Hot food, cool cash at Craig’s Clam Shop

Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Elna Seabrooks
SEAFOOD RULES — Lindsay Desmond, home from school, helps dish up generous portions for customers during her fifth year at Craig’s Clam Shop. Owner Craig Hartsgrove, also seen here, said fresh seafood is the business’ number-one driver. 
By Elna Seabrooks
Staff Writer
    PATTEN — Hot, crispy fried clams in a “basket” with mounds of French fries snuggled up against  homemade onion rings and a family recipe for fresh coleslaw have been a tradition in Patten drawing locals and seasonal residents to Craig’s Clam Shop for about a half a century.
    “The ladies who founded the business in the 1950s based it on crusty food and flat clams that developed a tremendous following,” said Craig Hartsgrove. He bought the business about six years ago naming it Craig’s Clam Shop. Hartsgrove also owns Craig’s Maine Course, an upscale seafood restaurant, in Island Falls.
    At the clam shop, Hartsgrove said, “seafood is the number one driver and it’s all fresh. We have all kinds — whole belly clams, scallops, shrimp, haddock, clam tenderloins. We do sell a lot of burgers, chicken and things like that. But, the most popular item, volume-wise, is clams.”
    It might seem strange for an inland business to do so well with seafood. But, Hartsgrove said he gets regular deliveries twice a week. Although he closes the clam shop in the winter, his normal season is from the end of April until mid-September, staying open from 11 a.m.-8 p.m. and as late as 9 p.m. when school is out. Several of the 13 employees are students who work shifts in the compact space that’s so familiar and welcome to hungry patrons.
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Elna Seabrooks
NUMBER PLEASE — Customers regularly drive up to place an order at Patten’s popular Craig’s Clam Shop.  The portions are generous and the owner says  “a basket is the least expensive way to get a full meal”  when ordering seafood, burgers or chicken since you also get a large order of fries or onion rings, homemade coleslaw and a roll.
    Customers were apparently happy that Craig’s opened a little early this year with the onset of warmer temperatures as Hartsgrove started his sixth season. “If you continue to serve a good quality product, the people will come back. This is definitely a tourist-driven area with the Patten Lumberman’s Museum up the road. We’re the last major town that takes you into other areas heading north,” he said as the Boones drove into the parking lot.
    “We have a camp at Shin Pond. So, every year we stop at Craig’s whenever we can,” explained Gayle Boone. “We like the clams, the whole clams. My husband is a tenderloin guy. But, I’m a whole clam girl.”  Husband Alan Boone said, “Oh, it’s great. We’re regular customers. We’re here for a couple of days to open the camp.”
Ice cream dreams
    Seafood, chicken and burgers aside, ice cream lovers can find a nearly infinite assortment of flavors in soft-serve thanks to Hartsgrove’s ice cream machinery. Deborah Bacheldor drove in from Oakfield “for an order of onion rings as a pick-me-up.” But, she said, in the past she had “ordered ice cream and it was excellent.”
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Elna Seabrooks
ICE CREAM UNLIMITED — Craig Hartsgrove said there are any number of fresh, soft-serve ice cream possibilities he can offer customers at his clam shop in Patten.
    “I think we have 43 different flavors of ice cream we can make. And, that’s just the base flavors. You can add other combinations of candy or sauces to make unlimited combinations,” explained Hartsgrove. The system starts with a base flavor by putting vanilla ice cream into a plastic cup, adding in a couple squirts of flavored syrup before mixing and then putting it into a dispenser to make a cone or a sundae.  
    “We have 24 flavors. The syrups are all natural, fat-free and there are no preservatives. There are unlimited possibilities,” he said. “Some of the most unique flavors are licorice, apple pie, cotton candy, maple nut, peppermint, bubble gum, Skittles and tutti frutti. If anyone wants a demonstration, I will be more than happy to show them how we do it.”
Craig’s Cash
    Ice cream is $1.75; flavored is $2. Customers can even pay with Craig’s Cash without doling out their hard-earned U.S. currency. Hartsgrove gives his wife and co-owner, Jennifer, credit for coming up with the idea for the spendable coupons that come in seven denominations starting at 25 cents going up to $2. The small yellow bills are also in denominations for a small order of fries or a small ice cream in coordination with daily Facebook promotions. Hartsgrove said one day, for example, he asked Facebook friends to bring him a bouquet of dandelions. Another day’s request was to tell him “you rock.” Wearing the signature tie-dyed T-shirt can also earn a loyal customer random “Craig’s cash.”
    On Facebook alone, there are some 600-plus Craig’s Clam Shop fans. Beyond the Internet, the legions of fans could be like Hartsgrove’s ice cream flavor combinations — unlimited and counting.
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Elna Seabrooks
EAT HEARTY — Cathy Jacobs, an employee at Craig’s Maine Course in Island Falls picked up lunch during her time-off.