Did you know that right off 95 in Guilford, Conn., there's an alfresco clambake going every summer day and night, weather permitting? Yeah, most people don't. So they stop at another rest stop McDonald's. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

But wouldn't you rather have some seafood fresh off the grill? At The Place, open since 1971, there's no Fry-o-lator and no indoor kitchen: Just a wood fire powering the longest, most ramshackle grill this side of a state fair, on which a small army of men cooks up some of life's greatest pleasures—lobsters, clams, corn, bluefish, the odd chicken.

Grab a table (a recycled cable spool) and a seat (a tree stump), uncork whatever OB you've BYOd, and settle in. The roast clam special (Long Island Sound littlenecks drizzled in a butter-cocktail sauce concoction) goes very well with a Sauvignon Blanc at sunset.

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