Mama's on the Half Shell
It's hard to imagine life before this locally owned, moderately priced casual seafood restaurant. The dark and woody place looks like a real oyster house, one that's been around a half-century, and the menu sticks wisely to mostly standard seafood applications. (There's even a section titled Connelly's Classics, devoted to fried specialties.) Naturally, oysters are served in myriad ways--grilled, fried, on the half-shell, on horseback, and, best of all, in a made-to-order peppercorn-flecked oyster stew. The restaurant always seems crowded as the upstairs fireplace tempts folks away from the lively bar scene below.