Fried Clams in Montreal

[cpdp4u]

Where is the best place to get fried clams in Montreal, otherwise has anybody ever found Ipswich clams in Montreal and if yes where? If I can't find em, I'll make em!!!!

[porker]

I was strolling through Jean Talon market on Sunday. Lo and behold the small fish store IN the market near the south east corner (not the one selling fried squid/smelts/shrimp) had softshell clams. They're in a green net sack, maybe a pound for $7.50. I bought one pack and am going to try them if I ever get away from work tonight.
They call them "mye".
Not too handy in the French vernacular, I had to google a bit to find this
http://www.seafoodsource.com/seafoodh...
So the steamer clam in French is "mye".
Some of the common english names can be alot more colorful: "squirt clam" or "gaper" ;d)

[Maximilien]

I had "mye" at Au Pied de Cochon last summer; not fried, but excellent nonetheless.

-----
Au Pied de Cochon
536 Avenue Duluth Est, Montreal, QC H2L 1A9, CA

[porker]

I steamed them and they were outstanding!

[OliverB]

Btw, there's also that newish place on Monkland.. Lucille's Oyster Dive, I think. Read about it on the forums here and was turned off by the prices ($27 lobster roll!), but maybe worth giving a try..

[cpdp4u]

I am squealing with excitement, I am going to go check out for clams!

[porker]

no fried clams found in their on-line menu.

[cpdp4u]

OMG I was just about to report this too! I checked it out and was disapointed to see they don't have them fried.... but the good thing is they have 'em on the half shell. I'll spare myself the $ and do them at home thank you very much! Opening a clam shell, no big deal. Anyways... guess I have to arrange for a weekend in Boston again. Le sigh!

[cpdp4u]

ok so I couldn't be bothered to deep fry tonight, it's Friday and nowhere close by would have what I wanted, which would require me to take a flight to Boston or Maine... so I gave my littlenecks the wine broth treatment, zipping up my white wine broth with gullah seasoning from the Low Country of South Carolina. Can I tell you something? it WORKED!!!! Ok so bye, got to check out expedia now.. ;) plus this broth is not going to drink itself up all by itself now will it? ;)

[cpdp4u]

I checked out that Oyster place's menu (downtown) and it does not look like they have the real deal.

[porker]

I'm not saying they do or they don't, but how can you tell just from the menu?

[cpdp4u]

you have a valid point...going to have to go and see for myself! ;)

[porker]

go for the clamchowder poutine as well.

[OliverB]

I got so sick that I could never use those two words in the same sentence again. it was honestly good for 4 bites, after that... you realize you're eating clam chowder with cheese curds in it!! I genuinely find the food at OS to be disgusting. I've really wanted to liek it and have tried just about everything on the menu - the cajun and coconut shrimp, crab cakes, chowder, fried clam strips, bucket of scallops, angus burger, beer battered chicken fingers, fancied up lobster roll... nothing was particularly good. it all tasted like bar food to me. in fact, i've had better cajun shrimp at rural divey bar in stowe. the crab cakes were okay/good, the chowder was merely passable. Everything else tasted terrible I found. I'd go for the crab cakes again, but otherwise really dislike the place.

[cpdp4u]

ok, so it's the big fat sweet yet salty belly clams you get in the ipswich area like all over the place, here, zilch, nada. I ordered once some fried clams at La Salle a Manger and was really disapointed. Plus the place is a little high strung to go just for clams, I am not into the whole shebang tonight, just want to get me a nice snack going on. So FYI, I saw some some steamer at La Mer on Rene Levesque, they had the geoduck like black «thing» sticking out of them. The guy told me there were not shuckable so I bouth some hard little necks and will try to shock them into opening and see what I can work with after that to make home made fried clams...sigh. I wanted this to be so much easier that it is turning out to me.... time for a gin and tonic (Q tonic)

[porker]

The best fried clams I've had are at the Oyster Shack on Bishop. They're different from the generic frozen clam strips that you get most places (like Peters Cape Cod). I'd like to say they're home made, but I'm not that confident (they're not belly clams).
Ipswich clams, I assume you mean soft shell, or steamers? NEVER saw them in Montreal. They sometimes have them in Plattsburg or Burlington, but the prices have gone up considerably in the past few years (almost $20 for a small 2lb bag).

Edit: I think celfie's rec of "on top of grumpy's" is the Oyster Shack. Don't get fooled by the name - they do have oysters, but its not a shack-type of place. Their clam chowder fries are plenty good.

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Oyster Shack
1242 Rue Bishop, Montreal, QC H3G2E3, CA

[OliverB]

Icehouse has a fried clams poboy on their menu, but I have't tried it yet...

[Haggisboy]

It's amazing what you can't find here in Montreal. You'd think in a city like ours, you'd find one or two (or more) joints that sell regular or full belly fried clams, as are popular in New England. I sure hope somebody knows of such a place here because I'm getting pretty fed up of the amount of simple yet tasty foods that seem impossible to find here in Montreal. How about a crab shack? Boiled crawdads? You'd think Louisiana food would be a natural fit here, but I know of only one place of marginal repute that sells stuff like this.

[celfie]

montreal couldn't be any further culturally from new orleans and louisiana

[kpaxonite]

Well to be technical... new orleans was part of canada wayyyyyy back when

[westisbest23]

So what, Celfie? Of course Montreal is "culturally" far away from New Orleans and Louisiana. That sounds so elitist!
Why should that stop Montreal from reaching outside of it's "boundaries" and embracing other food cultures? Why not have Maine come to us? We are so close to great seafood, wouldn't be much of a stretch...

[celfie]

montreal is ethnically and culturally diverse already. maybe if the maine diaspora emigrated to montreal we'd have wooden clam shacks everywhere

[cpdp4u]

oh celfie, that was so funny!!!

[Shattered]

Hahaha "the maine diaspora"

@ kpaxonite: Canada? It was another French colony. That's like saying Alaska was once part of the USSR.

[kpaxonite]

It was part of the same colony (New France)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nou...

[Shattered]

What year was the Treaty of Utretch? What year was Confederation? Oh yeah. Over a century apart.

[celfie]

there is no best place. i believe the place on top of grumpy's has fried clams but i've never heard anything good about that place. you should go to maine.