The Clam is unfortunately not a restaurant by the sea. Nor is it a Family Guy themed bar where people come and get hammered with their hilarious dogs, which is probably even more disappointing. It is, however, another quaint restaurant in the West Village from the folks who brought you the quaintest* of West Village restaurants, Little Owl and Market Table. Aside from the misleading and somewhat unfortunate name, and aside from the fact that it kind of looks like every single other restaurant in this part of town, The Clam is actually very unique and really damn good. The idea seems to be that they've gone all New York City on the roadside clam shack, meaning that they put it in the West Village, added tablecloths, and put pork belly in many of the dishes. In your face, New England. The menu at The Clam is as clammy as you'd expect, with the bivalve at least making an appearance on most of the plates. Not into eating from the half shell? Here's the good news: The things that we actually liked best here didn't even have clams in them, like raw scallop crudo with pear and hazelnuts, and some sort of Mexican seafood cocktail with the shrimp in the sauce. Good luck finding that in Rhode Island. As a matter of fact, good luck finding Rhode Island. Might as well just stick around the city this summer. *Not even sure if this is a word. Not proud of using it either way.