A chef’s guide to Boston’s best clam chowder

Jeremy Sewall has cooked at eateries around the world, but home in Boston, he’s known for his clam chowder. Here are his top local bowls, from Neptune Oyster to Yankee Lobster.

New England Clam chowder – a stick-to-your-ribs cream-based clam and potato stew – is beloved all over the United States, but synonymous with the city of Boston.

Clear broth-style chowders or stews made by the New England region’s Indigenous peoples date back hundreds of years, including tribes in what is now Massachusetts. Quahogs, a type of local clam, along with other shellfish, fish and native ingredients like corn and beans were primary ingredients in early-recorded renditions of the chowder, which later incorporated traditions brought by English settlers who swapped corn and beans for potatoes. And since 1836, chowder – or chowdah, as it’s often pronounced in Boston – has been proudly served at the city’s Union Oyster House, the oldest restaurant in continuous service in the US. Over the decades, New England-style clam chowder has become woven into the very fabric of the city’s culinary identity.

But not all creamy clam chowders are made equal. To highlight Boston’s most extraordinary bowls, we spoke to Jeremy Sewall, chef and partner of Row 34 in Boston’s atmospheric Seaport.

While the hallmarks of traditional New England clam chowder are sacrosanct – a milky-white creamy base, chopped clams, diced potatoes and often bacon or salt pork – opinions vary on other elements and ingredients. Sewall himself thickens Row 34’s chowder with a traditional roux of flour and butter, adding salty bacon fat to deliver a velvety taste. His secret ingredient is a subtle dash of green tabasco. “It adds a nice little bit of spice and acidity to it,” he says. “[Chowder’s] been a part of Boston culture for a long time and represents what New England is. It’s a hearty, simple dish that, when done really well, is an iconic thing. That’s why it’s been around for hundreds of years and is still one of the most popular dishes in Boston.”

Sewall adds that Boston’s location on Massachusetts Bay, and by extension, the Atlantic Ocean, intrinsically lends itself to phenomenal just-caught seafood. “It’s accessible here,” he says. “It’s just part of how we make things; certainly a simple thing like chowder. The chopped clams that everybody traditionally uses for chowder, they’re all available, so it’s just how we cook here.”

Here are Sewall’s favourite clam chowders in Boston.