thePULSEA guide to some of the best summer food around
Ah, the sweet smells and tastes of summer-time food. Hot dogs on a sunny street corner, ice cream dripping down your chin at the beach, fried clams devoured on warm summer nights. This year, especially when Mother Nature has hit us with way too many gray, cold days, the prospect of summer food tantalizes. Even when the skies are gray, a dog from Worcester’s Coney Island or a big cone from Gibby’s ice cream will cheer even the gloomiest Wormtown resident.
Of course, everyone has their own favorite spots for summer food, and when it comes to hot dogs, there has been huge debate over the years about who has the best dog in town. Is it Coney Island (which is actually called George’s Coney Island), the Worcester institution on Southbridge Street with 40 foot tall neon sign, the Hot Dog Express on Park Ave. where dog-lovers chow down outside a simple shack at picnic tables, or Hot Dog Annie’s out on Paxton Ave. in Leicester?
We’ve tried puppies at all three places and even though we think that decorated dogs, those with extra stuff like sauerkraut etc. are better at Hot Dog Annies and the Hot Dog Express does make a tasty dog since they use National Hebrew franks, the best bow for your buck can be found at Coney Island. A lot of it probably has to do with the ambiance at Coney Island — it’s hard not to be sucker for the plastic trays, the wooden booths and all the Worcester characters you always see waiting in line for a dog.
So far as fried clams goes, I am really picky about fried clams, having grown up in a family connected with seafood (my brother is a lobster boat captain in Tiverton, RI and my sister owns a small seafood restaurant outside of Providence). To be honest, it’s kind of tough to find really good fried clams in the Worcester area, though I’ve certainly tried. Coral Seafood on Green Street has very good fried clams (the kind with bellies and all — strips are for sissies) with a mountain of fries and tasty tartar sauce. I’m also a big fan of the seafood gumbo at Coral Seafood – but it’s the fried clams that I usually order when we head over to Green Street.
I’ve tried fried clams at The Sole Proprietor – and they are good too – but the net result is that Coral Seafood’s fried clams please me more than the Sole’s. In general, the seafood at The Sole seems a little over-rated to me, although they do serve up superb oysters on the half-shell and they are very good at not over-cooking their fish. I’m not crazy about their chowder, but then I am a fan of Rhode Island-style chowder, which is made with clam-broth instead of milk, and tastes a hundred-times more like clams and the sea than chowders heavy with milk and flour.
So far as summer-time fried clams go though, the best in town can be found at Ronnie’s in Auburn, which serves a heaping mound of tasty morsels that can be savored at a picnic table right under the trees. Unfortunately Ronnie’s is only open in the summer – so go to Coral Seafood for good fare the rest of the year.
Everyone seems to have their own favorites for good ice cream, but the big three in the Worcester are always seem, to Pinecroft Diary and Meolas in West Boylston and Gibsons (or Gibby’s) on the east side of Worcester off Massasoit Road.
I like the varieties at Pinecroft — and Meola’s also has a great selection of flavors, but my favorite for big cone flavor has to be Gibby’s, which serves huge cones that must have a hefty fat content, so yummy and rich is the ice cream melting in your hot mouth.
Scoops and Swirls in North Grafton is good too, especially if you’re looking for a good selection of frozen yogurt. If you can’t stand yogurt and want the real stuff, try the Heath Bar Crunch ice cream cone at Scoops and Swirls. Whatever your choice, take it to one of the picnic tables in the parking lot. You can watch small boys in Little League uniforms chase each around, lovers arm in arm lick ice cream from each others’ cones, older couples sit contentedly with cups of frozen yogurt as the sun goes down — summer food just seems to bring out the best in all of us.
Coral Seafood on Green Street has very good fried clams (the kind with bellies and all – clam strips are for sissies) with a mountain of fries and tasty tartar sauce.
My favorite for big cone flavor has to be Gibby’s, which serves huge cones that must have a hefty fat content, so yummy and rich is the ice cream melting in your hot mouth.
