gistfile1.py

from pydap.parsers.dds import DDSParser
from pydap.parsers.das import DASParser
from pydap.xdr import DapUnpacker 

f = open("/path/to/file.dods")
content = f.read()
dds, xdrdata = content.split('\nData:\n', 1)

# build the dataset
dataset = DDSParser(dds).parse()
dataset.data = DapUnpacker(xdrdata, dataset).getvalue()
f.close()

# add attributes, if you also have the DAS
f = open("/path/to/file.das")
das = f.read()
dataset = DASParser(das, dataset).parse()
f.close()