Edible Food Find: Nightshade Clam Shack
Photos by Adam DeTour
If you navigate through mural-decorated downtown Lynn in search of Nightshade Clam Shack, you won’t find a rustic hut with a walk-up window. The summertime weekend lunch offshoot of Nightshade Noodle Bar is a clam shack in the virtual sense. From the Nightshade headquarters marked by a vibrant pink and green neon sign, chef Rachel Miller offers her interpretations of fried clams, Southern-style seafood boils, lobster and clam rolls and other seasonal beach fare—available exclusively through online ordering for takeout or delivery.
The Cajun-Vietnamese food of Miller’s childhood and her ongoing study of Vietnamese food culture inspire the menu.
“I grew up in coastal communities in Louisiana and Virginia, so summertime seafood was exciting to me,” Miller says. “I want to create the same feeling of excitement about New England seafood.” Driven by this vision and some adrenaline, she’s created menu items such as chili-ranch soft shell crab bánh mì, fried Cajun chicken accompanied by spicy tamarind and coconut-ranch dips, and weekly specials such as blackened catfish, skate cheeks and clams.
The star of the Clam Shack’s seasonal show? Miller points out the crispy salt and pepper clam roll. Its pillowy-soft steamed brioche roll cradles whole-belly Ipswich clams dredged in coconut milk and rice and tapioca starches, then cooked to an appetizing crisp. A zingy vinaigrette, generous cranks of cracked black pepper, layers of fresh dill and cilantro and a green chili lime sauce deliver a thrilling punch. There’s crosstalk between the two Nightshade venues, explaining the star dish’s petite, two-inch cousin found on the Noodle Bar’s tasting menu.
The Nightshade Clam Shack, spun out during the pandemic, is in its fourth season. Miller considers it a culinary playground. Whereas Nightshade Noodle Bar’s five- to 30-course French- and Vietnamese-inspired tasting menus require her to exercise discipline and plan ahead, the Clam Shack invites last-minute improvisation. That’s the fun part for Miller, who gets creative with ingredients available at the moment.
“I’ll hear from divers in the morning about what they are seeing, and I’ll add a corresponding special to the Clam Shack menu that day,” Miller says. When favored supplier Wulf’s Fish (Boston) offered blowfish tails, Miller eagerly conjured a new dish to incorporate them. Understanding that blowfish would be unfamiliar and perhaps scary-sounding to some diners, she provides the following explanation: “Blowfish tails are like cartoon fish with a bone running down the middle, and you eat them like chicken wings.”
Inspired by the crispy-sticky quality of chicken wings, she marinates the blowfish tails in coconut milk and fries them. After tossing the tails into a sticky, savory Vietnamese caramel sauce amplified by fermented habanero pepper, she nests them in a takeout box with a crunchy cabbage-and-herb salad and a coconut-ranch sauce.
Miller’s socially conscious approach to sourcing extends beyond seafood. She obtains ingredients from local Vietnamese markets and herbs from The Food Project. When locally grown cilantro is in bloom, she snaps it up, pickling the green berries and using the flowers as decorative garnishes.
In her teens, Miller worked several fast-food jobs that instilled the skills, structure and stamina needed to toggle between her chef duties at the Clam Shack and the Noodle Bar. Intent on learning every aspect of restaurant operations, she worked her way up the ranks at numerous kitchens—often holding two offset, full-time jobs—before testing the Nightshade Noodle Bar concept at various pop-up venues and finally launching the restaurant in 2019.
A James Beard Award finalist and semifinalist, chef Miller personally prepares Clam Shack lunches according to her exacting standards. “If your pickup is at 12:30, I’m frying your clams at 12:27,” Miller says. “I’m in the weeds, sweating the details to make every item as perfect as possible.”
The Clam Shack opens on Saturday, June 21, and continues through September on Saturdays and Sundays from noon–2pm. It offers delivery and takeout, with limited outdoor seating, via online ordering only.
73 Exchange St, Lynn
nightshadenoodlebar.com/clamshack
This story appeared in the Summer 2025 issue.
