This clam shack in Key West was named one of the best seafood restaurants in Florida

When Doug Bell and Jeff Gagnon opened DJ’s Clam Shack in Key West in 2009, they wanted to represent the best of all possible seafood worlds.

They wanted to serve bowls of New England clam chowder and Maine lobster rolls and fried or steamed Ipswich clams (the “crème de la crème of clams,” Bell says). But they also didn’t want to neglect the favorites of the Florida Keys: cracked conch, mahi mahi tacos, fried shrimp.

So they heaped them all on the menu, and the concept has paid off. The laid-back restaurant, which has twice been featured on Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” has just been named one of the best seafood restaurants in Florida by travel website Trips to Discover.

The list of 15 restaurants, a blend of upscale dining establishments and hole-in-the-wall spots, doesn’t include any other South Florida seafood restaurants (the nearest restaurants are Walt’s Fish Market and Owen’s Fish Camp in Sarasota and Dixie Crossroads in Titusville).

Bell has lived in the Keys for more than 40 years, but as a native of Ipswich, Massachusetts, he comes by his love of northern seafood honestly (partner Gagnon is from Long Island).

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“I grew up clamming and digging and shucking clams,” Bell says.

His reasoning for bringing northern seafood south is sound: “A lot of New Englanders live in or visit the Keys.”

Funny thing, though: Bell finds that tourists are often more interested in eating the local seafood, cracked conch not being particularly easy to find on New England menus. Locals, meanwhile, are gorging themselves on lobster rolls, which account for half of all sales. The restaurant also does a robust take-out business, which, along with the mostly outdoor seating, helped DJ’s make it through the long months of the COVID pandemic.

The popularity of the clam shack, which now has locations in Indian Shores on Florida’s west coast plus three in Long Island, is based on the quality of the food, Bell believes.

“We were the first restaurant to bring in a Maine lobster roll,” he says. “Nobody knew what it was when we opened. Now there are 25 or 30 restaurants who have it.”

Bell says he and Gagnon are considering other Florida locations for expansion, in particular Orlando and Jacksonville (rents in Miami-Dade and Broward are prohibitively high right now, he says).

But Bell doesn’t seem in too much of a hurry to leave the Keys.

“I love going out on the boat and diving and hanging out,” he says. “Exploring by boat is my favorite thing. If you live here, you’ve got to love the water, and I do.”

DJ’s Clam Shack

Where: 629 Duval St., Key West

Hours: 11 a.m.-4 p.m., 5-9 p.m. daily

More information: www.djsclamshack.com or 305-294-0102

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