Being the adventurous types that we are, my friend Katie and I thought it would be fun to fully explore the borough this summer and venture out to "deep Brooklyn." Since we spend most of our time in the gentrified neighborhoods just over the bridges, (where we both live and love) we decided it was time to explore parts unknown! Brooklyn is enormous and filled with hidden treasures and we are on a mission to find them, both for the sake of the blog and for our own personal excitement and curiosity.
This past Friday we began our summer project and took the voyage on the Q train out to Sheepshead Bay. We were craving lobster and wanted to sit on the water and we needed to be on a subway line that ended in Coney Island as we were en route to see the weekly Friday night fireworks display. I searched the internet for the perfect restaurant to satisfy all of our needs and finally I found a winner: Clemente's Maryland Crab House. I went on to hopstop.com to get directions, but for some reason the site was not recognizing the address. "That's strange," I thought to myself, but that has happened to me in the past using mapquest and the places did indeed exist so I figured that this must be a similar situation. I mean they have a website and they received rave reviews on yelp! So I decided to get directions for a different restaurant also located on Emmons Ave. and printed out those directions in addition to the driving map found on Clemente's website. I then called Clemente's to confirm that I had indeed researched the correct train and stop. I also asked how long the walk was from the subway and the hostess replied, "about fifteen minutes." Awesome!
Our friend Shimmy came over (Shimmy is a man in case you were wondering, I'll save the nickname info and gang initiation activities for another time) and we pre-gamed the trek with some rose champagne that I had been saving in my refrigerator for a special occasion (going to Sheepshead Bay for the first time seemed pretty special enough) and we jumped on the subway and began the journey. When we got off the train at the Sheepshead Bay stop, we started walking to the waterfront, Emmons Ave. It was gorgeous! I never thought the shore of Brooklyn could be so beautiful! Katie turned to me and said,"It's so pretty! It reminds me of Santa Monica!" I thought she was exaggerating just a bit, but it is an amazing spot. As we walked along the coast I really thought that I had found Brooklyn's best kept secret. We had been walking for a good fifteen minutes and realized we were only in the 2000's (the restaurant is 3939), clearly the hostess on the phone hadn't taken the subway and walked there recently. So we did what any other BK trailblazer would do, we made a pit stop at Applebee's! (I mean where else would we stop?) We used the facilities and sucked down a $3 pint of Stella (gotta love the prices in that neck of the woods!) and continued the quest. After about ten more minutes Katie wanted to turn around and eat elsewhere, I insisted that we were not giving up! We had come this far! And sure enough after a bit more power-walking, an angry confused cabdriver and a dirt parking lot road, we saw the sign that read "Clemente's" with an arrow pointing left. HOORAY!!!! Success!!!
Clemente's is worth the trip. We were seated at a table on the marina and had a lovely view of the boats and jet skis docked in the area. There was a DJ and dancing on the bar side which added to the festive atmosphere. As soon as we sat down, the most delicious home-made semolina bread with seasoned olive oil dipping sauce was delivered to our table. We ordered beers and began looking at the menu when we heard a Twisted Tea Brand Ambassador's voice table-side offering us samples of their new brew. I looked up from my menu to see who the voice was coming from and it was my friend Addi who lives in LA! The story gets stranger, get this: she had left me a voice mail a few hours earlier telling me that she was in town working this weekend and that we should meet up! Of all places in NYC, Addi is at Clemente's! So insane and wonderful and shows you that this little seafood joint "off the beaten path" is a super special place.
Katie had the 1 1/4 lb. lobster, Shimmy opted for the linguini with clamsauce (10 fresh clams!), and I being the New Englander of the group just HAD to sample their Angry Lobster Roll (chilled chunks of lobster in a chipotle remoulade). All were delicious, affordable and the atmosphere made it even the more enjoyable. And if you like crab, Clemente's is the "Home of the All-You-Can-Eat Maryland Blue Crab Special" for only $29.95. You can have them prepared garlic style or with traditional old bay seasoning. If you are looking to try something different one evening for dinner this summer, go to Clemente's! The journey is part of the fun. You will have a great time, eat tasty seafood, and feel like you've been transported out of Brooklyn into a remote fishing village. All in all, a nice little Friday.
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