Woodman's of Essex is a

seafood Seafood is any form of Marine life, sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including Fish as food, fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of Mollusca, molluscs (e.g., bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters, and mussel ...

restaurant in

Essex, Massachusetts Essex is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, 26 miles (42 km) north of Boston and 13 miles (21 km) southeast of Newburyport. It is known for its former role as a center of shipbuilding. The population was 3,675 ...

(approximately north of

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

). A local favorite, it is also known internationally for its

fried clam Fried clams are clams dipped in milk, floured, and deep-fried. Fried clams are an iconic food, "to New England, what barbecue is to the South". They tend to be served at seaside clam shacks (roadside restaurants). Clam rolls are fried clams ser ...

s and

New England clam bake The clambake or clam bake, also known as the New England clambake, is a traditional method of cooking seafood, such as lobster, mussels, crabs, scallops, soft-shell clams, and quahogs. The food is traditionally cooked by steaming the ingred ...

s. Woodman's has been a family business since its founding in 1914, and is a large employer in the area with over 200 staff during the summer months.

The Fried Clam

In 1914 Lawrence Henry "Chubby" Woodman and his wife Bessie opened up a clam shack on Essex's Main Street, more commonly known to locals as "the causeway". Chubby and Bessie sold freshly dug

steamer clam Soft-shell clams (American English) or Sand gaper (British English/Europe), scientific name ''Mya arenaria'', popularly called "steamers", "softshells", "piss clams", "Ipswich clams", or "Essex clams", are a species of edible saltwater clam, a ...

s as well as

ice cream Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as Chocolate, cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food ...

and homemade

potato chips Potato chips (North American English and Australian English; often just chip) or crisp (British English and Hiberno-English) are thin slices of potato (or a thin deposit of potato paste) that has been deep frying, deep fried, baking, baked, ...

. According to legend, Chubby invented the Ipswich

fried clams Fried clams are clams dipped in milk, floured, and deep-fried. Fried clams are an iconic food, "to New England, what barbecue is to the South". They tend to be served at seaside clam shacks (roadside restaurants). Clam rolls are fried clams serv ...

on July 3, 1916. The company website says this happened during a visit from a friend and fisherman, Mr. Tarr of neighboring

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

, Chubby took his suggestion to put some clams into the oil used for deep-frying the potato chips. Some modifications were made, such as dipping the clams in evaporated milk and corn flour, and the

was born.

Clambake to go

The traditional

is a long process. Chubby Woodman came up with the idea of mobilizing it—a truck was loaded up with food, boilers, and wood, and the clambake was done at the customer's preferred location. Today, Woodman's sells "clambakes to go," consisting of all the necessary ingredients such as

lobster Lobsters are Malacostraca, malacostracans Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the family (biology), family Nephropidae or its Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on th ...

, clams, potatoes, and corn. Dependence on the clam has brought risk to the restaurant. In 2005, the

red tide A harmful algal bloom (HAB), or excessive algae growth, sometimes called a red tide in marine environments, is an algal bloom that causes negative impacts to other organisms by production of natural algae-produced toxins, water deoxygenation, ...

was quite severe, leading to lower supplies and price increases. Woodman's was forced to import clams from Canada.

Reputation

Woodman's reputation is recognized in many travel and restaurant guides, such as

Frommer's Frommer's () is a travel guide book series created by Arthur Frommer in 1957. Frommer's has since expanded to include more than 350 guidebooks in 14 series, as well as other media including an eponymous radio show and a website. In 2017, the com ...

''New England'', Fodor included the restaurant in their ''Where to Weekend Around Boston'', and the ''Phantom Gourmet Guide to Boston's Best Restaurants 2008'' affirms it has the best fried clams.

Popular culture

The 2010 film '' Grown Ups'' uses the restaurant for a segment when all the characters in the film go out for a family dinner, although hamburgers and not fried clams were portrayed as the restaurant's specialty as it was mentioned that they have the best burgers in town. The production of the film caused the restaurant to close for the first time in 95 years in order to film the scene. The sign at the beginning of the scene used the alias "Woodman's Eat in the Rough" and had the character Dickie Bailey (portrayed by

Colin Quinn Colin Edward Quinn (born June 6, 1959) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. He first gained widespread attention for his work as a cast member and writer on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1995 to 2000, and he became known for anchor ...

) working there as a chef. The

Beastie Boys The Beastie Boys were an American Hip-hop, hip hop and Rap rock, rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Mike D, ...

' song "Hey Ladies" from their album ''

Paul's Boutique ''Paul's Boutique'' is the second studio album by the American hip hop group Beastie Boys, released on July 25, 1989, by Capitol Records. Produced by the Beastie Boys and the Dust Brothers, the album's composition makes extensive use of samples ...

'' includes the line "Special at Woodman's in Essex Mass"; listed in the printed lyrics, yet never actually recited in the song.

References

{{Reflist, 2 Essex, Massachusetts Restaurants established in 1914 Seafood restaurants in Massachusetts 1914 establishments in Massachusetts

The Fried Clam

Clambake to go

Reputation

Popular culture

See also

References