Growing up in North Reading, Massachusetts, Billy Reynolds spent summers on Salisbury Beach, feasting on fried whole belly clams from the seafood shack. These days, the Los Gatos, California, chef and co-owner of Billy’s Boston Chowder House isn’t eating clams with his toes in the sand. But his authentic chowders take him and his transplanted New England customers back to those days.
This simple corn chowder, flavored with bacon and bay leaves, isn’t on the restaurant’s menu, but it reminds Reynolds of the comforting corn chowders his dad used to make at the peak of summer.
Billy Reynolds’ Corn Chowder
Serves 6
4 ears corn, husked