Durgin Park

Cuisine: Seafood, Bostonian.

Specialty: Clam Chowder, Baked Schrod, and Rude Waiters.

Location: 340 Faneuil Hall Mrkt Pl, Boston, MA 02109.

Price: Entrees $10-$25 (more for steak). $20 for Schrod, $5/$6.75 for a Cup/Bowl of Chowder.

I’m a California guy, so I’ve had my fair share of clam chowder. Just take a drive up towards the North, and you’ll be shocked at how many little seacoast cities along the way will serve up a fresh, creamy clam chowder.

From what I’ve heard from my East Coast friends, though, none of that compares to true New England Style Clam Chowder (or, as they like to call it, “chowda”). What the difference, and why there even is a difference, I really don’t know, nor have my friends ever bothered to explain it to me. All I’ve heard is that the East Coast is the proper home of clam chowder and that some of the best is to be found in Boston. While I’m not one to believe in exaggerated claims, I am somewhat impressed at just how stubborn my friends have been about the topic. To me, clam chowder is just another soup. To them, it’s a matter of personal and regional pride.

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So I decided to give Bostonian chowder a shot and go on a clam chowder crawl. After asking some locals about their personal takes on the clam chowder scene, I began with Durgin Park, one of Boston’s most traditional pubs, serving up all the classics under one roof.

As soon as I entered, though, I immediately had second thoughts. When I heard pub, I thought “dirty,” “dingy,” “old,” “lots of attitude,” etc. That type of thing, oddly enough, intrigues me. It speaks to the semi-adventurous, rough-around-the-edges youth inside me. When I walked in, though, I found the most touristy vibe I could imagine. The restaurant was, of course, covered with the typical pub decorations, such as paper four-leaf clovers, beer advertisements, and mentions of St. Patrick’s Day (which was 10 days away). There was, however, also an over-the-top sensationalism. Harpoon guns and gigantic pigs in a restaurant? You can get them here—and believe me, it’s as tacky as it sounds. More positively, there was at least a more tasteful, though somewhat superfluous, show of patriotism, as old black-and-white photos of the military hung from the walls.

Needless to say, by this point I feared the worst. How could a real clam chowder come from a place that seemed so fake?

Thankfully, I couldn’t have been more wrong. I not only received a fantastic cup of chowda, but probably the best cup I got in all of Boston. Rich but light, loaded with meat, deliciously gritty, and a bit too salty, this was chowder to remember! Surprisingly, it was quite a bit lighter than what I’m used to on the West Coast, where the chowder can be so thick and hearty that some find it cloying. It was also a lot fishier, which I find to be somewhat of a turnoff, but that’s more a matter of personal taste.

Even with those flaws, though, the chowder was by far the highlight of the meal, as the other Bostonian classics I chose disappointed. The baked schrod was rubbery and plain, the butternut squash so bland it was practically inedible, and the baked beans a bit monotonous though nicely smoky.

In short, Durgin Park is a true one-hit wonder. While the chowder impresses even by Bostonian standards, the rest of the food is forgettable at best, as is the restaurant with its absurdly overdone take on the traditional Irish pub.

What I Tasted

1. Clam Chowder: Now this is clam chowder! It’s extremely rich, but very smooth, almost like drinking milk. And it doesn’t fail in terms of flavor. It tastes like a very fatty cream stew, so creamy in fact that it reminds me of cheese. Adding to that is the fatty, savory taste of some bacon and the intense saltiness of the clams. There is a ton of meat—in fact, I got the great chewy clam taste in almost every bite. I’m a huge meat-eater, so that type of overstuffed chowder is ideal for me. The clams themselves taste very fresh and are rather juicy, too. The one thing I don’t like is that they’re a bit too salty, and there is a slight grittiness at times to them, as though the salt isn’t washed off fully (though I’m sure it is). Also, the chowder could use a bit of added zest or some herbs for flavoring. As it is, it’s flavorful but a bit underseasoned. Overall, though, this is an extremely well-executed chowder, stuffed with tons of fresh ingredients and especially meat, and the creaminess just can’t be beaten. Even better, it doesn’t actually feel all that heavy for something that’s so rich, and that lightness just keeps you wanting more. 4.2/5.0
2. Butternut Squash: Really dull and bland. It has the taste of squash all right, but for butternut squash there’s almost no sweetness. The texture isn’t the greatest either. It’s a mash, but it is neither light nor creamy. Instead, it’s actually kind of lumpy. 0.3/5.0
3. Boston Baked Beans: Actually, these aren’t bad, and in contrast to the squash, they have a nice honey maple sweetness. That honey flavor is strongest at the beginning but eventually moderates as the beans pick up an increasingly smoky, slightly tangy BBQ flavor. Moreover, the beans are well-cooked—not too mushy, not too hard, and not too soft. That, added to the balanced flavor, makes these quite good, though I do still think they’re a bit bland/monotonous. 3.0/5.0
4. Baked Schrod: This is a specialty both of Durgin Park and of the city itself, so I thought it’d be good. What I found, though, was a fish with almost no flavor of its own—just an intense, almost tasteless, chewy squishiness very reminiscent of a squid. Part of the problem is that the fish itself isn’t very flavorful. But that could be remedied if the fish had been seasoned or flavored. Instead, Durgin Park simply baked it, covered it with breadcrumbs, and drenched it in melted butter (and I meandrenched. A whole puddle of butter even forms on the bottom of the dish!). The total effect is somewhere between a satisfying light batter and a disgustingly buttery flavor. I have to say that the fish is extremely well-cooked, so that it isn’t overly hard but at the same time doesn’t fall apart at all. The baked top of breadcrumbs is also nice, as it’s light, soft, and smooth, and it really soaks up the butter well (it’s kind of like buttered toast). The butter, though, just overpowers everything, which is all the worse because the fish doesn’t really have any taste of its own, so it picks up the extreme butter taste. That butter ruins the taste of the whole fish, leaving you feel oily. 1.3/5.0

Scores

Ambience: 1.0/5.0
Service: 2.0/5.0
Taste: 2.0/5.0
Value: 2.0/5.0. Fairly priced, but not any better.
Overall: 1.8/5.0