When you’re famished, new to a shore town, and all the seafood restaurants and clam shacks are swirling together like Hitchcockian jump cuts, ask a native. After having heard more than a couple of South Countyites mention that Cap’n Jack’s, down toward Jerusalem, is their favorite such place, I thought I’d make a long overdue pilgrimage.

I remember enjoying the eats there many years ago. And when a spin-off folded across town in downtown Wakefield, it was presumably because of their admirable disdain for portion control.

A couple of visits in recent weeks reacquainted me. The first time was for lunch. It was as noisy as a sports bar, but without the blaring ESPN. Décor is minimal, with captain’s chairs and enough dangling potted plants, from begonias to coleus, to supply a garden shop. Beer and wine are available.

Walking in you probably wouldn’t notice a tattooed elephant in the room, but one glance at the dessert case and you’ll think you died and went to the heaven that dieters dream of. Someone in the kitchen (all desserts are made here) is under the impression that excellent and excess have the same etymology. The eclairs ($3.25) are the size of toy footballs. (I took one home and found that both the custard filling and dense chocolate icing were abundant and better than they had to be.) Reese’s peanut butter cups stick out of another cake like Frisbees. The chocolate frosting on something called a " brownie and Snickers riot " ($4.95), is heaped with the starring ingredients over that yummy éclair custard.

Clam cakes are another well-known treat at Cap’n Jack’s. When I saw them, ostentatiously studded with clams like jewels on a scepter, on a nearby table, I had to try some. Well, apparently gravity urges clams to migrate to the outside in attempting to escape in the deep-fat fryer, so the morsel density was as modest on the inside as it was copious on the outside. The dough is delicious, probably from clam juice, and leaves the fingers only slightly slick. Definitely a contender.

Their traditional clam chowder ($2.95, $4.25) is OK, but what they call Riviera fish chowder ($4.25) is a must-have. The chowder, pink from tomatoes and only slightly spicy hot, harbors plenty of flakes of fish. Not offering a mere cup size is very considerate of the management. An alternative to seriously consider with those clam cakes is Cap’n Jack’s big bowls of lobster stew ($10.95). Johnnie was wowed by it. It was creamy and buttery, with at least four claws’ worth of meat, and red from lobster broth. She pronounced it the best she’s had outside of Maine.

The fish and chips ($9.95) here is another mainstay that keeps folks coming back. A huge filet of cod lies atop the French fries like the flounder spilling out of the boat in that Winslow Homer painting. Size matters, but so, too, does the batter. Here it’s as thin as possible, so as to remain virtually greaseless. No cheating by just dusting the filet with flour, no-sir-ee. Good fries, too, and the coleslaw is coarse and moist.

As good as the lunch was, I had to come back and check out a couple of dinner choices. Both pastas and Italian seafood specialties are offered, as well as a poultry and beef category. The scungilli fra diavolo ($13.95) is a winner, coming not only over linguini, but also, on a separate plate, atop slices of a tasty pepper bread. The paper-thin slices of whelk are relatively tender, and the spicy sauce is, as with the fish chowder, not overly hot, aimed at warming the back of the palate, rather than cauterizing the taste buds.

The side of linguini across from me was, as mine, neither overcooked nor al dente, a diplomatic condition in which to please all. (My dining companion didn’t choose the half ear of corn for his side because he’d recently had one at Cap’n Jack’s that was so waterlogged, he said, it might as well have been frozen.) His chicken Bermuda ($11.95), virtuously skin-off, lacked more than a lone speck of the promised roasted peppers, but he was nevertheless pleased. The chicken breast was glistening from a snappy vinegar and sugar reduction. It was topped with onions and grilled tomatoes and accompanied by a beet-red slice of cinnamon apple that was just the right taste complement.

It’s not hard to understand why Cap’n Jack’s is so popular with the townies. The place has figured out so many ways to please that plenty are bound to work.