Alewife’s fried clam strips with Sichuan dry rub, scallion, cilantro and dried chiles (Photo courtesy Alewife)
1. Olde Salte Clams
$2.75 at Rappahannock
Imperial seafood towers are one option for whiling away a hot summer afternoon, especially when they’re brimming with bivalves. A simpler pleasure: piloting your fork to separate Olde Salt clams from their shells. Slurping the briny, clean juices, then savoring the flesh dipped in tangy mignonette calls up its Chincoteague origins of sand, sun and salt.
2. Clams With Minced Pork
$24.95 at Full Kee
This off-menu special is featured regularly in the late spring and early fall months, when quahog clams are easily harvested, but a cooler spring has resulted in a summer of plenty. Served in the shell, the quarter-sized lumps of sea meat drip with bird’s eye chiles, chunky onion and a rich brown sauce laden with crisp strips of stir-fried pork.
3. Clam Pasta
$25 at Edo’s Squid
Choices! Should you order a pungent, soupy bowl of pasta and littleneck clams served in the Italian stalwart’s healing garlic and white wine broth? Or opt for clams in red sauce, with marinara imposing a fruity sweetness and just a whisper of heat? Both are served with long noodles to twirl tender baby clams into a nest of comforting, al dente spaghetti.
4. Navajas al Natural
$20 at Adarra
Tinned razor clams remove the fickleness of an inconstant supply chain and guarantee a level of quality chef-owner Randall Doetzer is comfortable with serving. The recipe for this dish is simple. He says, “We buy very good razor clams, smoke very good butter and throw a bunch of leeks in the fire.” Order plenty of toast to sop up Neptune’s gravy.
5. Fried Clam Strips
$15 at Alewife
This Church Hill seafood den puts an Asian-inspired twist on an easy summer shack classic. Hunks of clams are stripped, breaded and fried before being tossed in a Sichuan dry rub made of fresh scallion, cilantro and fragrant dried chiles. The dish is a popular standby in the restaurant’s Siren Song, a smorgasbord of the sea that features an assortment of bites.
