Culinary Bike Rides of a Sort: The Short Clam, and The Long Clam

I exercise so I can eat, that is, eat more. So it should come as no surprise that all bike rides must, for me, end at destinations with food. I’d call it the carrot method, but I seldom have anything that healthy. From here in northern Pelham, I can go on two of my favorite food rides with my son, Patrick: The Short Clam and the Long Clam.

The Short Clam Ride is easy. We peddle hard down to Shore Road, over to Glen Island and around the county park so we deserve a stop at Leno’s Clam Bar on the way back. I know there are two schools of thought on Leno’s in Pelham. Some think it’s a frightening greasy place. Me, I love it. It’s an old time Wildwood, N.J., seafood stand dropped right in the neighborhood.

The Long Clam is, as it sounds, a longer ride out to City Island. That, of course, means we get to eat more. For this, we take Manor Circle off of Pelhamdale to Park Lane. At the end of Park Lane is a secret (at least it was to me, until I first learned of it) Bat Cave-like entrance to the Pelham Bay Park bike trail. The trail allows a splendid and safe ride past Split Rock Golf Course, the public horse stables, Orchard Beach, the municipal miniature golf course—imagine that, public putt-putt—and over the bridge and onto City Island.

Historical interlude: One cool little stop on the bike trail before you get to Orchard Beach is Glover’s Rock, where a plaque marks the spot at which Colonel Glover and 750 men held off the British Army under General Howe. If Glover had failed, George Washington and his troops would have been caught trying to escape Manhattan Island to White Plains. And Revolutionary War over. One website calls John Glover one of the great unsung heroes of the Revolutionary War, as this wasn’t the only time he saved Washington’s bacon and the revolutionary cause—he did it three times. That’s why our high school football field is named after Glover—presumably fighting took place on that hallowed, soon to be astro-turfed, ground. Though truth to tell, no one who plays on it now knows of Glover and his heroic exploits.

On City Island, Patrick and I eat at the giant old Sea Shore Restaurant (est. 1920, Patrick pointed out), because that’s the first one we ever stopped at. It’s also the first one you come to of the dozens of proudly old-school seafood joints on the island.

If Leno’s makes me feel like I’m at a seaside snack stand, City Island is like an entire shore town dropped at one edge of New York City. Squint your eyes a little, ignore the BX11 city buses, and watch gulls wheeling and boats rocking at moorings. Or try this. Stand on the promenade at Orchard Beach and look out across Long Island. You’ll have to remind yourself you’re in the Bronx.

We road the Long Clam on a beautiful Tuesday this week. As I pedaled, I realized, there is much irony in the fact the Town of Pelham and Pelham Bay Park are next door neighbors. The park was once a part of our town, as was City Island, all included in Thomas Pell’s original manor. Pelham Bay Park is the largest park in the City of New York. The Town of Pelham is desperately short of public park space. Pelham Bay Park has a public beach and a public golf course and even public horse stables and that miniature golf course, while such amenities that do exist in our town are in the hands of private clubs. Even access to the Long Island Sound is limited to either NYAC members or residents of the Village of Pelham Manor.

The town and the park are like brothers who were separated when young and grew up very differently. Maybe that's why the park, a magnificent recreational resource, is little used by Pelham folks. You should. Try the Long Clam for a start.
***
Follow-up: , I wrote that it is good news we have a nascent online newspaper war going here in Pelham (your own, your very own Pelham Patch vs the Daily Pelham). Here’s an excellent article on just how such hyperlocal journalism is producing great coverage and benefiting communities.