It’s clam bake or clam boil season here in Cleveland and the next door neighbors just had their annual boil. I thought it was a more or less national event but Wikipedia insists that these dinners occur mainly in New England and the Cleveland area. Everyone calls them clam bakes but that is actually the type buried underground. Us mid-westerners use a large pot to steam everything. Delicious.
The neighbor buys their clams from Costco and over the years they have all been perfect.
In Wisconsin we have fish boils rather than clam bakes or boils. I’ve never been to a clam event, more’s the pity. I learned to love oyster festivals and crab steamings back when I lived in Baltimore, though.
Corn boils used to be an annual thing in our cottage area, but I haven’t heard of one in quite some time. Sounds like the same kind of idea, but the food depends on what’s common in the area.
Yup. I live about a mile from a former amusement park that started off as a site of bayside clam bakes.
We barely have any surface water, so we definitely don’t have clam bakes.
No clam bakes or boils that I know of here in the Chicago area. Even fish boils are something I only associate with our northern neighbors.
Nope. The High Desert Clam is an Endangered Species and you cannot hunt/harvest them. But the Deep-Fried Jackrabbit Jamboree and Dry-Lake Mosh Pit are a big hit in late summer (weather permitting).
We’ve gone to The Foxburg Inn in Foxburg, PA on the upper Allegheny River for their fall clam bake. All you can eat clams, mussels, corn, etc as well as a salad bar and an entree.
I live near Boston. I thought clam bakes were just a Cape Cod thing; I’m surprised they happen in Cleveland.
Now I have a cheesy Elvis song running through my head…
They are everywhere in NE Ohio this time of year. Home cooked ones for small groups. Buy-everything at once in a big pot from grocery stores. Bigger events where you hire a caterer to cook everything at your home. Pay-per-guest events at specific locations. And finally, many restaurants serve them on weekends - first come first serve.
Over the years Polish. Slovenian, etc sausage has become a staple of the bakes. Not surprising in the heavily European Cleveland suburbs, Mussels added for the higher end dinners and lobster for the best.
I grew up on Long Island, so they were common back then. Clams (softshell and Hard shell), lobster, potatoes, corn, etc.
Let me tells ya about the Cleveland Steamer… 
hey you forgot about the spring snake fry and bug roast (I live on the other side of the high desert lol)
Around these parts we do low country boils. Mandatory non-seafood ingredients are potatoes, corn, and sausage. Shrimp and crawfish are probably the most popular seafood, but plenty of folks like clams, mussels, various types and pieces of crab, etc.
Serve by scooping everything out and dumping it on long tables covered in newspaper. Eat with way too much lemon juice and cocktail sauce.
I looked up Foxburg and the inn. The only online info I can find on a clambake in town is an annual one at the Allegheny Grill which is at 40 Main St. (the inn’s address is 20 Main). The clambake menu lists all-you-can-eat clam chowder and mussels, but just a dozen clams.
Not bad, but I’m not trekking out to Hellangone, PA for anything less than all-you-can-eat clams.
I’ll buy you all the damn clams you can eat.
The real draw is sitting on the patio/deck overlooking the upper Allegheny River and drinking to excess because you have a room at the Inn and a couple of kayaks atop your car for a trip in the early morning.
We’ve done the clam thing/room/kayak thing a few times and it’s always been amazing.
The Inn takes up a bunch of space. There’s also a winery on property.
Blasphemer. You put a large container of Tony Sachere’s Cajun Spice (affectionately known as “shay-shay”) on the table. Cocktail sauce is for people who eat at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company or other chain-type places that dare to serve low country.
I was born in Massachusetts and recalled seeing them when we would visit friends and family near Cape Cod.
I moved to southern New Mexico when I was 6, and such things were never heard of, but the now greatly missed Whole Enchilada Festival was the annual food event for the community, while plenty of local and seasonal foods abounded the rest of the year (Hatch Chiles being less than an hour away made that a bigger event!). Clams? Never saw them, along with most other seafood.
As an adult, I’ve lived mostly in Colorado, and while there are some seasonal foods (Pueblo chilis and Palisade Peaches), as well as local festivals, no seasonal cooked dishes for individual households.