Aunt Carrie's

1240 Ocean Road, Narragansett, RI - (401) 783-7930

Overview Reviews(1) Rate Restaurant Upload Photos Bookmark Email

Posted By Michael Stern on 5/25/2007 3:36:00 AM

Aunt Carrie's, at Point Judith on the ocean, has been a summertime destination since the 1920s. It remains one of the few places in Rhode Island that still lists a full shore dinner on its menu. It starts with chowder (your choice of white, red, or Rhode Island-style, which is clear and bacon-flavored). That's accompanied by crusty-gold balls of deep-fried clam-flavored dough called clam cakes as well as steamers with broth and butter for dipping. Then come filet of sole with corn on the cob and French fries, accompanied by homemade bread and butter. After that you get a whole lobster and finally warm Indian pudding topped with ice cream or a slice of pie. Abbreviated versions of the big feed are available (without the lobster, or without the fish); or you can order à la carte and get whatever combination of chowder, clam cakes, fish, or lobster you like.

We very much enjoyed our shore dinners on occasions when we visited last summer, but weren't happy with the other eat-in-the-rough shoreline fare we tried. Fried clams were thick and drab; and the tired meat in the lobster roll was a sorry contrast to the fresh meat we picked from the whole lobster in the shore dinner. Desserts, however, were as good as ever: swell sweet/tart rhubarb pie, seriously good Indian pudding and, at the very end of the summer, pumpkin pie. We missed visiting during strawberry season, when Aunt Carrie's traditionally offers Yankee strawberry shortcake.

Scorecard

Overall: Excellent - Worth a Detour

Rhubarb Pie	Steamers
Lobster	chowder
Indian Pudding	Clam Cakes
Shore Dinner	fried clams

Rate this place

Reviewers Photos [Upload Your Photos]

"Indian pudding, a stout samp of long-baked cornmeal and molasses, is a traditional Yankee shoreline dessert. A la mode is the only way to go."
Michael Stern

"Clam cakes are part of a full-bore shore dinner. They are large spheres of fried dough dotted with nuggets of sweet clam meat."
Michael Stern

"The blueberry pie, full of lots of sweet berries, is a seasonal favorite at Aunt Carrie's."
Cliff Strutz

"Fish and chips is just one course in a shore dinner. Before it come clam chowder and clam cakes, then steamers. After that comes the whole lobster and, finally, Indian pudding or rhubarb pie."
Michael Stern

"Steamers are a sweet way to begin a meal. The ritual is to pull the clam from its shell, dip it in broth to rinse away grit, then sop it with drawn butter."
Michael Stern

"Although not the best thing on the menu, the hand-breaded whole bellies are definitely worth ordering."
Cliff Strutz

"Aunt Carrie's is known for great homemade pies. Here is rhubarb -- a very nice balance of sweet and tart."
Michael Stern

"Our young waitress was enthusiastic about all the places we were eating at around Rhode Island and even made some suggestions. Sounds like a Roadfooder to us!"
Cliff Strutz

"This 1-1/2 pound lobster was part of a shore dinner. We like the way it arrives holding napkins in its claw."
Michael Stern

"Aunt Carrie's dining room is a meditative place."
Michael Stern

"While it is supremely casual, there is something polite about this old shore dinner hall, as seen in these lacy curtains. "
Michael Stern

"Aunt Carrie's started as a clam cake and chowder stand on Narragansett Beach in 1920."
Michael Stern