This thread makes me think of poor, probably-dead chowder. 
Yes to bacon.
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I love clam chowder…the problem is, people put stuff into it that shouldn’t be allowed…like celery-AAGHH!
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I think bacon in clam chowder is something that’s more common on the Pacific Coast. Maybe it’s a flavor compensation for the bland type of clams used. As for celery, I also don’t like it chowder but most of the time I can just eat around it.
Besides claims of course, all varieties of chowder should have potatoes. You need something to absorb the flavor of the clam broth.
As I noted above, no to bacon. Yes to salt pork. This is not to say I won’t eat baconed clam chowder. I just think it muddles the clammy goodness with all that smoky flavor.
I’ve never heard of Rhode Island clam chowder, myself, but it occurs to me to ask: Isn’t Rhode Island a part of New England?
P.S. The potato-ey creamy one, New England. Although I am a little disheartened at how difficult it is to find Manhattan clam chowder here in SoCal.
I prefer New England but I also like manhattan. I’ve never even heard of Rhode Island.
I like to add plenty of pepper of a couple dashes of hot sauce to either variety.
Bacon has a strong flavor-which interferes with the calm flavor. I say no-use salt pork or butter.
Last time I was in the LA area, my uncle took me out to his favorite seafood restaurant, which is apparently widely renowned for its clam chowder. It was a Manhattan style. I’ll see if I can find where it was.
I’m a New Yorker who feels guilty about loving New England clam chowder. That stuff is Mmm mmm good (introduced to it as a child by Campbell’s made with water cuz grandma was cheap, found it tasty. Then I made it myself following the directions that call for milk. Found it super rich and even tastier.)
The best I ever had was in a tiny waterfront restaurant in Mystic, CT. Never actually had any while in New England.
CT is in New England…
No it ain’t. That’s mid-Atlantic. Part of the Tri-State area.
Thems fighting words, missy…
Yeah, that’s wrong. 
Um, no … New England consist of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Cite: pretty much any map you want to consult.
Sometimes I see NY being included (erroneously) in New England, but I’ve never seen a New England state being included in the Mid-Atlantic states.
Are we being whooshed? Because if by CT you mean the state of Connecticut, that most certainly is in New England. All six states east of New York make up New England.
I think the issue is that a good deal of CT has become culturally more New York than the rest of New England. I mean, you got a ton of Yankees fans in CT! I think those folks don’t like to refer to themselves as New Englanders as someone may think they are Red Sox and Patriot fans ;).
Manhattan style clam chowder for me, FWIW.
A good Manhattan beats New England every time. However, it is at least an order of magnitude more difficult to get a good Manhattan chowder. It is easy to get a bad one, which is uniformly horrible.
if I know the manhattan is good, I order the Manhattan. Otherwise, New England it is.
Meaning I order New England 90% of the time even though I prefer the Manhattan.
Oh, and Rhode Island is for pouring down the sink.
More of CT is not in the metro NY area than is. You have the entire Northern part of the state and even the southern counties, most of them are more culturally NE than NY. Regardless, by any measure, CT is a New England state.
Our friends near Hartford certainly agree.
Physically, yah… but I’m talking culturally. And IIRC, the greater population is in the NY metro half. CT was always seen as half NY and half NE when I liked in New Jersey.