Y ou've truly become a Long Islander when you can take down a bowl of steamers. But these quirky looking clams are new to me. ... At Artie's in Island Park , they're listed as a simple one-word entry on the appetizer menu — "steamers" — as if that's all you need to know.

It becomes a daunting situation a few minutes later, when a server drops off a white bowl of clams speckled with parsley. Nobody wants to look like a novice at a restaurant, especially when they've been living here awhile. So it takes some courage to ask him what to do with the crusty black appendages sticking out of each clam, which look rather ... risqué.

The server says to grab the clam by this black nodule, dip it into the plastic cup of water on the side to wash away any remaining sand, and then dunk it into ano

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