Cooke's Seafood, Orleans, MA

Cooke's wins awards for their fried clams nearly every year. The place is the antithesis of the ramshackle beach seafood shack we all dream of, but the fried seafood here is excellent. (It's a vast fluorescent lit, air conditioned space more reminiscent of a chain fast food place than a local joint.) To be honest, it is a chain, with three or four locations around the Cape, one in Hyannis, One in Mashpee Commons, and the one in Orleans, which I think is the best.

That said, these folks have an amazing touch with the fryer, the clams are perfection, never greasy or heavy, more like clam tempura in their delicacy.

PS: Get the whole clams, that clam strips thing is strictly for rubes...

I've never understood clam strips, why would you have the best part of the meal removed?

Cooke's Seafood
1 S Orleans Rd
Orleans, MA 02653
(508) 255-5518

Provision Company - Holden Beach, NC

This is the crab-cake & boiled shrimp, with a side of conch fritters and slaw at the Provision Company, in Holden Beach, NC.

It's rare that I eat out when I'm there, as we're usually cooking a LOT of food at the rental house, but on this trip we w nt here for lunch. 

This place is excellent, and like so many other southern coastal seafood joints is tucked away under the bridge, and nearly impossible to find on a casual inspection.   (Rule of thumb - NEVER eat at the place at the mainland side of the base of the bridge on these coastal islands, but instead look for a smaller place tucked away under the bridge.) 

The Provision Company is well worth the search though.   The food is great, and it has a great open deck where you can watch the fishing boats landing your lunch.  

The Provision Company 

1343 Cedar Landing Rd SW
Holden Beach, NC 28462
(910) 842-7205