Burnt Tongues and A Crowded Booth
My favorite soup is clam chowder.
Except it can’t just be any store-bought can of clam chowder, or even a nice, hearty bowl from an ordinary restaurant.
The clam chowder I’m talking about can only be found at one restaurant (if it can even be called that). The little shack sits on the corner of the street, overlooking Carlsbad beach. It has a walk-up window and an open patio and little wooden booths facing the water. It is there that I will get this magical bowl of clam chowder, with little saltine crackers for dipping.
The clams are caught fresh daily, and the chowder is unlike any other. Believe me, I’ve tried. The only one that comes even close to Harbor Fish Café’s wondrous creation is the bread bowl clam chowder at Disneyland. However, I’m pretty sure I like that one only because I’m in Disneyland when I’m eating it.
Lunch at the Harbor Fish Café has become something of a tradition for my family. Every time we go to California, we have to somehow make it over to Carlsbad to sit in the rickety booths and order our clam chowders. The waitresses always look at us kind of funny when we order six cups of clam chowder with extra crackers, but we’re always too wrapped up in the chowder to care.
It’s full of potatoes, and chunks of fresh clams, and seasoned perfectly. I don’t think I’ve ever touched the salt or pepper on the tables. The chowder always comes steaming hot, and I burn my tongue every time. After so many visits to Harbor Fish Café, after so many first bites of their beautiful clam chowder, you’d think I would’ve learned by now that it’s always too hot to just dig in. I just can’t resist.
One of my little brothers likes dipping his French fries in the clam chowder. I used to judge him for it until I tried it. It’s so good. My other little brother will only take bites if every spoonful has a little saltine cracker on it. I can’t judge him for that, either; the crackers are what completes the chowder. And my dad, he always eats every last drop in his cup, and steals the rest of my mom’s, too.
I think I like the clam chowder so much because it reminds me of summers spent in Carlsbad with my family. It tastes like laughter and sunshine and swimming in the ocean. We’re all grown up now, which makes family vacations difficult to put together. But we somehow always end up at Harbor Fish Café together, squeezed into a tiny booth, burning our tongues on clam chowder.
