Day 14 - Clams, Pilgrims and Pizza - and no more Anthony Bourdain

Woke up this morning to the sad, shocking news that Anthony Bourdain took his own life. It was - is - hard to process. His influence and inspiration has been a big part of my life for the last 18 years. Seems weirdly fitting that we are in New England, where he started his career as a cook. Today's clam feast is most certainly dedicated to him. Thank you, sir, and RIP.

We were headed from Boston to North Bergen, NJ. Our first stop was .....

It was as underwhelming this time as it was when I went in 1998. This time, though, they had a pretty knowledgeable docent talking about the history, debunking myths, putting things in perspective. But still...

That is it. Yep.

Hart & Nibbles wanted to go splash in Plymouth Bay...and came back with the cutest little crab ever!

We left Cape Cod, MA, heading for what we were calling Lunch One, in Rhode Island. All about the clam shacks.....

And Tommy's, in Warwick, did not disappoint. At the risk of sounding like Bubba from Forrest Gump, we got clams on the half shell, clam cakes, stuffed clams, white clam chowder, clear clam chowder....and a lobster roll.

White clam chowder was almost as good as the one in Boston, but here we got twice as much for half the price. Clam cakes were sadly very light on actual clams, but light and crispy, and Hart had no problem tossing all three back, minus one bite. Lobster roll was great.

Little neck clams on the half shell were perfect. Lovely, with just a bit of lemon...starts with ocean brine, ends with a sweet finish. Delicious. Another revelation was Rhode Island clear clam chowder, which is basically the same ingredients, but without cream or thickener. I loved it - reminded me of getting hot clam broth at the Old Clam House in SF, but with nice chunks of clam, bacon, potato, and celery. Yummy.

Had to try the "stuffie," of course, AKA a stuffed quahog clam. It was yummy, had more clam than the clam cakes, but much like stuffed/deviled crabs, the filler dilutes the star...not that into it, but glad we tried it.

Next stop, New Haven CT - Frank Pepe's coal-fired pizza, since 1925. Lunch Two.

We were honestly not that hungry, but Hart insisted we needed a medium - half white clam pie, half original tomato with mozzarella.

The white clam pie was great...the thin, crisp crust, judiciously topped with garlic, cheese, and plump, fresh clams.

The tomato/mozz pie was also good - really all about that crust. I will say that the ratio of sauce to cheese was kind of perfect - I hate an over-sauced pizza pie.

Took most of the pie with us, and drove the last leg to our AirBnB in North Bergen, New Jersey. 

Will update with Hart's input soon...