Hubby was hankering for Clams on the Half Shell - a Raw Bar - something that was readily accessible when we lived in NYC. But down here in sunny Florida they are hard to find as most establishments feature only Oysters on the menu. So a quick internet search led him to The Clam Factory in Bradenton. Now don't be fooled by the rather dull and sad looking exterior you see in this photo
as believe me you can't judge a book by its cover.
Located near the historic Cortez Fishing Village, The Clam features live music, great seafood and house smoked barbecue. It's run by co-owner John Medico who greeted us warmly and told us not to be fooled by the decor - he and his partner came from a fine dining background and the food would be great. And it was!
Sorry I didn't get a photo of the dozen clams served on a bed of ice (chilled and appetizing as they should be) - you see we laid into them so quickly they were gone in a flash. You'll have to go see for yourself. We lucked out by arriving on Steak Night at The Clam - a confusing concept to find steak in a seafood place...but these guys do it right. With a gigantic smoker grill set up outside the restaurant, you park your car and are immediately assaulted by the most appetizing grilled meat aromas. They offer Prime NY Strip from Bradenton's own Chop Shop - a 12-14 oz. steak with baked potato and salad for only $15.00.
Half our group went for it and the meat was absolutely delicious. One even stated that it was the best steak he'd had since he moved to Florida - wow.
There's music almost every night and the band was just setting up when we were leaving - the crowd looked ready for the fun night ahead. Alas loud music isn't our cup of tea any more but that didn't mean the night was over for us. It was back to our house for coffee and dessert and a lively round of our favorite new game - Guesstures, a Charades game that we've had so much fun playing lately. A nice way to end the evening with lots of laughs and frankly some light exercise as we run around the living room gesticulating wildly in an effort to get our teammates to guess right. And yes the girls won AGAIN. But we were all winners for this Great Escape and you can bet we will be going back to The Clam Factory very soon!
http://clamfactory.com/
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