Nor were there any complaints about the delicate spring rolls, tiny sweet clams bathed in black bean sauce or the flavor-packed dumplings.

Our next course was handmade spaghetti with greens and sweet tiny clams.

Pastas change daily, but one might try the delicious rendition of linguine and white clam sauce replete with sweet plump little clams.

Clams casino featured tiny sweet clams and, unfortunately, underdone bacon.

The linguine with white clam sauce is a memory maker: sweet tiny clams and a regiment of robust garlic slices.

By far the best is the outstanding linguine tossed with freshly shucked sweet clams and whole garlic cloves.

The one-two punch of sweet clams and briny capers ($14) was delicious.

One woman had even told him that the morning's low tide would be a good time for gathering the sweet little clams from the beaches.

"The biggest, sweetest clams were where the sewers emptied out," Mr. Sadler recalled.

Decades of raw sewage have turned Flushing Bay, once prized for its sweet clams, into a smelly spot that people shun.