Clams

Starting off our list, the number 10 spot goes to clams.

These bivalves are constantly associated with New England, and rightfully so. The hard clam is found in the coastal waters anywhere from Florida north to Canada but is exceptionally abundant in New England and New Jersey. Maybe you’ve heard about clam digging? This is when one would go out into the waters and rake the clams out from the substrate, where they live, filtering the water for food.

Now, anatomy is pretty simple here. Two muscles connect the animal’s two hard shells, and they also possess a “foot” that’s used to help bury and plant them into the previously mentioned substrate.

Clams have a very mild fish taste and a not-so-overpowering briny flavor that’s reminiscent of the waters they were harvested from. They can be eaten raw, my favorite. They can be cooked into soups, like the super popular New England Clam Chowder. They can even be made into other dishes, like clams casino, clams baked topped with a bacon bread crumb mixture.

Since raw clams are my personal favorite, I would highly recommend trying to find a raw bar. Raw bars are pretty much what they sound like, a bar that sells raw clams, oysters, and other seafood for some scrumptious Salem slurping.

Steak Tips

Number nine goes to steak tips.

The dish's name "steak tips" usually refers to manageable-sized pieces of beef, bottom sirloin to be exact. This cut of meat is often said to be similar to hangar steak.

The bottom sirloin is located in the back portion of the cow, underneath the top sirloin, and above the flank steak region, just in front of the animal's hind legs.

This cut of beef works perfect for steak tips but can also be roasted or cut into steaks.

Steak tips in Salem have an incredibly beefy flavor, and due to the cut's looser-than-most texture, it takes to marinades very well. Yum

Lobster

The number eight spot goes to the American lobster!

Famous in New England, it only makes sense that they are popular in Salem. This shelled sea creature ranks in as the heaviest crustacean in the world, potentially weighing in at 44 pounds! Although still large, 44 pounds is an exception to the lobsters you will most likely be eating; specimens in the one-to-nine pound range.

These are sweet-tasting crustaceans that have a taste that's compared to a cross between shrimp and crab. The meat is both soft and firm and should be very easy to bite through.

You can find these grilled, boiled, or in sandwich form. Lobster Roll. However you eat this one, you should expect two things:

Lots of melted butter
Some delicious bites.

Roast Beef

Number seven goes to roast beef!

In the United States, the ole RB is traditionally served as an entire roast for Sunday dinner. Salem takes advantage of this delicious meat every day of the week, sliced and put in a sandwich.

The sandwich will be placed between two slices of bread and served either cold or hot. Other sandwich ingredients could include lettuce, tomato, maybe mustard, maybe cheese, maybe horseradish, and perhaps onion.

But maybe…. You can find it “3-way,” with BBQ sauce, mayo, and cheese. You should get it this way for a more Salem experience.

When I went to Salem for the first time last year, multiple people told me to get a roast beef sandwich while still in town. So I did, and it was well worth it!

Pizza

The number six spot goes to the Italian dish, the pizza pie.

This leavened-crusted pie is topped with tomato sauce and cheese at its most familiar point, but variations let the orderer go hog wild. They can be topped with basically anything. Although untraditional, they can be made with or without cheese or tomato. When I was vegan, I always ordered no cheese.

In America, pizza is generally a hand food and is most commonly cooked as a big circular pie. This circular pie is generally be cut into eight slices, which are picked up by the eater and folded in a way that resembles a paper airplane.

The crust is chewy, the sauce is tangy, and the cheese is stringy. Some say there’s no such thing as a bad pizza, and most will agree.

Where is your favorite pizza in Salem? Get your friends and family together, crack open a couple brewskis and go to town, Salem-style.

Ice Cream

Number five…Ice cream in New England. For those of you that haven't experienced this sweet summertime dairy-based sensation, you are truly missing out.

"Ice cream" can refer to a few different frozen treats, including but not limited to:

Frozen Yogurt

Custard

Sorbet

Gelato

One can enjoy ice cream numerous ways:

1. In a cone (pictured above)

2. In a cup

...or if it's warm enough

3. Off your fingers, because it's melting quicker than you can eat it!

Flavors and toppings are also endless, so you'll have to do some experimenting as you ice cream hop. Here are a few examples of the gazillions of flavors there are to choose from:

Vanilla

Chocolate

Rum raisin (my favorite)

Coconut

Caramel Fudge Swirl

Mint Chocolate Chip

When in Salem, you will pass ice cream shops, often called ”parlors.” Everyone should indulge.

Red’s Sandwich Shop

The number four spot goes to the city's breakfast food, but from a particular restaurant; Red's Sandwich Shop. Located right in the thick of it, Red's has been a favorite breakfast stop for over 50 years on Central Street. That's half a century.

Breakfast is cool and all, but this building has plenty of history that dates well beyond its 50 years of scrambling eggs. The restaurant found its home in the Old London Coffee House that has been around since the 1700s. The Coffee House was a place of gathering for the Patriots' pre-American Revolution. The building was also a meeting place for the oldest "boy's club" in American history, the Salem Fraternity.

Besides its historical aura, one can indulge in all the quintessential American breakfast staples; eggs, pancakes, French toast, hash browns, bacon, sausage, waffles, grapefruits. The list goes on and on.

Candy

Salem and halloween are synonymous. Candy and halloween are synonymous. So does that mean Salem and candy are synonymous? I think it does.

The number three spot goes to the extremely vague category, candy!

Candy is a confection where sugar is the main ingredient and are usually meant for only one person to consume; the are usually small pieces made for the individual other than groups or sharing. They are also usually intended as a snack food, being eaten between meals, rather than as a formal dessert.

Sugar candies in America can include familiar favorites like gummy bears, lollipops, or even fudge.

Chocolate candies are exactly what they sound like. Candy made with chocolate. Think chocolate bars.

Before the 1900’s candy was actually a common street food, sold on carts, and was pretty much only found unwrapped. Eventually after years of dirt and bug abuse, the candy makers thought it might be worth their while to wrap their sweets.

In Salem, one of the more historically famous candies are gibralters:

Gibraltar: the first commercially sold candies in America! They come is flavors like lemon and peppermint. These guys were first made in 1806. Their creator was a confectioner by trade, but they were made and sold resourcefully and out of desperation, because the ingredients were gifted to her after a shipwreck left her and her family with nothing. History making.

Popcorn

The number two spot isn't just for the movies; it's also for walking around Salem! Popcorn is very highly regarded in the city of Salem.

What is popcorn? Popcorn is a puffed/popped/expanded corn kernel that is eaten plain or topped with nearly anything one can imagine… that seems like it's the case in Salem.

The most common toppings for popcorn include salt, butter, caramel, cheese powder, or white sugar. However, in Salem, things get cooky in the best way possible; chocolate coated, drizzled with caramel, flavored with strawberries and cream, cookies and cream, peanut butter, flavored like cinnamon buns or French toast. The list goes on and on. Trying all the flavors sounds like an addicting sport.

I was always curious about how popcorn popped until my Food Network idol, Alton Brown, explained it. There is a little moisture concealed within each kernel. When the corn heats up, the water turns to gas and expands. This expansion makes each kernel explode!

Chop Suey Sandwich

The number one spot goes to the unique chop suey sandwich.

Chop Suey, alone, is an Americanized Chinese dish that looks like a big jumble of different things. The main protein is usually pork or chicken and is accompanied by eggs, various vegetables (bean sprouts, onions, celery, and cabbage), and is cooked in a thick soy sauce gravy that barely holds it all together.

This dish is customarily served with rice… but not in Salem.

Here, they use a hamburger bun.

But how does it taste? It's a sweet and salty mixture of vegetables, predominantly cooked bean sprouts. Soy sauce and the utilized protein boost the flavor of this mainly vegetable medley.

The chop suey sandwich is the area's culinary claim to fame and has had a home in the city's Salem Willows, a local seaside park, since the early 1900s.

It started in first-generation, Chinese-owned restaurants that tailored their way of cooking around the American taste bud. The timing worked out perfectly for this sandwich, as the development of the Salem Willows aligned with an influx of Chinese immigrants arriving in the area. From there, it's history: the chop suey sandwich, what many say to be Salem's unofficial start to summer.

Top 10 Foods: What to Eat in Salem, MA