Iggy’s Doughboys

Iggy’s is a modern “eat in the rough” restaurant overlooking Narragansett Bay. Everything is presented in disposable containers – salads in plastic, chowder in a Styrofoam cup, stuffed clams in a cardboard boat, and doughboys in a brown paper bag – so that when you are finished eating, you can sweep everything from the table and toss it yourself.

The term “doughboy,” after which this restaurant is named, is unique to New England’s southern shores, but it is a food with cognates throughout the east and even way out west. A doughboy is a small square of puffy fried dough, served hot and rolled in granulated sugar. Sold by the dozen, doughboys are excellent sweet-bread companions for just about any meal. Elsewhere in New England, similar foodstuffs are known as flippers or cheats or (in Portuguese bakeries) malassadas; and they bear a remarkable resemblance to the scones of Utah and the sopaipillas of New Mexico, and even, in a distant way, to the beignets of New Orleans.

Iggy’s doughboys are so easy to eat that we suggest getting only a half dozen, lest you consume nothing but dough and thereby deprive yourself of appetite enough to eat the big, crusty clam cakes, red or white chowder, and good fried clams. We also suggest that any meal include a few stuffies – quohog clam shells piled with a luscious clam stuffing.

The beverage menu features locally bottled white birch beer and sarsaparilla.

Note: The Iggy’s on Oakland Beach Avenue is open year around. A second location, at 1151 Point Judith Road, is seasonal.