Shore Dinner

The mighty, multi-course shore dinner is a New England ritual meal that includes clams, corn, fish, sausage, lobster, chowder, clam cakes, and Indian pudding or strawberry shortcake for dessert. It was a common summer banquet in Downeast eating halls well into the 20th century. Greatest among them was the Rocky Point Park Shore Dinner Hall of Warwick Neck, Rhode Island, which sat 4000 people at long, paper-topped tables. Many restaurants along the Northeast coast offer a downscale version of shore dinner, but the all-inclusive, big-bore Yankee banquet is, with rare exception, a thing of the past.