The Boston Restaurant That Served Up The First-Ever Cups Of Clam Chowder

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Some cities have become forever associated with a specific dish, like Philadelphia and the cheesesteak, or Montreal and poutine. For Boston, it's New England clam chowder, and there's one restaurant in particular that helped tie the Massachusetts city to this hearty, warm, and creamy seafood soup: Union Oyster House, the oldest continuously operating restaurant and oyster bar in the United States, which first opened its doors in 1826 and began serving clam chowder a decade later. To be clear, this was the New England-style rather than a Manhattan clam chowder (which is a brothy, tomato-based version), characterized by its cream base with fewer vegetables and the addition of salt pork or bacon.

While Union Oyster House may have been the first restaurant to serve clam chowder, the dish's history predates its famous purveyor by at least 200 years. Clam chowder, like many typically American dishes, has complex roots that include Native American, British, and other European foodways. Indigenous people in what is now New England were making a version of this seafood dish as early as the 17th century. English, French, or Canadian fishermen likely then built on this with versions influenced by their own cooking traditions. In 1751, it was established enough to have a recipe appear in a Boston newspaper, and its popularity only continued to grow over the decades. As Christopher G. Bates notes in "The Early Republic and Antebellum America," the Union Oyster House's inclusion of the dish on its menu essentially amplified and solidified the relationship between Boston and clam chowder.

The Union Oyster House was originally known as Atwood & Bacon upon opening in 1826, and when the restaurant began serving clam chowder, it gave the soup a big boost. Clam chowder even made it into American literature, with Herman Melville dedicated an entire chapter of his 1851 masterpiece "Moby Dick" to chowder, describing the dish in loving detail. Over the years, Union Oyster House would become the place to be in Boston and the favorite haunt of politicians, including Daniel Webster, who slurped down oysters by the plateful in the 1820s and went on to serve as a U.S. senator and secretary of state. Franklin D. Roosevelt ate there as well. And President John F. Kennedy went there so regularly they named an upstairs booth after him (where you can still dine).

Union Oyster House has played host to more recent presidents as well, including Barack Obama. Today, the clam chowder there remains so popular, they serve more than 10,000 gallons a year. Yes, Boston obviously loves its clam chowder, and it was one of the most historic restaurants in Massachusetts that helped make it happen. This dish may be ubiquitous in Boston these days, but there's only one place that's been serving it for nearly 200 years.