Gold Dig #63

Connie and Ted’s is the big place with the swooping ceiling on a main stretch of West Hollywood that on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list, he calls a “clam shack”. Inside is an open kitchen and a bar. Outside is a fantastic patio, which unfortunately looks out onto the parking lot and Santa Monica Blvd rather than the ocean as one might hope, but the food is so good that you can imagine you smell the salt air on the sea breeze.

The Dish

Connie and Ted’s serves New England seafood classics – things like chowder, shrimp, calamari, lobster rolls, fried clam plates, and a raw bar of oysters and clams. Even more than just New England, it specializes particularly in Rhode Island preparations of its high quality seafood.

Rhode Island Coffee Milk with Selvarey Cacao Infused Rum

The menu informed us this is the official state drink of Rhode Island, so we thought we better try it. You have the option to get it with or without Selvarey cacao infused rum, so of course we got it with. I can see why it would be an official state drink – so good!

Jo’s Wicked Good Chowda’ – Rhode Island Clear

You can choose New England, Manhattan, or Rhode Island Clear clam chowder, or you can get a sampler. We were tempted by the sampler, but since Connie and Ted’s is really a Rhode Island restaurant, we decided to go with the Rhode Island Clear. We did not regret our decision. The broth was delicious and there were nice chunks of clams.

Stuffies

Stuffies are a mixture of chopped clams, linguica sausage, garlic, bell peppers, and bread crumbs baked into a clam shell. They are a Connie and Ted’s thing that people talk about, so we thought we ought to get some. They are a salty yummy treat that’s fun to eat.

Lobster Roll – hot with butter

You can get the lobster roll cold with mayonnaise or hot with butter. We’d never had a lobster roll hot with butter before, so opted to give it a try, with a side of onion rings. I love lobster and was super looking forward to this dish, but I’m sad to say it was the most disappointing item of the meal. It just seemed plain (perhaps we should have gotten cold with mayonnaise?). The onion rings, which were big sweet onions with nice crisp breading, were the best part.

Fried Clams Entree – with bellies

You can get fried clam strips or with bellies. The bellies are substantially more expensive, but we splurged and they were worth the extra investment. The clams were tender and meaty, lightly fried and great with the tartar sauce. And they come on a bed of surprisingly good french fries.

Blondie

The blondie is a brown sugar bar with caramelized chocolate, vanilla ice cream, and caramel sauce. I don’t think it was the best blondie I’ve ever had – the flavor of the bar was mostly drowned out by the ice cream and sauce, but it had a nice crispy outer texture and all together was not a bad treat to end the meal.