. 

There are a few versions of chowder floating around out there in the universe: Manhattan, thick New England, and thin New England. Manhattan has tomatoes in it, and I don't think it should really be called chowder at all, since chowders are supposed to have a cream base. I don't know of any good Manhattan clam chowder in the Boston area, but then I haven't really gone looking (feel free to tell me in the comments if you know any). 

That leaves us with thick New England and thin New England. As far as I can tell, thin New England is the original, and I'm basing this on access to some seriously old cookbooks, none of which call for much of any thickener in their recipes for chowder.

I won't be telling you where to get the really gloppy stuff, it's so thick it should be called dip or something, and not eaten unless you're really ok with consuming that much flour inside your soup. But there are some that are moderately thick and quite good. The two big ones in Boston are Legal's (too many locations to name) which has won multitude of taste tests, and Summer Shack (Back Bay and Alewife) which has slightly less seasoning, but is still good. Another medium thick chowder that is worth trying is at Durgin Park (Quincy Market), I know that whole part of town can be overly tourist-y, but Durgin really is a pretty good restaurant, especially their oyster bar downstairs.

Thin is harder to find, especially the really traditional kind. For non-traditional, East Coast Grill is my favorite. It has sweet potatoes, chili, lots of clams, and is a great "bbq" interpretation. Woodman's in Essex, best known for their fried clams (which are the best in the world, I think) is a really solid standby for wonderful, thin, home style chowder. You do have to drive to get there, but it's a really nice drive on 133 and in the off season, it's pretty much only locals, so the long lines that can go down the block in the summer virtually disappear.