Lobster catch better

I was reading in the Sunday paper that after a not so good summer, lobster landings are up. If you can get to New England this weekend, the color will still be good, and the lobster a little more available. If you get up here a little later, or buy the flown in product at home, you will find that lobster is just as good in the winter as summer.

What does lobster sell for per pound in New England?

Eons ago, the early 70's, I often ate at a restaurant named the Red Coach Grill (I think that was the name) and one night a week they had all the lobster you could eat for $9.99...ah, the good ole days. :-)

I don't know if there are any Red Coach Grills left. The ones that I knew of are still restaurants, but with new names. I think Red Coach was owned by Howard Johnson along with Ground Round, but with all the mergers, bankruptcy, and changes in taste, I have lost track of who is who. Here, 40 miles from the coast, 1 to 1&1/4 lb "chicken" lobsters are selling in the 7 to 8 dollar per lb range in local supermarkets. Larger lobsters cost more per pound, and are in my opinion worth the extra. I prefer the 2 pounders. "Squire Whites" a local restaurant and bar (Worcester Mass) sells triple lobsters at loss leader prices (no sharing), and huge 5, 10 and 15 lb lobsters at low (for lobster) prices. I have not seen an all you can eat lobster fest around here in at least 10 years, but I understand that there is one in Rhode Island. Perhaps another poster has info on it's name.

Lobster has always been very plentiful in New England. Only a few precious years ago a twin lobster Dinner in Maine would run less than $10. Then the marketing boys from Boston came in basically told the "restauranters" to "screw the customer". Mark up the prices, tell them that Lobster is Scarce, it dosnt' matter, the customers will come back anyway. And you know what- they were right. I'm not joking about this. My friend knows some of those marketing bigwigs in Boston.

Four years ago my brother and I spent two weeks eating our way through New England. We each purchased an 8 pound lobster at the Sea Witch lobster pound in Peabody, Ma..
I had always been told the smaller lobsters were the best tasting, Not True! Those two monsters were the best lobster either of us had ever had. I think I paid around $8 a pound for mine.

We had a fantastic time. We would buy 8-10 lobsters at a time, have them steamed, and we would put them in a cooler. When we were hungry we would find a nice spot to pull off and we would put butter in an aluminum pan, place it on the engine manifold to melt it and eat our lobsters in the most beautiful spots in Maine.

At the end of the trip we counted it up and we had eaten over 100 lobsters between the two of us in two weeks. LOL And that doesn't count all the steamer clams we ate.

We are both big boys, but that's a lot of lobster.

ok, now you're refreshing my memory about the Red Coach restaurants! I used to work in Quincy for Howard Johnson's so that must have been how I knew about the all you can eat lobster deal. I only lived up there for 3 years and dang, I was young, then.

We sometimes go to the Bahamas in the spring for vacations and bring our cooler back with our 20 pound limit of frozen, freshly caught lobster but they run $11.00 - $11.50 a pound there. I don't remember what kind of lobster it is that we get there, but they're colored much different than the Maine lobster and I've come to prefer the taste of them but I sure wouldn't turn down a lobster for dinner no matter where it came from! I didn't realize that they were selling so much cheaper up your way.

...and Pogo, that's a great story. 100 lobsters?! I love it! Sounds like a fun trip and good eats along the way, too. I'm with you on the bigger the lobster the better. In the Bahamas, they prefer the small ones, too. In fact, in the little out of the way restaurants, they actually catch them under legal size and serve them because they think they're better, but I'll take the big'uns if I have a choice!

Steamed clams...no other way to eat them, is there? I can sit down and easily eat 40 little necks with garlic butter.

Hapslappy,
Those lobsters you are talking about are called Spanish lobsters. They are covered with dots and have no claws. I agree, they are very sweet tasting.

My brother and I used to go to West Palm Beach, FL and scuba dive for the spiney lobsters there, take them back to the hotel and cook them. We brought back more than a few Conchs also. I think gathering conchs are illegal now.

I always get the soft shell clams in NE. Tear them outta the shell, dip them in broth, dip them in butter and throw them down your mouth.

Allright now..... Now I have to find a way to get to MA before it gets too cold. LOL

There are a couple of all you can eat places in new england. Nordic Lodge in RI and Custy's in Stonington CT, right by the casinos. Never been to either, but I know that both are not cheap. Around 65 bucks per person for all the lobster and steak you can eat.

Quite frankly it sounds disgusting and from the anecdotes I have heard, such as people simply eating only the tails of lobsters and tossing the rest away, disgust is definitely the right feeling.

Just visited Abbot's Lobster in Noank, CT during thier last weekend for the season. Had a nice 6 pounder at 9.99 a pound. Well worth it.

There are two upscale buffet places I know of that have all you can eat lobster, along with prime rib and filet mingion. These two places are the Nordic lodge, which is in RI. And the other is Custy's which is in CT. The buffet will set you back about $60 per person, but ask anyone who has been to either places, and they will tell you it is well worth it.

Price Chopper Supermarket is selling 3 to 4 pounders at 6.99 per pound. Steaming is free should you want them to do it for you. Price Chopper is based in upstate NY. I don't know if the sale is chain wide or just in the Massachusetts stores.

Pricechopper was selling cooked 1 1/4 lobsters at 2 for $10 the other night according to the sign out front. They ran out, so they were substituting 3 to 4 pounders at 2 for $10. What a deal! They were great.

quote:

Originally posted by tmiles

Pricechopper was selling cooked 1 1/4 lobsters at 2 for $10 the other night according to the sign out front. They ran out, so they were substituting 3 to 4 pounders at 2 for $10. What a deal! They were great.

i am SO jeolous!!!!! We rarely even see 4 lbers here in Oklahoma!--and then they bare closer to $10 a lb!!!

the resturant you are all talking about was Red coach bar and grill, thats was the full name. my grand father was the vice pres directly under howard johnson, i wish i could remember the place. i have one very small memory of them. and it was what sent my grandfather to the grave, the way howard johnsons son tore the chain up, he saw his legacy and hard work going down the drain.

yes i wish it was still around

If you have ever wanted to see a giant lobster, this is it. It was caught off Nantucket and shipped to Wholey's Market in Pittsburgh. Now it will be shipped to a Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not aquarium (either in Gatlenburg, TN or Myrtle Beach, SC). http://apnews.excite.com/article/20050301/D88IFCQG0.html

I hope that they can catch more for the summer season, because lobster is expensive now. Restaurants have not raised prices much yet, but if wholesale prices stay high, you will be paying close to $20 for a good lobster roll this summer Update 16 May. There was a sign where I ate Saturday that said that they were sorry but all lobster dishes are higher due to high wholesale prices. Lobster rolls were up by $2. The season started about $2 higher too, so it is $4 altogether and it is only May.