Connie & Ted's: Excellent Steamers and Lobster Roll Washed Down with Ice Cold Rose, Some Duds

Anything with ice in this heat wave I'm a fan of. So it was with much relish that I slurped exactly three raw oysters at the new seafood temple Connie and Ted's. I don't know the million oyster varieties and the ones I had including kumamoto and kusshi (can't remember the third one) were ok but not mind-blowing. They came on an ice-bed with a side of horseradish and mignonette sauces (shallots and vinegar). I'm a purist when it comes to oysters so I just kept it simple with a squirt of lemon.

Overall verdict was that it was somewhat overpriced and a bit of a scene for my taste. Food was mixed with more disappointments than revelations. My favorite was the very simple steamers, aka soft shell clams. The clams were so tender, juicy and full of flavor. The dipping sauces of melted butter and clam broth were the perfect accompaniments for the meaty clam. Just make sure you carefully peel the clams out of the shell and keep in mind they're not the most appealing looking clams. But they were excellent.

My next favorite thing was the crowd-pleasing lobster roll, of course. The uber buttery bread the plentiful lobster meat sat in certainly helped. The fact that they hadn't skimped on the lobster meat was another plus. The meat was just right -- not rubbery from overcooking, no shells from sloppy preparation and garnished with chives and celery leaves. The soft, buttery bread combined with the meaty lobster was heavenly. Not your everyday sammich.

Now for the bad and ugly. The cole slaw was bad. The fries were unremarkable. Ok, I had arrived a bit late so they weren't piping hot by the time I had them but just not impressed. Then the stuffies a la New England, apparently. I had heard about these on the Dinner Party Download and was looking forward to them. Alas, what a downer. The clam, linguica, garlic, butter (is there anything on this menu that doesn't have butter?) and breadcrumbs mixed and broiled in a clam shell looks good but just doesn't taste good. I guess I'm not a stuffies fan. It was too salty and I didn't love the texture either.

Ed's Portuguese fish stew that had hake, clams, mussels and linguica was just ok. Maybe it was the heat wave but while the broth was flavorful, the dish as a whole didn't knock my socks off.

The fried clams with bellies as message boards were raving about totally disappointed. What's up with the bellies hype? The bellies did nothing for me. Despite the fact these were fried, it was the least popular dish on our table. The texture was wrong and the flavor was off too. Not sure if it was because it was a less expected dish compared to, say, fried calamari.

Service was good but the place was extremely noisy and as mentioned, a bit of a scene. It's nice to have a new neighborhood joint and it supposedly serves a great burger (in a seafood place, go figure) so I'll probably return and try it and other things. Just not rushing back. The nice, cold rose we had went well with our seafood feast. Oh, the chef is the Providence guy. I like that place but it's even more overpriced than this one. Special occasion only.

Burger Update:
I went back to try its burger after hearing raves about it. I had my doubts because it's unexpected for a seafood place to do a burger well. But I was wrong. It was indeed excellent and perfectly cooked medium rare. One thing I didn't like was the aged cheddar cheese that I thought was too overpowering. Loved the pickles and Thousand Island dressing. Didn't love the iceberg lettuce. Iceberg, really?