OT - Best Fried Seafood in CT

[jleves]

You guys are KILLING me! No lobster rolls in SoCal! I found a couple of places that serve whole bellies out here but they are not very good and obviously can't be very fresh. When I return for visits to CT it becomes all about real pizza, whole bellies and real Italian pastries. I must be due for a visit, I'm sitting here drooling!!!

And for pastries as well as quality tomatoes for sauce and Italian pasta, have you found Claros? They also have the best Italian deli in socal. They have several locations. Just google Claros deli.

 

[zls44]

Johnny Ad's is the only and correct answer.

http://johnnyads.com/menu/

 

[Shabizness]

All this talk about Jimmies, yet no ones brought up Turk's across the street. The food is head and shoulders above the other Savin Rock seafood restaurants.

 

[joober jones]

Johnny Ad's is the only and correct answer.

http://johnnyads.com/menu/

I had a really weird nightmare about that place once.

 

[SoCalCanine]

Eh, my parents spend half the year on the cape. For me, a lobster roll from Connie and Ted's is as good or better than any you can find in New England. Matter of taste I guess.

I have to check this place out, heard of it. Lobster is different from clams since it can be easily shipped alive. I still usually wait for a trip back east to indulge. But this thread is making me very, very hungry. If Santa Monica wasn't over an hour away from me, I'd be on my way! But soon...

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I made a similar complaint in the burger thread a few years ago and @BigErnMcCracken turned me on to Connie and Teds. The first time I went I got the Rhode Island clam chowder and whole belly fried clams and it was like being transported back to Sailor Eds in Mystic when I was a kid. I haven't been to Blue Point, but I can only tell you Connie and Teds is excellent. It sucks we have to pay $24 for whole belly clams that would cost about 10 or 12 in Connecticut, but at least you get the real deal.

That's great to hear, I'm glad you made it. The owner's a Rhode Island guy.

 

[SoCalCanine]

And for pastries as well as quality tomatoes for sauce and Italian pasta, have you found Claros? They also have the best Italian deli in socal. They have several locations. Just google Claros deli.

Amazing the stuff you can learn on the Boneyard! All their locations are a couple of hours away, but I will figure out an excuse to head that way. I'm tough to please with the Italian pastries, I used to live around the corner from Mozzicato's!

 

[methodology]

I love seafood (along with every other food known to man) but I have a major problem with lobster rolls. I guess I just have a problem paying $25 dollars for something that comes on a hotdog roll and doesn't even come close to filling me up.

Lobster landing $15/16 forget the price but it's one of those numbers

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

My favorite order of clams last summer came from Sea Swirl in Mystic.

Also enjoyed food from Supreme Seafood in North Branford and Westland in Westport, to add another 2 names to the list.

 

[methodology]

Supreme seafood is somewhat of a hidden gem. Most people don't even realize it's there and even if they do they aren't stopping to get seafood in that strip mall

 

[SoCalCanine]

I got the Rhode Island clam chowder

I am a retired chef here in SoCal. The only way I get Rhode Island chowder is to make it myself! And steamers? I need to check this out. We venture to the big city pretty often to hear music, this will be a regular stop soon if it's that good!

 

[Kitaman]

Westland in Westport is a keeper, forgot about them.

 

[superjohn]

Surprised I haven't seen Abbott's Lobster in the Rough in Noank mentioned, went last summer while visiting CT., looked like they did a crazy business.

 

[SoCalCanine]

We are paying 20 plus for whole bellies here too right now

I just looked at their menu on line. $29 whole bellies w/fries. $26 lobster roll w/fries. $24 steamers in broth. But they have them!!!

 

[zls44]

Anyone know if they will ever rebuild the Dock & Dine in Old Saybrook? There are places with better food but that was a sublime place to sit and enjoy dinner.

I dunno, that site got so badly decimated by Sandy its hard to imagine. That area is still not 100% back, but its close. Minigolf place was back last summer.

Tinkers /j's crabshack in Hartford

Had very hit and VERY miss experiences there.

 

[8893]

Lobster landing $15/16 forget the price but it's one of those numbers

$16.

 

[Horatio]

All this talk about Jimmies, yet no ones brought up Turk's across the street. The food is head and shoulders above the other Savin Rock seafood restaurants.

Yes, I go to Turks when the line is too long at Jimmies. Good food.

 

[Kitaman]

@temery

How long are these food/vacation threads archived? There are so many good suggestions/recommendations that I want to try especially here in CT. I've actually benefited from these threads by taking my wife (not necessarily the meal but the after-meal).

Some Yarders actually know their food better than basketball.

 

[8893]

Some Yarders actually know their food better than basketball.

Hand raised.

 

[8893]

Eh, my parents spend half the year on the cape. For me, a lobster roll from Connie and Ted's is as good or better than any you can find in New England. Matter of taste I guess.

Are they flying the lobsters in from the East Coast, too? If so, that makes sense. If not, I can't imagine anyone who was ever a fan of New England lobster finding a Pacific lobster remotely comparable, much less better.

Definitely a matter of taste.

I also have theory about salt/salinity. I think people develop a preference for the taste/smell of the salt in the air and water that is local/regional to them. Eating raw oysters drives this home for me. I have a very strong preference for oysters from the Northeast, especially the Maritimes, but also Maine, Rhode Island, MA and CT (I'm also a the-colder-the-water-the-better-the-oyster guy). As I've tried to figure out why I don't like raw West Coast oysters or Gulf Coast oysters nearly as much, I've deduced that a lot of it has to do with the salinity. Then I thought about things like the salt-sea air. When I smell the salt in the air around New England--even the strong low-tide, swampy smell--it's refreshing to me. When I smell it in, say, New Orleans, it smells off, swampy and kind of stale to me. Not refreshing at all. But in talking with locals down there, they have the opposite reaction.

 

[Deepster]

I also have theory about salt/salinity. I think people develop a preference for the taste/smell of the salt in the air and water that is local/regional to them. Eating raw oysters drives this home for me. I have a very strong preference for oysters from the Northeast, especially the Maritimes, but also Maine, Rhode Island, MA and CT (I'm also a the-colder-the-water-the-better-the-oyster guy). As I've tried to figure out why I don't like raw West Coast oysters or Gulf Coast oysters nearly as much, I've deduced that a lot of it has to do with the salinity. Then I thought about things like the salt-sea air. When I smell the salt in the air around New England--even the strong low-tide, swampy smell--it's refreshing to me. When I smell it in, say, New Orleans, it smells off, swampy and kind of stale to me. Not refreshing at all. But in talking with locals down there, they have the opposite reaction.

Interesting thought. Not sure I fit the bill, but I'm open to the point. I was saying this summer, I've been lucky enough to have oysters (I love 'em) from Wellfleet, MA, Chesapeake Bay, MD, New Orleans, LA and the Puget Sound in Seattle, WA. Almost the "4 corners" of the US oyster world. The Puget Sound oysters were the best I've ever had. Very clean tasting, not at all like low tide. I'd put Wellfleet 2nd, then Chesapeake Bay and last, New Orleans. I did think they were really swampy. Didn't stop me from eating almost 2 dozen....but you get my point.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Surprised I haven't seen Abbott's Lobster in the Rough in Noank mentioned, went last summer while visiting CT., looked like they did a crazy business.

They do but the better fried stuff is next door in the marina at Costello's

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Skippers Seafood Restaurant • 167 Main Street Niantic, CT

Really Good!!!

Open all year too!

 

[Kitaman]

Over the years (i.e. decades) has it seemed that Legal Seafood Resturant quality has declined?

Many years ago they set the standard for seafood but now its no longer a top draw.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Consistently, the best is Matunuck Oyster Bar in Rhody. The quality is still good in-spite of it becoming very high volume.
http://www.rhodyoysters.com/ Have their own beds right there. My favorite calamari.