Woodman's Seafood or Elizabeth Eats a Pile of Fried Food

A few weeks (months?) ago, a reader told me about Woodman's. She'd just been to this little seafood restaurant in Essex, MA that served fried gluten-free seafood and insisted I must try it. After a few failed attempts to get there, I finally made the four hour trek.  (Funny thing, after mentioning Woodman's on Facebook, I found out LOTS of people that I know have eaten there and none of them are gluten-free! They just love the place!)

How could I not go? Gluten-free fried seafood. Yes please! 

See that sky? This is why people hate traveling with me. That is usually the color of the sky whenever I travel. I tend to bring rain and gray skies with me. It's part of my charm, I guess.

I was already in love. Any restaurant that puts its name on a giant clam is okay by me!

Woodman's, in case you missed it, is open year round--even when the sky is that dark at 3:30 pm in June.

As we walked into the place, we passed these lovelies. When I clicked the pic, I thought I heard one lobster say to the other, "Why is she taking our picture? We're just chillin.'" (Okay, that was a bad joke! Let's move on!)

Have you ever noticed that if a restaurant has a chalkboard menu, the food is usually really good? It's a rule of life or something. At this point, I got nervous. I didn't see "gluten-free" on the sign. It might have been there but I didn't see it at first glance.

So I said, "Hi! I am gluten-free---"

Helpful Woodman's employee, "You can have everything but the onion rings, the clam cakes and the sandwiches."

How great is that?I didn't even have to explain what I meant by gluten-free! She knew! Heaven!

I ordered the clam strip plate but, really, I could have ordered everything. It all looked and smelled great.

After ordering, you select your table and wait for your order number to be called. Drooling might also be happening.

This was my dinner. I actually giggled when I saw it. The pile of clam strips was at least 8-inches high. I don't think I'd ever seen this many fried clams in my life. Hidden under the pile were french fries. But, really, who cares about french fries when there is an 8-inch pile of fried gluten-free clams?

See how my dinner is in a box? My friend, who is not gluten-free, picked up the order in the window. The server said to him, "Don't put that plate in the box. The onion rings aren't gluten-free and they can't touch the clam plate." Clearly this is a restaurant that understands how to serve gluten-free meals!

Close-up of the crispy, crunchy clams. They were a delight. The coating was light and not leaden. (I hate heavy fried food!) Plus the clam strips were HOT. You know how sometimes fried food seems to arrive at the table cold? Not these clam strips.

If only had one teeny, tiny grumble. The coating was a little bland for my taste. I don't know if that was just this batch or how they are usually served. But the hot, fried goodness made up for the somewhat bland flavor.

As you exit, there is a pile of bumper stickers. Notice it states, "Inventor of the Fried Clam." Umm, okay...Woodman's you have gluten-free fried clams; if you want to claim being the inventor of the fried clam, go for it! You could claim to have invented ice and I wouldn't say anything other than, "Wow! Ice is cold!"

If you are in the Boston area, a trip to Woodman's is really worth it! (They also have a second location in Litchfield, NH and offer mail order  fried clam kits.)