Wollaston

Who knew there was such a nice beach so close to Boston? Well, I'm sure lots of people know, but for me the charms of Wollaston Beach in Quincy were a fresh revelation. Boston doesn't always showcase its waterfront location as much as it could, but here were beautiful ocean views, a nice stretch of sand, and at least four seafood stands to choose between for your lobster, clam, and ice cream needs.

I took a stroll there today with a friend who lives south of "Boston proper," and is thus more familiar than I with the ins and outs over there. This shot shows how close we were to the city. The sun was really hot, especially considering that just a few nights ago it was cold enough to turn on our heater, and the water was as smooth as glass.

After a sweaty walk along the water, who's up for a hearty meal of fried seafood? I am, I am! We chose Tony's Clam Shop, a 40+-year-old family business.

Tony's ran like a well-oiled machine. Lobster-shaped beepers lit up and vibrated when our orders were ready.

In spite of these lobster totems, I did not order a lobster roll, although I was as tempted as I am anytime one is on the menu. They looked generous and yummy, too. However, today I was in the mood for the (slightly) more economical fried clam roll, which also turned out to be generous and yummy. And the fries were notably crunchy and crispy.


A grand day out by the sea, almost without leaving town.

Lobster Roll Diaries: PJ's Family Restaurant

If you are a restaurateur who wants to serve good seafood, the best place to start might be to name your restaurant PJ's. One of my favorite places to go out for oysters and fish in San Francisco was PJ's Oyster Bed, and one of the best places I've gone for lobster rolls on Cape Cod is PJ's Family Restaurant in Wellfleet. (I am also quite fond of the happy dancing foodstuffs pictured on the back of their official t-shirt, pictured above.)


Unlike a lot of other places, PJ's has both an indoor eat-in area as well as a sheltered picnic table patio outside by the take-out window. While its roadside ambiance doesn't boast any particular charms (I think Cobie's in Brewster is still the best place on the Cape in that category), the lobster roll itself is everything I look for in the genre: buttered and toasted hot dog bun, generous chunks of flavorful lobster, and just the right amount of mayonnaise. My friend and I also ordered a side of fried clams, which were very good, as well.


PJ's also offers ice cream and frappes, which are always nice to have available when one is gorging on fried and mayonnaised summer seafood, even if in reality you end up being too stuffed and ill-feeling when the meal is done to actually be able to contemplate dessert. I think the solution must be to order a frappe along with the meal, before that reality has a chance to sink in.

By the Sea, by the Sea

Like much of the country, we had a few days of melting heat earlier this week. To escape it, a friend and I took off for the day to Rockport, north of Boston ... though even the ocean breezes couldn't compete with the air-conditioned car most of the time.

The cooling blues and greens of these sailboats in the harbor helped chill us out though.


Off Halibut Point we watched a lobster boat pull traps out of the water. "How picturesque," we cooed, observing the heroic fishermen. "Wait, is that guy naked??" said my friend.



We stopped to admire a little crab in a tidepool (or possibly a pool of stagnating rain water - get out, Crabby, get out!), until the biting flies forced us to move along.


The promenade of Bearskin Neck is lined with little maritime art galleries, women's summerwear boutiques, and fudge fudge fudge. Also airbrushed t-shirts featuring Bart Simpson in various lewd poses.


Of course the main purpose of the trip was a visit to Rockport's celebrated Lobster Pool restaurant.


As we waited in line for our lobster rolls and fried clams (and, ultimately, two sodas apiece - it was a two-soda day), the teenager ahead of us turned to ask if we knew what a lobster roll was, exactly. Oh, kid, you are going to be sorry you asked us that. We could barely suppress our glee in describing our favorite bite of high-low Americana seafood goodness.

"Different places have different ways of doing it ..." my friend began, which should have warned him off immediately. "Here they tend to use very little mayonnaise ..."

I felt the need to interject, "It's pieces of lobster ... on a hot dog bun! It's just lobster salad, on a bun!" Get it? Get it? my chortling tone was meant to imply. Expensive, special-occasion lobster on a cheap hot dog roll! And it's the best combination ever! Isn't it awesome?

Another kind of teenager would have tuned out at "very little mayonnaise," but this one nodded appreciatively, trying to take in the nuances -- he truly wanted to understand the lobster roll.

And apparently we adequately reassured him that he should go ahead and get his roll, even if the finer points of our reply were inevitably -- at least until he could gather a bit more personal lobster roll experience -- for the present lost on him.

I meant to look over later to see whether he was enjoying it, but by that time I had a lobster roll of my own, and was lost to everything but savoring each morsel, scant touch of mayonnaise and all.

Clam Box

If you find yourself in the Boston area with a craving for fried seafood that cannot be suppressed, you might want to head an hour north to the Clam Box of Ipswich.

No, it's not a strip club, but you can get fried clam strips there.


Note the resemblance of the building to an actual cardboard carton, and the way the patrons queue up for their heap of breaded rubbery treats. Their appeal escaped me, too, at first, but at some point something changed.

This is also the place where I first learned about lobster rolls. For the uninitiated, this dish consists of a lobster-mayo salad, lovingly placed on a hotdog bun, perhaps garnished with a leaf of iceberg lettuce. Though they are consumed on picnic tables, usually among throngs of screeching children, their asking price starts at about 12 bucks apiece.

It's a lot of lobster, though.