Lobster Rolls

Sorry Chef Lee, but Al The Mayor , the perpertrator of the Vadalia caper, says he cant send you a lobster because WalMart doesn't sell them.

Boy, I haven't heard the term chicken lobster in more years than I want to contemplate.

Listen, when you can't get lobster, try using king crab for lobster rolls. It's not really the same, but enough butter will ease the pain.

MY God, Seafarer, You've been out to Sea for so long you have lost the vision of SAM.... Of course our Indiana WalMart Supercenter has Live Lobster. and pickled herring, and pork rinds...
Lisa don't get your Hopes up..The shipping will be higher than the onions to UK were !!

Lisa, What about the big and I mean Big King Crab? After my vacation in Sunny Vietnam, I spent the rest of that tour at an Army post on Hokkaido, The Northern Island of Japan. At the time we could purchase large...and I mean very large 'arms (legs) of King Crab for a few dollars (1962 money) The leg would be the diameter of my chubby forearm and two or three would be the most I could eat at one time We often saw crab bodies in excess of 3 ft diameter taken off the boats when they landed. Now that was good crab. Don't they land crab at the ports near you?

Throughout most of New England a lobster roll is a bun with cold lobster, usually mixed with mayonnaise and sometimes celery and other salad stuff. Back in the late 1930s, at a place called Perry's on the Boston Post Road (U.S. 1) in Milford, Connecticut, the hot lobster roll was born. It consisted of lobster meat heated in butter and placed in a buttered and grilled frankfurter bun. Real lobster roll eaters know that this is the true lobster roll, and that, while cold lobster with mayonnaise can be a very nice salad, it is not a lobster roll.


Methinks you are speaking out of both sides of your mouth here Michael. First you tell us that most of NE makes them with mayo and then because some place in Connecticut, well into the last century, makes it with butter that that is now the standard?
Do they call it Connecticut Lobster? I don't think so. It's Maine Lobster This means that whatever someone does in Connecticut is a derivation of the real thing.

I have had true Maine lobster rolls. I have never had a Connecticut hot lobster with butter roll. I would love to.

I want one of each NOW!

Cakes

Al,

I can get all the king crab I can eat because it comes out of the Bering Sea. It's pricey too, for the Big Guy's birthday last year he wanted crab so I got 6 legs and the price was $100. A couple years ago I bought them alive and cooked them like lobster.....alive in a big pot of salted water. Best crab I ever had.
But you know us Yankees get a hankerin for lobster as summer rolls around, with steamers, mussels, red potatoes, corn and butter......or lobster on a salad, or a lobster roll! FedEx overnight for two 2 pound lobsters is around $120. Cuz I'm sure not eating no itty bitty little chicken lobster!!!! The biggest one I ever sold in the store weighed 17 pounds!

quote:

Originally posted by Cakes

Throughout most of New England a lobster roll is a bun with cold lobster, usually mixed with mayonnaise and sometimes celery and other salad stuff. Back in the late 1930s, at a place called Perry's on the Boston Post Road (U.S. 1) in Milford, Connecticut, the hot lobster roll was born. It consisted of lobster meat heated in butter and placed in a buttered and grilled frankfurter bun. Real lobster roll eaters know that this is the true lobster roll, and that, while cold lobster with mayonnaise can be a very nice salad, it is not a lobster roll.


Methinks you are speaking out of both sides of your mouth here Michael. First you tell us that most of NE makes them with mayo and then because some place in Connecticut, well into the last century, makes it with butter that that is now the standard?

Do they call it Connecticut Lobster? I don't think so. It's Maine Lobster This means that whatever someone does in Connecticut is a derivation of the real thing.

I have had true Maine lobster rolls. I have never had a Connecticut hot lobster with butter roll. I would love to.

I want one of each NOW!

Cakes


Both sides of my mouth? I can't speak out of both sides of my mouth, because both sides are stuffed with lobster rolls. The fact is, though, while most of New England makes lobster salad to stuff inside hot dog buns, the only true lobster roll is a hot one with butter as first prepared at Perry's in Milford, Connecticut. I am shocked, shocked, that you wouold believe otherwise.

And not far from Perry's was Whitey's (now called "The Place") where they grilled clams over huge open oak log fires and the area had a funky odor because the clam shells were disdarded on the ground around the tables ( to keep the picnic are from sinking into the swamp) and everyone walked on the shells with their bits of rotting clam meat. We loved that venue!

I think in a world that has so many definitions of what bbq is, what pizza (or apizza) is, what a sandwich built of lunchmeats on a long roll is called, etc etc etc.....there is room for at least two equally valid definitions of what a lobster roll is.

Course, I want the one with not a hint of mayonaise....

quote:

Originally posted by seafarer john

And not far from Perry's was Whitey's (now called "The Place") where they grilled clams over huge open oak log fires and the area had a funky odor because the clam shells were disdarded on the ground around the tables ( to keep the picnic are from sinking into the swamp) and everyone walked on the shells with their bits of rotting clam meat. We loved that venue!

Whitey's was/is clear on the other side of New Haven and the Quinnipiac River in Guilford. Perry's was almost to Devon and the Housatonic River. In fact, Perry's was across the street from the Milford Tucker dealer.

Tuckers were actually sold in Connecticut? How quaint!

I remember the Tucker dealership being right across the street from Perry's, on a corner of a road that ran from the Boston Post Road to Wildemere Beach. I don't believe it ever had more than one model in the small showroom.

Glenwood lobster roll is hit or miss. During Peak times they are always good. A couple times I went off peak and some kid sifted through the butter and gave me a lobeter roll that looked like it was canned tuna it was so ground up.....Only bad experience i ever had with the glenwood

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Hoffman

I remember the Tucker dealership being right across the street from Perry's, on a corner of a road that ran from the Boston Post Road to Wildemere Beach. I don't believe it ever had more than one model in the small showroom.

They couldnt have sold many---i know a guy in Chico Ca that still has one and his,along EVERY one still around,was "borrowed" for the movie.They may have in fact only ever had
one at a time,as he never really did get enough backing to go into full production.

I don't know if they sold any. I was just a little kid at the time.

yep,me too---well i was a YOUNG kid anyway---dont remember ever being "little"!

We are going to be at Mystic Seaport tomorrow doing some research in the library. Sometime in the late afternoon we will go to Abbott's in Noank for warm buttery lobster rolls and a BYOB cold bottle of wine.
If anyone's in the area we'd be happy to meet with you there...

Seafarer J -

That sounds fabulous!!! How 'bout bringing me one of those lobster rolls back when you come down to sunny St. Pete? Although, it might not stay too fresh in your backseat for the next few months! LOL

lisa: Maybe I'll just eat an extra lobster roll and "virtually" bring it to St Pete in January

SF -

Great idea!! Would love to meet you and the missus when you winter down here. Maybe we could have a get-together with Kristi and some of the other Tampa Bay area road-foodies for a grouper gathering or cuban (sandwich) klatch?

Enjoy your lobster today - we'll all be there with you in spirit!

Lisa

Having spent many summers in Ogunquit, Maine...I recall vividly staying in a hotel/motel (on the left side of street...hilly...going towards Barnacle Billy's) in the early '80's.....there I feasted on my first Lobster Roll...since I really had nothing to compare it to...I'd say it was pretty tasty.....hey....if I'm writing about it 20+ years later...it couldn't have been all that bad.....now if I could remember the name of the place we stayed at....afraid "CRS" has set in....

LaurieGee52

I went to Glenwood last week, i'm almost never in connecticut, and had my very first lobster roll and it was outstanding. I highly recommend, and the hot dogs looked good too.

I was surprised no one has mentiond Red's Eats in Wiscasset Maine.
It was featured on "Sandwiches that you will like" and is also on Hollyeats.com. While I have never been there, it is the first place I would head for a Lobster roll.

I had a hot lobster roll at the Maine Diner last week. It was TERRIFIC. Highly recommend that venue (Route 1, Wells, Maine). I noticed someone mentioned the Sea Basket in Wiscasset. The best lobster stew on the coast! Also available - frozen base for lobster stew made right there - just bring it home and add cream, heat through, and enjoy! Also, for lunch at the Sea Basket, the haddock sandwich can't be beat. I'm in CT, but can't wait between trips to the ME coast.

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy2dogs

I was surprised no one has mentiond Red's Eats in Wiscasset Maine.
It was featured on "Sandwiches that you will like" and is also on Hollyeats.com. While I have never been there, it is the first place I would head for a Lobster roll.

Red's is okay, if you want to do the tourist thing, wait in line 45 min for a somewhat pricey and mediocre lobster roll, and then sit on the curb breathing in the sulphuric acid fumes from the cars and semi-trucks lined up on Rte 1 as they crawl slowly through Wiscasset.

With so many choices in the area, the locals all skip Red's and head for better options. But why get a cold lobster roll when you can have a full lobster dinner (w/steamers and corn), warm and wonderful, for a couple bucks more? Give me a fresh lobster full dinner that I can slowly savor with my byob beer, while watching the lobster boats and fishermen on the harbor, and forget the fast food lobster rolls filled with all the mayo, lettuce, onions, etc. in hotdog buns.

I run a seasonal business on the Pemaquid Peninsula 20 min north of Red's, and here's where I send my customers:

For those who need to be indoors when they eat: Shaw's in New Harbor (outdoor tables on the harbor available too); The Anchor Inn in Round Pond (indoor seating w/harbor views). Liquor service available at both.

For those who love the Maine outdoors and enjoy all this beautiful outdoor atmosphere (i.e., eat your lobster dinner outside on the deck and enjoy the fresh salt air): Muscongus Bay Lobster Company at Round Pond; Pemaquid Fishermen's Co-op in Pemaquid Harbor (self-proclaimed oldest fishermen's co-op in America), also has fried seafood. For these places, bring your own booze as only soda pop and water are sold here.

All of these places have the freshest lobster available, fantastic harbor views of working lobster boats and fishermen, and the best fresh salt air that Maine can offer. The prices range from $14 and up for a full lobster dinner. Muscongus has local oysters that are superb. (I can actually get two lobster dinners for the price of a local large fancy pizza!) Twin and triple lobster dinners available too.

There are lots of lobster places along the coast - go to the working harbor areas for the best. Remember, being in a hurry in Maine means you are in the wrong place . . .

I seem to have started a feisty discussion here!

I agree with pulse

Shaw's and Anchor Inn are top rate but very different places, Anchor is more non road food than Shaw's, the Pemaquid Co-op and Muscongus are the best, I buy live lobster there to cook at home...yum...

I prefer the Sea Basket to Red's and no one ever mentions "Sarah's: across the street from Red's, amazing soup/fish chowder/Breads

The Sea Basket in Wiscasset is wonderful - great seafood at reasonable prices, and it's the absolutely cleanest place around. Sarah's in Wiscasset is good food, nice harbor view, heavy with tourists (across the street from Red's, so they get overflow for those who don't want to stand and eat).

As an aside, altho I've had excellent lobster at Pemaquid Fishermen's Co-op, I had one of the worst scallop dinners ever from them about 2 weeks ago. It was a carry-out dinner, but it convinced me that sticking with lobster from the Co-op is the way to go.

On the other hand, a new Chinese restaurant that opened this past May 2004 right across from Moody's Diner on Route 1 in Waldoboro had fabulous scallops on their buffet bar - who would have guessed?? The scallops were sweet, very lightly breaded, and were a real treat. I love scallops and mussels, maybe even more than lobster, so forgive me for expounding on them.

Okay - here's one for all you lobster lovers: the Maine Lobster Promotion Council is asking for votes on who offers the best Maine lobster roll in Maine. You can vote by going to their website at www.lobsterfrommaine.com, or sending a postcard to them at Maine Lobster Promotion Council, 382 Harlow St., Bangor, ME, 04401. If you vote, you will be entered in a drawing for the chance to win $50 in Maine lobster. Now there's a lobster fest for you!

NO ONE... AND I MEAN NO ONE... messes with the HOT lobster roll from Lenny and Joes in Madison,CT.

I go there every friday in the summer with my dad, have for years too. Good thing I only live about 2 minutes from the place

I was a kid growing in the small town of Mechanic Falls Me. through the 1950s. Both of your lobster rolls, butter or mayo, sound ok but they are not what I remember. I could go to a small diner by the high school and get a lobster roll that was made with a warm cream sauce with lots of lobster served in a hamburger bun. All of the lobster rolls that I remember were served this way. There was another place that I think was a gas station just before you went down the hill into LEWISTON that also served them that way, along with a strawberry milk was real treat. Just to keep things in perspective a lobster roll would cost $0.35 a hamburger $0.10 and a hot dog $0.05 root beer $0.03

Warren's Seafood in York, ME (been there forever) has a great lobster roll. It also has the best salad bar in NE. I usually get the salad bar and a L. Roll. They also have the usual lobster dishes, but it's too much to eat. Truly an old-time road food place.

I know that we can get lobster all year, but summer is lobster season, and summer is coming. Maybe I'll be seeing some of you at Howards on Rt 9 this summer. I can't wait untill the seasonal places open. Ronnies in Auburn Mass opens, I think, this weekend. The days are getting warmer. Yeaaaaaah.