Scrod is a young Atlantic cod or haddock, typically under 2.5 pounds, broiled with breadcrumbs and lemon butter. The defining Boston seafood-room weeknight order from the 1920s through the 1980s.
Where to eat it: 2 restaurants across 1 city.
The word scrod came into Boston use around 1850 as a fishing-fleet term for the smallest cod or haddock landed that day. The Parker House Hotel popularised broiled scrod on its menu by 1880 with a butter-breadcrumb topping; the dish became the city's mid-20th-century seafood-room default at Locke-Ober, the Coach Grill, Anthony's Pier 4 and dozens of hotel rooms. The collapse of New England cod stocks in the 1990s shifted scrod to haddock by industry default, but Legal Sea Foods, Atlantic Fish Co and Union Oyster House still list the dish on the menu year-round. Boston is the only American city where the word still appears on menus without parenthesis or explanation.
Common allergens: Fish, Gluten, Dairy
Tip from the editors. If broiling at high heat browns the topping before the fish cooks through, cover loosely with foil for the last 3 minutes.
Union Oyster House on Union Street has shucked oysters in Boston since 1826, the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the United States.
Signature: Oysters on the half shell, Clam chowder
Order: A dozen Wellfleets at the U-shaped bar and a cup of clam chowder.
Tip: Skip the dining-room tables and sit at the historic raw bar. The bar is the original 1826 plank.
Legal Sea Foods on Long Wharf, near the New England Aquarium in Boston, has anchored the chain's flagship since 1968. Kitchen leans seafood.
Signature: New England clam chowder, Lobster pie
Order: A cup of clam chowder, the recipe served at five presidential inaugurations.
Tip: Lunch with a harbor-side window is the best seat. The raw bar runs daily until 22:00.
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