For some it’s all about fried clams while for others its all about lobster in its various incarnations. New England has got the best seafood on the planet and I am a firm believer it’s our region’s Portuguese influence that helps put us over the top. For your old pal Dot Rat, it’s all about the calamari!

Back in the early 90’s I was invited over my buddy Chris’s house down on Stock street for dinner. That night I was introduced to calamari by his father Albert. The Buccini home was half Italian and half Portuguese and as any friend of the family will attest, Al and Jean were easily two of the best cooks in the neighborhood. After a little coaxing and trusting their culinary chops, I tried calamari for the first time….. and was immediately hooked (no pun). The family used it a number of different ways but, their calamari pasta sauce was over the top. In retrospect, that’s when the gold standard was set for all things squid and hasn’t been touched until recently….

One afternoon a few years back I stopped into a Hull seafood restaurant to have lunch. It was a total shot in the dark, I saw the place and pulled in. We’ve all driven past Jakes Seafood a thousand times on our way to and from Nantasket. So, I stroll in with my incredibly sexy date and get seated on their outdoor deck. We order some wine for her, a beer for me and two side salads while we go through the menu.

After a couple of drinks paired with the warm sun hitting my incredibly handsome face…your boy was in a great mood. The lovely lady and I decided to split an appetizer, and as you smaht sons of guns probably guessed…. we ordered the calamari. At Jakes you can get it 4 different ways and we went with what turned out to be my seafood holy grail…

Portuguese Style ~ fried then tossed with Ed’s marinara, grilled artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, roasted red peppers and feta 12.95

If Anthony Bourdain’s version of food crack is all things pork, then mine has to be the Portuguese Style calamari at Jakes. First of all Ed deserves a medal for the sauce but, for the sake of keeping this simple, I’m not going into too much detail about the dish but, I will say this….it came pretty damn close to putting a tear in my eye. My beloved Al and Jean still take the prize….but Jake’s is right there.

If you like all the ingredients listed above, do yourself a favor and get on this ASAP. Don’t waste your time going downtown to one of those huge chains….

That’s funny..well….here’s another 4 letter word….TIPS. I don’t understand why Legal steals them but, Jake’s most certainly lets their employees keep their tips…plus the food is ten times better.

Check out their site here: http://jakesseafoods.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jakesseafoods

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jakes-Seafoods-Nantasket-Beach

But hey, don’t take my word for for it…