Topside Lounge on Bristol Harbor has good clams in a casual setting.

The Providence Journal / Katherine Imbrie

Is there any food more evocative of summer in New England than fried clams?

Of course, we know that anything that tastes that good just can’t be good for us, but what the heck, summer’s short, and there’s nothing wrong with clamming it up once in a while.

Here are our Top 10 Fried Clams for the region.

1. The very best fried clams are at Flo’s, www.flosclamshack.net, right across from the Middletown end of First Beach. This is a bigger restaurant than the original Flo’s, which is in Island Park, Portsmouth, and is only open Thursdays through Sundays. Flo’s clams are everything you want from a fried clam: Hot, with a thin crispy batter, big bellies, clean clam taste with no grit. Like most of the best clam places, Flo’s usually gets theirs from Maine. The setting couldn’t be more perfect: a simple beachy restaurant with a top deck and a patio, where you can hear the surf while you dine.

2. A close second is Horton’s Seafood at Six Corners in East Providence, which is nowhere near the shore, but “buoy,” do they know how to fry clams. No web site, 809 Broadway; (401) 434-3116. Horton’s gets their clams from Canada or Maine.

3. Third –– and also not big on beachy atmosphere –– is Anthony’s Seafood in Middletown, www.anthonysseafood.com. It’s easy to drive right by this place, which is set back behind its parking lot on busy Aquidneck Avenue, but it’s a great seafood market and restaurant combined. The fried clams are outstanding, just like all of Anthony’s seafood.

4. Fourth is Evelyn’s, www.evelynsdrivein.com, on lovely Nanaquaket Pond in Tiverton. Great setting: On a patio, under the green plastic awning, or indoors. Very good clams, from Ipswich, Mass., north of Boston. A little bit greasier than the top three, but still very good.

5. In fifth place is Topside Lounge on Bristol Harbor, www.topsidelounge.com. If you can handle the fact that motorcyclists congregate here, Topside has good clams in a casual setting right on the East Bay Bike Path. Topside’s clams come from Rhode Island and are softer than clams from colder waters farther north. Some people prefer that.

6. Sixth overall is Champlin’s in Galilee, www.champlins.com. The atmosphere here is definitely Number 1, on a deck overlooking the Point Judith Pond breach way, where you can watch the ferries and the fishing boats go by. The clams are very good, too.

7. Seventh place goes to George’s of Galilee, www.georgesofgalilee.com. Good, but a little greasy. Not that different from Champlin’s, which is close by. Get them from the take-out window and then head over to the breach way to watch the action in the channel.

8. Finn’s on Water Street, Old Harbor, Block Island; (401) 466-2473. We just love this place for all kinds of seafood. It’s only Number 8 here because you can’t drive to Block Island to get them. And if you’re on the island, you know about Finn’s anyway.

9. Oxford Creamery, 98 County Rd. (Route 6), Mattapoisett, Mass.; (508) 758-3847. This little place on Route 6 is a longtime local favorite for its great clams, lobster rolls –– all kinds of seafood. Eat inside or at the picnic tables, or take your clams for a picnic at nearby Ned’s Point for a view of Mattapoisett Harbor and the lighthouse.

10. Quito’s, 411 Thames St., Bristol; (401) 253-9042. The location is lovely, right on Bristol Harbor at the end of the East Bay Bike Path. The clams, which are fried in trans-fat-free oil, are good, too.

kimbrie@projo.com