Vacation highlight: Southold Fish Market
Fried whole-belly-clam platter at Southold Fish Market in Southold. Newsday photo / Erica Marcus (August 26, 2010) Credit: Newsday / Erica Marcus
I spent my 10-day summer vacation in a rental on the North Fork, and it was fairly blissful. Most days were spent driving from farm to winery to farm, picking up the fixings for dinner and then coming home and cooking / drinking them. We had standout dinners at Luce & Hawkins (Jamesport) and North Fork Table and Inn (Southold), pleasant meals at Noah’s (Greenport) and A Mano (Mattituck).
What we didn’t manage to find was a restaurant where you could get simple, fresh, local, straight-ahead American seafood classics such as steamers, fried clams, lobsters and lobster rolls. Sure these items are available on many area menus, but, aside from Buoy One in Riverhead (where we had lunch on our way out), there is no proper "seafood shack'' on the North Fork.
Is that crazy or what?
Thankfully, two fish markets—Braun’s Seafood and Southold Fish Market—have stepped into the void. Braun’s Seafood 2 Go (30840 Main Rd., Cutchogue, 631-734-5550) offers a casual dining room in which to enjoy the fish store’s copious takeout menu. Hours are 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday.
During my stay I had three lunches at Southold Fish Market. There’s no indoor seating, but in sunny weather the picnic tables overlooking the marina are hard to beat. Southold’s terrific lobster roll contains big hunks of freshly picked meat of a 1¼-pound lobster mixed with mayonnaise and celery and comes with skinny, salty, hand-cut French fries, a bargain at $16.95. For my second lunch I ordered the fried whole-belly clam platter ($11.95) and they were so delicious that I made them my third lunch, too.
You’d be nuts not to peek into the actual fish market at Southold Fish Market, where owner Charlie Manwaring simultaneously helps customers, confers with fishermen and breaks down fish. There’s no place on the North Fork (or on the Island, for that matter) to see a better selection of just-landed local fish. Over the course of a week I bought littleneck clams, swordfish steaks and one 7-pound striped bass from Manwaring. They did my, respectively, spaghetti and clam sauce, Sicilian-style stuffed swordfish and whole roasted striped bass very proud indeed.
Southold Fish Market is at 61850 Main Rd., Southold, 631-765-3200. Hours are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 'til 7:30 p.m.
Fried whole-belly-clam platter at Southold Fish Market in Southold
