Flo's Clam Shack: Best Damned Clam Strips Anywhere!

Actual photo as served: Flo's fried clam strips are divine!

Flo's featured a $6.95 fish 'n chips special the day we stopped by. One platter is often big enough for two to share.

Only the smaller building in the front with the white and red coloring is Flo's.

Aside from clam  chowder and clams and spaghetti I'm not really a big fan of clams.
And, before last week I couldn't tell you the last time I ate fried clams. It had been ages since I tasted a fried clam. Ages!
I do remember the old Howard Johnson's restaurants serving fried clams. That was a speciality of theirs. But that had been eons ago.
Well, there is a Howard Johnson's motel in Newport, RI (or at least in nearby Middletown) and the motel office does have that distinctive, sloped, bright orange roof that many of us remember. But there is no restaurant there and no fried clams.
Still, there are fried clams -- tons of fried clams -- just down the road at Flo's Clam Shack right across from the beach (and a stone's throw from Newport's legendary Cliff Walk) in Middletown.
We'd heard so much about Flo's that during our recent visit to Newport we felt we had to visit the place.
First, you need to know that Flo's pretty much does qualify as a shack -- an updated and added-onto shack but a shack nonetheless. There's nothing fancy about it. It's a classic dive.
Second, like many dives Flo's has some quirky rules. You walk in and pick your table first. It's your job to find a table and stake your claim. Then, you get in line and place your order. You take a lobster beeper (don't ask me why it's a lobster and not a clam) and you wait to be beeped. That's when you go back to the order window (or thereabouts) and pick up your plates full of fried clams or whatever.
If Flo's is crowded (and it often is) you have to wait outside to place your order. That's the rule -- rain or shine.
Of course, there are no reservations.
We ordered the fried clam strip platter because someone told us that the strips were more plentiful and meatier than the fried clams. The platter came with fries, cole slaw and a huge pile of fried clam strips.
We also ordered a bowl of clam chowder.
The clam strips were absolutely incredible: Full, tasty and sweet. And here's the most wonderful thing -- they were not greasy. Still, they were crispy on the outside and succulent on the inside. Perfection! The fries were merely okay and the cole slaw was fine. But it was all about the clam strips: Plenty of them and yet we ate them all and loved each and every one.
The clam chowder was thinner than we like and not nearly as robust as we had hoped. Beer and wine are also available but we simply ordered soft drinks.
But go for the fried clam strips.
Flo's has been written up everywhere and won all kinds of awards and it's even been featured in the New York Times and on the Food Network -- all with good reason.
Don't miss it!