By Richard Foss, Cuisine and Culture Writer
“I’m not sure you’re going to love the food, but I know you’re going to love the place,” said my friend Annette when I picked her up to visit The Chowder Barge in east Wilmington.
She is a professional chef and the places she recommends are usually heavy on style, but she let me know that this was not a day to dress up.
Sure enough, the Wilmington marina where The Chowder Barge is docked is not the kind of place where one is expected to come in a jacket and tie. A T-shirt, jeans and sneakers are formal enough, no one will fault you for not wearing socks. The Chowder Barge looks like the building where just about everybody had their first apartment, but with water under it. The sides are unevenly stuccoed, there’s only a faint memory of paint on some of the trim and once you get aboard you may notice that the whole thing is listing slightly.
Inside there’s a nautical clutter that is oddly multicultural. Yes, that’s a carving of an Indonesian mermaid next to the tacky New England fisherman statue and there are antique fish gaffs alongside the incongruous Mayan heads hanging near the fireplace. All sorts of pirate-themed toys, mugs and other memorabilia festoon the place, adding to a collection reminiscent of an eccentric uncle’s study. There is an unmistakable patina of age, which is appropriate since this barge was built in 1934 as a support vessel for the movie Mutiny on the Bounty, starring Charles Laughton, Franchot Tone, Clark Gable and other actors that nobody but serious film buffs remember. Some genuine matinee idols dined here and you can too, if you’re willing to go well off the beaten track to a scruffy marina.
Matinee idols of that era weren’t noted as gourmets, so I can’t say for sure whether the food was more sophisticated then or now. The Chowder Barge’s menu is pretty basic: burgers, seafood platters and, of course, its namesake, chowder. There is one novel item, the “Double Chowder Burger,” which consists of a cheeseburger topped with clam chowder, topped with fried clam strips.
You might want to read that last sentence again, because it actually does say what you thought it said. With the possible exception of the Seattle-area barbecue joint that offered “weasel on a stick,” it’s easily the weirdest house special I have ever seen. (And before you ask, of course I ordered the weasel on a stick, but they were out that day. They’re out every day, because it’s a joke.)
I seriously considered whether to order that house special for about 30 seconds. I have had a lot of strange and scary items in my travels — Bulgarian kidney stew, Taiwanese stinky tofu, haggis, Greek sheep eyeballs, natto, Korean pig intestine stew, Marc MacYoung’s homemade chili and fugu, to name just a few. It was a surprise to be offered something that ranked in that league aboard a barge in Wilmington.
I didn’t actually order the burger, but did the next best thing: I ordered a starter of fried clams, a cup of chowder and a burger so I could try them all separately and then together. Annette called me a chicken, then ordered a salad and a grilled ham and cheese on sourdough with onion rings.
The clams and salad arrived first and they were about what I expected. All of the seafood here is frozen. Fried frozen clam strips are the kind of thing that is hard to screw up. Annette’s salad was a bit better than expected, with some beets and cheese topping the standard lettuce and cucumber. The chowder was somewhat better: thick, a bit peppery and heavily scented with thyme. It’s not the best chowder I have ever had, but it went down just fine and would be great on a cool, damp day.
The sandwiches and onion rings arrived after a few minutes and all were good examples of traditional diner cooking. I’d have preferred the flavor of freshly breaded onion rings, but it was all decent and wholesome and I’d have them again.
What I wouldn’t do again is repeat the experiment of dipping my burger in the clam chowder, topping it with fried clams, and having a bite, all in order to replicate the Chowder Burger. It wasn’t completely revolting, but I think that if I just pulled random items from my refrigerator and layered them, most combinations would have been better. No matter how much you like them individually, these things really don’t go well together. When I asked a server who had come up with this combination, they shrugged and replied, “Someone who smokes a lot of pot.” That had actually been my guess.
I don’t think there’s enough pot in the world to give me the munchies for a double chowder burger, but I’m highly likely to return to The Chowder Barge again and bring friends, just so they can savor the character of the place. I’ll want to see their faces when they step into that environment and experience the delight I did in finding a quirky hangout like this in such an unlikely setting.
The Chowder Barge is at 611 Henry Ford Ave. in Wilmington, down the road in the Leeward Bay Marina. It is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays through Saturdays. Beer and wine is served. There is a parking lot.
Details: (310) 830-7937; chowderbarge.com.