Chowda

My wife and I just returned from a two-week trip to New England and Boston with our oldest grandson, J. Somehow, this 11 year old boy of Cajun and Italian heritage developed a taste for New England clam chowder. He ate clam chowder everyday, and sometimes twice a day. He even had clam chowder for breakfast at the airport on the day we left. His rating of clam chowder restaurants is below:

Legal Seafood, Boston
Newicks, Dover Point, NH
Johnathon’s, N Conway, NH
The Black Pearl, Bowen’s Wharf, Newport, RI
Tia’s, North End, Boston

He also likes haddock and declares it his favorite fish. The problem is that haddock is hard to get and most restaurants will use haddock and cod interchangeably for fish and chips or “scrod” dishes. The amazing thing is that J can tell the difference between haddock and cod by smelling the cooked fish, even after its coated in batter and fried.

And I finally learned what they mean by “scrod”. I always thought it was a size classification of haddock, cod or pollock but the driver on the Duck Tour told us that it stands for Special Catch Right Off the Dock. It can be any white fleshed fish. So, be warned, scrod can be anything.