Johnny's Reef

City Island Avenue runs out of road at Belden Point, and Johnny's Reef sits right there at the end, as it has for more than sixty years. The system is old-fashioned: you queue at long cafeteria counters — fried, steamed, clams, drinks — pay, carry your tray outside and claim a picnic table on a huge concrete patio a few feet from Long Island Sound. Gulls keep an eye on your plate.

Order from the fried counter — shrimp, scallops, clam strips or a fish platter with fries and slaw — or steamed lobster tails and clams with Italian bread. Then go to the bar for a frozen drink; the piña colada with a cherry on top, or its cognac-spiked cousin, is the island's unofficial uniform. You come for the breeze and the view as much as the batter. It runs on a seasonal schedule, so check before a cold-weather trip.