Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [29]
The cheeseburger is a modest-size patty cooked through on a grill and sandwiched in a tender white bun. It is a likable lunch-counter burger, but what puts it in a class by itself is grilled onions. Look at the grill, next to the frying beef patties, and there you see a veritable mountain of onions cooked until soft and limp and nearly caramel sweet. Heaped atop the cheeseburger, they complete a simple but perfect study in burger excellence.
The hot dogs are good, too. Sizzled on the grill alongside the hamburgers, they are medium-size tube steaks that blossom under a mantle of mustard, relish, and raw onions (applied by the waitress, as you specify), and they are served in a bun that is soft on the inside, but buttered and toasted to a luxurious golden brown on the outside.
Seating inside is limited to a few counter stools, but there is plenty of standing room at a counter that runs around the back of the room, as well as at a broad metal table where the lunch crowd can gather and scarf down weenies by twos and threes.
When finished with this fine feast, walk over to the cash register at the far end of the counter, tell the man what you ate, and he charges you accordingly. It is truly fast food: you can be in and out, and well-fed, in less than five minutes.
Woodman’s of Essex
121 Main St.
978–768–6451
Essex, MA
LD | $$
Woodman’s claims to be the place where the fried clam was invented—on July 3, 1916, when Lawrence Woodman tossed clams into the deep fryer along with the Saratoga chips he was selling at his clam bar. Who knows if the story is true? Who cares? If you are interested in the subject of fried clams in particular or fried seafood in general, this place is essential.
Overlooking a scenic marsh in the heart of the clam belt, where towns have bivalvular names like Ipswich and Little Neck, Woodman’s epitomizes a whole style of informal Yankee gastronomy, known as “eat in the rough.” That means you stand at a counter, yell your order through the commotion, then wait for your number to be called. The food is served on cardboard plates with plastic forks. Carry it yourself to a table (if you can find one that isn’t occupied).
A chart we made a few years ago comparing and contrasting the top clam shacks along the North Shore evaluated Woodman’s clams as follows: Crust crunch = crusty. Chew = resilient. Belly goo = overflowing. Flavor = clamorama! Quantity = substantial. Whole platter presentation = merry jumble. In our experience, Woodman’s clams tend to be somewhat larger and gooier than those served in other local places, sometimes a bit too large. But there is no faulting the frying, which results in big mouthfuls that are shatteringly crisp. Also on the must-eat fried-food roster are onion rings and French fries, and big, spherical clam fritters. Nor is creamy clam chowder to be ignored.
Woodman’s gets bonus points for being the one North Shore clam shack that is open year-round.
New Hampshire
Bishop’s
183 Cottage St.
603–444–6039
Littleton, NH
Apr to Columbus Day | $
Bishop’s ice cream flavors range from the baroque—Bishop’s Bash is chocolate chips, nuts, and brownie chunks in dark chocolate—to basic. Vanilla is pure and creamy-white; chocolate is like iced chocolate milk more than some ungodly rich chocolate mousse cake; the coffee is reminiscent of HoJo’s—smooth and creamy more than ultra-caffeinated. Here, too, you can savor the old Yankee favorite, Grape-Nuts ice cream, in which the little specks of cereal soften into grainy streaks of flavor in pudding-smooth ice cream.
There is something unusually civilized about coming to Bishop’s for ice cream. You’d think that such a happy-time product would stimulate yelps of exuberance and that the interior of the shop would ring with rapture. On the contrary, there is a reverential hush about it, even when Bishop’s is jammed and every little table is occupied with ice cream eaters and a hundred are waiting to get inside. Perhaps it’s due to the polite aura of the stately old house in which the business