Seafood Shack Sensations
Embrace the Beach Food Experience
Jack Foley
It is late in the afternoon in mid-July or maybe August. Your chair is reclined as a 45-degree angle. The sun is still crisp-the-skin hot and the striped umbrella overhead mutters in the breeze. Mist from the waves speckles your sunglasses and dampens your paperback. Taking a deep breath of ocean air you dip your toes in the sand and utter a yearning sigh. If only the day could last forever.
The fun doesn’t have to end when you roll up your towel though. Hang on to that seaside good humor by brushing your salt-crusted-hair and heading out for after-beach eats. Choose a setting with surf-and-sand ambiance—where shoes may be required but that’s about it, and outdoor tables, perfect for accommodating just-from-the-fryer clams or hamburger baskets, toast in the setting sun.
You’ll discover the pinnacle of this unpretentious dining at Sandy’s, an open-air hut perched on the edge of Plymouth Beach. With luck, you spent the day within a couple of hundred yards of this 19-year-old eatery (If not, ask for a Sandy’s Pass at the parking lot entrance. Get it stamped when you dine to avoid paying for parking). Owned by Sandy Cotti, a former waitress at the iconic McGrath’s in downtown Plymouth (Now East Bay Grille), patrons line up for seafood delivered fresh daily from Plymouth and Ipswich. Try the fried seafood platter, with whole clams, shrimp, haddock, oysters, homemade onion rings, French fries and coleslaw. It will easily feed two. Sandy’s menu includes hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken. Purchase a drink at the full bar, plant yourself at a mesh table and savor supper along with what Cotti calls “million dollar views” of Clark Island and Saquish. “Order a bottle of wine and watch the moon rise over the water” Cotti suggests.
About two miles north, follow the succulent smell of fried fish to Wood’s Seafood Market and Restaurant in downtown Plymouth.
“We’re sitting on stilts right on the harbor,” says Ashley Kimball, daughter of owner Jay Kimball. “You can’t get much closer to the source than that. Customers watch as lobster, scallops, tuna and striper are unloaded and delivered directly to us.” With 30-40 seats inside, plus a popular retail market, Woods gets crowded in the summer, but customers carry take-out to the nearby Jetty or pier and feast while watching the lobster boats come in. Benches are also available at the adjacent park overlooking the Mayflower. “Baked haddock and scallops are huge sellers, Kimball says, “As is the Twin Boiled Lobster, which features two, pound-and-a-quarter lobsters, French fries and coleslaw.”
After a day at Nantasket, don’t bother brushing off the sand before heading to the Hingham Lobster Pound. Drive north past Hingham harbor via Route 3A. Pull up in at the red shack with a life-sized swordfish mounted on its side. A family business since 1958, owner Jack Daily, who, with ponytailed white hair and a captain’s hat looks like he could have fished the catch himself, swears by the freshness of his seafood. Daily says, “The quality is the same as when we first took over. I’d rather sell out of something then sell anything less.” Situated on Broad Cove, seats overlooking the swans paddling there would reinforce the appeal of this spot, but due to zoning regulations The Hingham Lobster Pound offers seafood rolls, fried plates and daily specials for take-out only. So grab your food and back track 200-yards to the Hingham Bathing Beach. Picnic on the park flanking the sand, or head a couple of miles northeast and claim a waterside table at Webb Memorial State Park in Weymouth.
If your ocean-side outing comes with a city view, smooth on the aloe and proceed to The Clam Box, across from Wollaston Beach in Quincy. Owners Todd and Bryan Schwanke pride themselves on large servings at affordable prices.
“We keep our prices low to keep our customers happy,” Todd Schwanke says. Haddock, clams and scallops are delivered fresh daily from Boston. Calamari, smelts, oysters, crab cakes and clam cakes round out a selection that also includes Souvolaki, Gyros, chicken and hand cut French fries. The Clam Shack recently added an outdoor walk-up window, where Gifford’s ice cream is served.
A block south, at Tony’s Clam Shop, family operated for almost 50 years, the menu includes seafood by the box, basket or platter. Deli, club, submarine sandwiches, hamburgers, salads, Middle Eastern specialties and soft drinks are also available. Dine inside under greenhouse windows, or at a table on the front patio. At both Tony’s and The Clam Box, you’ll prize the 180-degree vistas of Quincy Bay and the Boston Skyline.
Few things are more rejuvenating than a summer day by the sea—except, perhaps, for the bliss of enjoying a delicious seafood dinner. No matter which stretch of sand you choose to visit, when the time comes to pack up your umbrella and beach bag you need only stop by your local seafood shack to extend the classic beach experience—and take a taste of the ocean home with you
