clam bar | Johnny Prime

First, check out my Ride & Review HERE:

This joint used to be called ZZ’s Clam Bar. It’s a Major Food Group spot, like Carbone just a few doors down, The Grill, and The Lobster Club. It’s a fancy, small speakeasy spot that only serves raw bar type food. We basically tried almost everything (we skipped the caviar service and the scallop crudo).

The shellfish were really nice, served along with some really chef’d up sauces.

We tried both toasts. One was like a tuna tartate, and the other was trout roe with truffle honey. The trout roe was clearly the winner here, and it was easily one of the best bites of the night.

The first crudo we did was the hiramasa, which reminded me of kampachi or hamachi. Very mild fish flavor, really nicely treated. Fresh!

Our next crudo was the smoked salmon. This was incredible. Also one of the best bites of the night. The dijon and dill really hit on this, and it paired perfectly with the rye toast points that it came with.

The lobster salad was the only thing we didn’t love. It had too much mayo on it or something, but it was still perfectly cooked and nicely chilled. Also really beautiful.

Last, the beef carpaccio with uni, lobster and caviar.

This was definitely the star of the show for me. It was so delicious and decadent.

The portion size was generous too, which I guess is expected at $105.

As with other Major Food Group spots, the pricing is somewhat astronomical, but the quality is always top notch.

This place has great cocktails too, by the way. I was drinking Gibsons.

The Cake Dealer had a Paloma and a margarita. Easily the best Paloma we have ever had. Way better than the margarita.

THE CLAM BAR
169 Thompson St.
New York, NY 10012

Randazzo’s is a spot I’ve always heard about but never got a chance to try, until now.

My wife and I were out at Coney Island, and we figured this would be a great spot for lunch after getting sand blasted on the windy beach that day.

We started with the combo platter of fried seafood with their famous spicy red sauce on top. It was awesome.

Really, the seafood is just fine or okay, but it’s the sauce that you really find yourself going back for over and over. So we took some home with us.

We also did their fried oyster and lobster roll sandwiches. Both were “meh” at best. The lobster was a cold lobster salad and not a warm lobster roll.