One of the great joys in life are long summer evenings in New England when the humidity is low and there is a slight breeze to chase any bugs away. Those are the nights when the summer roadside stands offer up that beautiful of all treats, the New England fried clam roll. (And that would be the whole belly clam roll fresh from the nearby ocean. You eat strips you're just fooling yourself,)It is hard to get the fried clam roll right. It takes the perfect combination of clam, batter, oil, fryolater, split-sided buttered and toasted bun, tartar sauce, and wedge of lemon to achieve that magical bite of crunchy, briny, chewy goodness. Sitting at the picnic table, hot from the fryolater, on a summer eve described above, you are halfway to heaven.
Not everybody can do it. Most in fact don't and can only deliver a sodden mess of greasy dough clinging to something akin to a rubber band. When you find one that can deliver it consistently, you make pilgrimages.
We do have several summer roadside places that serve up great fried clam rolls nearby. Hanks in Plainfield, Harry's Place in Colchester, and Deary's Stand in Putnam. Tonight collecting the bikes from the bike shop, it was Harry's turn to step up on the ride home and they did not disappoint. It was a farewell to summertime food in New England as we are T-minus 2 days.
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