Boston’s Best Chowder Spots
Our Top 5 Picks to Get Your Chowder Fix
Whether it’s served in a warm bread bowl or garnished with the standard crispy oyster crackers, one thing’s for certain — the best chowdah is creamy New England style, and these five Beantown spots are our absolute favorites for enjoying a steamy, comforting bowl of shellfish-and-veggie goodness.
B&G Oysters, a popular South End oyster bar helmed by James Beard Award-winning chef Barbara Lynch, is also known for some other tasty bivalves — made with salty, unctuous bacon and topped with a spicy crouton, lending it a wonderfully varied texture and flavor profile, B&G’s clam chowder just might be one of the best in the country.
Legal Seafood’s clam chowder has been served at every presidential inauguration since Ronald Reagan’s in 1981 — if that’s not a testament to Legal Sea Food’s outstanding recipe, we don’t know what is. You can taste the legendary soup for yourself at their stunning flagship harbor side restaurant, or at one of the eleven other Boston locations.
Known for overflowing mugs of chunky clam chowder, chock full of potatoes, fresh clams and lots and lots of dill, The Boston Sail Loft serves what many people consider to be their favorite chowder in the city. It’s also has one of the loveliest waterfront patios, perfect for enjoying a chilly beer and a lobster roll alongside your hot soup.
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Summer Shack’s clam chowder is a favorite of New England darling Martha Stewart, and it’s no wonder — made with salt pork and plenty of butter and clam juice, this chowder is a savory, umami-ful flavor bomb. And with locations in Cambridge, Mohegan and Boston, you can get a bowl for yourself without having to compete with Martha.
Slightly smoky from the cured pork belly and made with fresh clam juice and three different types of local Massachusetts clams (quahogs, cockles and manilas), Saltie Girl may have the most clam-forward clam chowder in the city (you even get the shells in your soup with this one!), and we call that a win — because clam chowder should be all about the clams.