When they say “steamers” at Connie and Ted’s they mean the real thing – genuine New England Ipswich clams, not the mini Manila clams with little flavor that are served in most of the rest of the U.S.
Connie and Ted’s is as close to a real New England seafood restaurant as you can get without an airplane and with the ocean just a few miles to the west.
No. It’s not a New England shanty or shack like some of the great places along the coast of Maine. It’s L.A. décor in West Hollywood. But the food and the service are spot on and the menu is deep and varied enough to demand multiple visits.
The raw bar lists as many as 19 different varieties of oysters from the east coast and the northwest. I haven’t seen so comprehensive a list anywhere but in Seattle.
Three different chowdas adorn the menu – New England, Manhattan, and Connecticut clear. Clam cakes, Peeky Toe crab cakes, broiled Topneck clams, deviled oysters and oysters Rockefeller, and New Bedford scallops all appear on the starters menu. And for a nod to its left coast location, there is live Santa Barbara uni in season.
Maine lobsters are available by the pound grilled or steamed. Of course there’s a New England boiled dinner and Portuguese fish stew.
If you’ve been fed a steady offering of west coast cod fish, you’re in for a treat if you order east coast cod. It’s a whole different fish with a whole different flavor.
Lobster rolls come two ways – the traditional with mayo and all the fixins, or with the lobster in butter on the roll naked.
The home page of the website says: “At Connie and Ted’s you’ll find simply prepared fish and shell fish, inspired by the classic clam shacks, oyster bars, and fish houses that dot the New England Seaboard and Western coast.” That’s fact, not boast.
The food served at Connie and Ted’s cries out for beer, not wine. And the list of beers available on draft or in bottles is impressive.
