Ranked by TableJourney editorial score.
Manhattan clam chowder is a tomato-based clam broth with potato, celery and a clam-juice backbone, served at oyster bars across New York City since the 1890s.
The red Manhattan style emerged in late-19th-century clam shacks on Coney Island and the Rhode Island shore, attributed variously to Portuguese fishermen who added tomato to the New England base and to Italian immigrants at Brooklyn's clam houses. The dish was codified at the Grand Central Oyster Bar (since 1913) and at Sloppy Louie's in the South Street Seaport. New England chowder partisans waged a Maine state legislative campaign in 1939 to ban tomato from clam soup; New York ignored the bill and the recipe stuck. The Oyster Bar still serves a daily Manhattan and a daily New England side by side, no preference declared.
2 editor picks for Manhattan clam chowder in New York City, ranked by editorial score. All New York City signature dishes · Manhattan clam chowder across every city.
Maison Premiere on Bedford Avenue has poured absinthe and shucked oysters in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City since 2011. James Beard winner 2016.
TipOyster happy hour 16:00-19:00 weekdays is the way in; the garden opens April through November and books weeks ahead.
The Grand Central Oyster Bar has poured oysters and clam chowder beneath the Guastavino tiles of New York City's Grand Central Terminal since 1913.
OrderA cup of Manhattan clam chowder and a half-dozen East Coast oysters at the counter.
TipSit at the counter facing the open kitchen; the pan roast is theatre when made to order.
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