Best of Boston

2003 Best Seafood Restaurant, North

Woodman’s of Essex

This is what you might call seafood in the rough: You stand at the counter, shout your order, eat it, and leave. But paper plates and plastic cutlery aside, there’s very little that’s actually rough about Woodman’s, which offers some of the smoothest fried seafood around. The breading isn’t a disguise for a small and salty chunk of meat, as it is at lesser seafood shacks, but a crispy golden complement to the tender bivalves beneath.

121 Main St., Essex, 978-768-6057, woodmans.com/