The other day I wrote a blog post about some foods I miss and a few folks wrote in with comments. One comment, recommending fried clams, came in an e-mail, from my colleague Dave Begel.
Begel said I had to try the fried clams at St. Paul Fish Company in the Milwaukee Public Market. Knowing full well that the market setting couldn't recreate eating fried clams on the boardwalk while seagulls caw in the sky above, I dove in almost immediately.
On Friday, I bellied up to the zinc bar at St. Paul's – which, like the boardwalk, has a vibe of its own – and opted for the Clam Digger Po' Boy, a sandwich built from the fried surf clam strips that are also available as an appetizer ($6.95).
For $9.95, I got the sandwich, a pickle spear and a bag of kettle chips.
The sandwich had a generous heap of tender fried clams onto a long, lightly toasted bun and added lettuce, diced tomatoes and a mayo-based sauce.
The sauce was tasty, but, fortunately, applied thinly, allowing the taste of the clams to shine through.
Thanks to Dave for this tip. I now have two Downtown fried clams go-to places. Here is what I wrote about the other one, Mason Street Grill.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
