Godly New England White Clam Chowder at Mastro’s Ocean Club Fish House. Mastro’s Ocean Club in Newport Beach has great chowder. And the bread is phenomenal. Here’s how to get there:
8112 Pacific Coast Hwy (Crystal Heights Drive)
Newport Beach, CA 92647
Ever want some clam chowder and wish that the chowder was Manhattan (red) style, because you just don’t trust New England chowder? Well, after walking into Mastro’s with my dad I had that same predicament. But I asked my dad, “Is this chowder really good?” He said that it was good, so I decided to trust him and try the chowder. Since it was Saturday night at about 8:15PM Mastro’s was packed full of people dressed to impress other people in their middle aged – youthful senior respectable meat market bracket. I was standing around, I had a Coca-Cola in hand I was invited to sit down at a table with two ladies. I was really happy because the wait to sit down was forever and people had swarmed the bar. I thought that I might be able to sneak in a seat at the bar but there was no chance. So when the ladies invited me to sit down I thought that it was very nice of them.
So I ordered my New England Style (white) Clam Chowder and a bread basket. My server was very nice and attractive. She had sexy eyes and smiled sincerely when talking to me, so I asked for a refill on my coke. I started talking to the ladies after introducing myself. One of them was in real estate and the blond said that she was the, “ladder girl” who brought down the wine from the tall wine pantry. She was just joking. Then after a few minutes of talking, my chowder showed up with the bread basket.
I took my first taste of the soup by dipping a long cheese sprinkled piece of bread. I took a bite and was blown away by how perfect the soup was. It had the perfect amount of saltiness, heaviness, milkiness and chunkiness to make a great soup. You see, New England Clam Chowder can be runny at times or too salty or taste like it is a bacteria bowl with the dairy that’s in it. But at Mastro’s, the soup was off the charts. It had the measured and relaxed consistency between a soup and a light stew, and that’s exactly what White Clam Chowder is supposed to have. It was served at a hot yet instantly edible temperature and so I didn’t burn myself at all. And my server checked on me very quickly to see if I liked the Chowder and I felt very pleased to tell her that it was great.
Great New England Style White Clam chowder. Best I’ve ever had in my life, hands down. And the bread was great too! There was this pretzel bread that was shaped like a roll but it tasted and looked like a salted pretzel. It was soft and warm and was sooo good. Really was fun to change up the chowder with the bread. And the coke that they served wasn’t from a fountain either. They used personal sized plastic bottled cokes. And it tasted like a fresh coke, over ice. Perfect evening treat of a meal.
-Tyler