Chowder and other Needed Distractions

As we travel around we sometimes get distracted by food, needing to eat as it were. In this blog we will try to show you some of the consumable items we have found here on the Long Beach peninsula and the surrounding area. We had started a quest to find a decent bowl of clam chowder but as we shall see we sometimes got distracted along the way. A person cannot live on clams alone; there are other major food groups to consider.

Keep in mind there are lots of variations to different chowders and what one person likes another might find quite distasteful. The following is a composition of some of our tastes, some of what we found, and what we tried. Certainly with a different cook, a different day, a different set of ingredients, and a different serving portion, there might be different results. It is all about personal taste and the moment.

This bowl was consumed at the Rod’s Lamplighter in Seaview, WA here on the Long Beach Peninsula. There are several little communities that dot the peninsula, Seaview is one of those communities. This clam chowder had far and away more clams than any we had tasted here. It had one drawback in that it was too salty for our taste. Good texture and consistency with appropriate ingredients, just too salty.

In the blog post on Oysterville we had mentioned a small town called Nahcotta. This is Bailey’s Bakery and Cafe located there and it is open 5 days a week generally about 9:00 AM until 3:00 PM. As many locals here have said it is a small hidden gem on the peninsula.

This is their version of steamer clams. They were fabulous. The broth for steaming the clams was a mixture containing basil pesto and we wanted to just get a bowl of the broth and a loaf of bread and soak up the wonderful elixir. Some folks ordered their bowl of clams without any juice, can you imagine that.

This is one of several diversions we found along the way. Since Bailey’s is a bakery they have wonderful baked goods. Ethiopian Honey cake, tasty scones, and cookies lots of cookies just to name a few desserts. I had sent this image to a very good friend of mine and told him that since he was not here I had to eat it all by myself. He responded by saying he was taking me off his Christmas List. I guess I will need to go buy more cookies to relieve the anxiety and trauma of no Christmas present. Such are the decisions we need to make in life.

Chowder in this area can be either clam, oyster, or seafood chowder. Here we have seafood chowder from the Long Beach Tavern. It consisted of a wide variety of shrimp, clams, fish and other assorted pieces and parts from the sea. It had a great consistency and wonderful flavor

This sign was over the bar in the Long Beach Tavern. How true.

In one of our travels around we went into Oregon. It is a short drive across the bridge to Astoria. We then went west passing through Warrenton and into Hammond where Buoy 9 Restaurant and Lounge are located. We had visited the place when we volunteered nearby many years ago and remembered their clam chowder. It was just as wonderful as our memory wants us to believe. Nice mixture of ingredients and well balanced.

Buoy 9 had a dessert special. As we stated earlier one should not live on clams alone, there are other items to try. This is a Marion berry cobbler, of course with ice cream. It was not too sweet, just the appropriate tartness and the perfect amount for sharing.

In Chinook, where The Roadhouse is located that we wrote a post about earlier, there is a tavern called “The Old Fish Trap”. It is literally across the street from “The Roadhouse”. The place is by no means fancy and would not be considered a tourist mecca, rather more along the lines of a local’s hangout. We really like the food there and have eaten there a couple of times.

This is their rendition of fish and chips and is close to the best version of that gastronomic delight that we have ever had. Very lightly battered, fresh rock fish.

One time when we were in the Fish Trap having lunch, Deanna ordered the Crab Bisque. It was served as seen here with a large chunk of crab claws to complement the dish. It was excellent.

We are sure many of you have eaten fish tacos. This is the definition of that recipe from: The Old Fish trap”. There is close to a half a pound or more of fish in these two large tortilla shells. It also is fresh caught rock fish. It has a great flavor and texture and more than adequate quantity.

Eating all that seafood can make a person hungry. On one occasion we stopped at Nisa’s Thai restaurant in Warrenton, Oregon. They had fried bananas for dessert. The banana had been cubed, wrapped in wanton wrappers and then fried. It was, as seen in the evidentiary photo, served with scoops of ice cream and drizzled in chocolate. It is dessert as it should be.

One day we felt like taking a trip south into Oregon past Tillamook. We ended up stopping at Upstairs Bar and Grill in Netarts to try their chowder. The waiter indicated it had been made the day before. It had a great flavor all the ingredients had time to mingle and grow together. It was rather good chowder.

As we have mentioned we need to have something to wash down the chowder. Here is a homemade strawberry cheese cake from the Upstairs Grill in Netarts that we want to highly recommend. It was smooth and delicate in texture and fresh, bright, and flavorful in taste.

We had mentioned Ol Bob’s in Ilwaco on an earlier post. Here is a bowl of clam chowder from that establishment. It was great chowder, not salty and the ingredients were of the right size and right proportion. Good taste and wonderful balanced flavor.

This image is from the menu at “The Salt Hotel” on the harbor front in Ilwaco. It is a great, somewhat upscale eatery. The image talks of two items we tried in their pub one day for lunch, Poutine and Clam Chowder.

Poutine is originally from Quebec Canada and consists of a bed of French Fries, Fried White Cheese Curds with Brown Gravy over the top.

Here is the Willapa Bay Poutine. It has the French fries, the fried cheese curds, and there is clam gravy served over the top of the concoction. They have gone on to add clams in the shell and several steamed oysters along with bacon and scallions. This is seafood after all. The dish was very tasty and quite filling but probably best not to be consumed very often.

Here is the Salt’s version of clam chowder. It was more like a bed of potatoes with a bunch of clams served over the top and some clam gravy drizzled across the dish. It had a wonderful flavor but was radically different that any chowder we had tried,much more like a bowl of steamers with some added ingredients.

In the first of the above two images we can see two of the tourists just passing through and tasting the local seafood offerings. In the second image we find a bunch of their friends loafing and resting. They seem as though they like all the seafood that is available here, we sure do. Oh, in both of the above images the birds are a species called Marbled Godwits, they obviously have long legs and long bills.

We hope you enjoyed this brief look at the various chowders and distractions we have tried here on the Washington Coast. This was basically a sampling of some of the items we tried, we have eaten many other dishes as well. If you get over here to the peninsula be sure and eat some seafood and try the various versions of chowder and distractions that exist. Please eat well and most of all have fun.

Let us know if you have any questions or comments. All the best – George & Deanna