Randazzo's Clam Bar

The Randazzo family started selling fish on the Lower East Side around 1920 and moved the business to the Sheepshead Bay waterfront in 1932, when Emmons Avenue still looked out on a working harbor. A bar the family opened in the 1950s turned into a clam bar around 1960, and the hot tomato sauce Helen Randazzo created back then — still made to a recipe the family keeps to itself — now goes on nearly everything. Her descendants run it today, across the street from the fishing boats.

Order the fried calamari with the famous sauce, medium or hot, then baked clams and mussels in red sauce, or the linguine with white clam sauce. Anthony Bourdain named the lobster fra diavolo a favorite. The raw bar is reliable, and fried zucchini in Italian breadcrumbs covers anyone who won't eat seafood. The New York Times put it on its list of the city's 100 best restaurants in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and the place has stayed as casual as ever.