Cape Cod’s Best Fried Clams

Greetings from Cape Cod!  Even though this was not the last weekend of Summer it was essentially my last hurrah and I loved spending it with my parents in Massachusetts.  On Friday night I got to enjoy the most amazing Cape Cod’s best fried clams and three days later am still thinking about them. Growing up my Mom’s college roommate had a house in Eastham, about half way down the Cape which we visited a handful of times and only a few miles away was Arnold’s Lobster & Clam Bar. 

Arnold’s is an absolutely amazing spot and now that we don’t visit their house anymore I haven’t been in four Summer’s but am so glad I got the chance to rectify that.   But if you are going to eat an inordinate amount of fried clams – both bellies and strips – you are going to have to work it off.  So I opted for an hour HIT workout on Friday morning with my Mom and then my Dad joined us mid afternoon and we biked 17 miles from Dennis to Eastham for this amazing seafood.  Arnold’s was just as I remembered it, but perhaps without the hour long line that stretched out the door, down the length of the building, and nearly around the corner.  But you know what?  People stand in that line and wait because the food really is that good.  

Please try and tell me those clam bellies don’t look amazing?  Just try.  (Oh, and I must not be the only one because according to Food & Wine Magazine they have “The best fried clams in the world.”) They were delicious as were the onion rings and soon after we hopped back on our bikes for the long journey home biking 17 of the 22 miles of the paved Cape Cod Rail Trail which passes through the towns of Dennis, Harwich, Brewster, Orleans, and Eastham.  Because of the very long line at Arnold’s it got dark towards the end of our bike ride but I did stop just once to get this gorgeous sunset / dusk photo over the lake because it was just too pretty!

Have you ever had fried clams?