Lobster Rolls [Merged threads]
 

Hey all, so I came across this place in San Mateo, CA a while back (since then there have been news reports about this place increasing its popularity to where the line is out the door every weekend) called the Old Port Lobster shack.
The one thing we always get is a plain lobster roll which is basically some warm buttered bread with lobster meat in the middle. Then you drizzle your warm melted butter over the top and go to town. (man, making me hungry just typing it!) Here's a pic from their website

We had never heard of 'lobster rolls' before finding this place so I'm curious if anyone out there has had this in another location?
Also if you're coming in to SFO and heading down to San Jose for business I highly recommend trying these!

In the Canadian maritime provinces (NB, NS, PEI) and in New England, lobster rolls have been around for years and years. In fact, when lobster is in season, you can even get lobster rolls at McDonalds!

The classic version of this tasty treat is a hotdog bun stuffed with lightly seasoned chucks of lobster meat mixed with mayonaise. I'm heading down home (NB) next week and will likely have a few before the end of my vacation.
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13F

You described the traditional New England lobster roll - yum!!! You can get them along the coast all over the Northeast. In parts of southern New England you can also get a lobster salad roll, in which the lobster pieces are mixed with mayo and chopped celery. I'll take the hot one any day!

Yum, I had some of these up in NH, I also had a crab roll made in a similar way, also quite tasty.

There in NH the seafood locations had a ton of Haddock, but that is not my kind of thing when there is an option of Lobster or crab!

On those unfortunate days when I just have to visit Sawx country, a lobster roll is what I get at the first available opportunity.

To die for!

Ya, this place in San Mateo has them mixed with mayo/onions etc but I'm anti-mayonaise so I always get the plain one :)
Thanks for the insight...perhaps it gives me a reason to visit the east coast now ;)

I live in Denver, Steuben's makes a good Lobster Roll (albeit pricey since we're inland). Probably the best are back east IMO, but if I need one, I know where to go here.

Mmmm ... lobster rolls. Here's a picture of one of the best representatives of the Maine variety.

yep, such a popular item that McD's had to get in the game.:)

How much does a McDonalds Lobster Roll Extra Value Meal cost?

More on lobster rolls:

http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/08/0...20rolls&st=cse

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password: flyertalk



Excerpt:

August 4, 2006
Road Trip
On a Roll, for Lobster
By WENDY KNIGHT
SIGNS scream “Best Lobster Roll in Maine” at lobster shacks and convenience stores all along the Maine Coast. Stop to ask someone where to find the best, and you will frequently get a definitive answer. It just won’t always be the same one.

“Right there,” said Cassie Mitchell, a clerk at American Sailor Clothing in Kennebunkport, pointing an outstretched arm toward Alisson’s Restaurant, two doors down.

“I only come here for lobster rolls,” said Stacy Marotta as she finished lunch 75 miles to the northeast at Red’s Eats in Wiscasset. She and her husband and sons drive 12 hours every summer from their home in Cleveland to this part of Maine, she said, and Red’s “is our first stop when we get into town and our last stop as we head out.”

The lobster roll — “the lazy man’s lobster,” Mrs. Marotta said — traditionally consists of a toasted hot dog bun topped by pieces of fresh lobster meat and a little bit of something else. The something else is a subject of disagreement.

“Just a little mayo to hold it together, a little salt and pepper and that’s it,” said Rich Winterberg, a bartender at Alisson’s.

“No mayo,” insisted Larry Reed, a lobsterman from New Harbor, on the tip of the next peninsula east from Boothbay Harbor.

“I’m from Connecticut and down there, a lobster roll is hot and served with butter,” explained a Coast Guardsman aboard a ferry headed to Vinalhaven Island at the mouth of Penobscot Bay. “First time I had a lobster roll up here, I bit into it and said: ‘Whoa. This is cold.’ ”

Red's in Wiscasset is the place for the ultimate lobster roll. deubster got that right!

Anyone in the Disney World area might try Celebration Town Tavern in Celebration, Fl. I get to that area a couple times a year and always make it a point to stop in at least once for a lobster roll.

Note that it's not just any hot dog bun, but one of the country hot dog buns that I think you can only get in New England, that only has crust on the top and bottom and has been grilled with a little butter.

I once drove (I know, no FF miles) the fixin's for lobster rolls from PVD to CVG to visit Mom. The first thing she noticed when she got home from work was the New England hot dog buns, "Where'd these come from!?"

I'm partial to the Julia & Jacques recipe, which has a light dressing including some shallots, vinegar, mayo and herbs, a little butter lettuce, and a grilled hot dog bun. A late summer classic! (I go for late summer because lobster demand crashes after labor day, but the fishing is good for a few more weeks, so prices fall a bit.)

That's one of the reasons Celebration is so good. It's the only place outside New England that I've ever seen the buns.

The best one in Boston is at B&G Oyster, although it is $29./

New England is known for the hot/cold differences. In CT, most lobster rolls are the warm type ... chunks of lobster, with hot butter, in a grilled split-top roll. Salad types are also available ... but it's basically lobster tossed lightly w/mayo ... I don't like when the extras (celery, onion, etc.) are added in. It takes away from the lobster taste. There is no such thing as a bad lobster roll!

Red's gets my vote!^

I saw the Food Network do a story on Hancock Gourmet Lobster Company.

They sell two lobster rolls and six Maine Whoopie Pies for $95 plus shipping.

Lobster Rolls and Whoopie Pies

I am a big fan of the traditional New England hot dog roll. Grilled with butter. Filled with lobster with a very light dill mayo. I went to the Cape about two months ago and had lobster rolls for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 2 days straight.

I have to admit the lobster roll I had in Nova Scotia/Cape Breton once was absolutely amazing. Fresh baked white baguette with a very slight sourdough tang. An entire lobster tail placed on one half and the claws on the opposite half. Lettuce and red onion on the side. A side of herbed mayo and a side of herbed drawn butter. Served warm or cold. 9.95 CAD about 7 years ago.

When in the Boston area, check out Kelly's Roast Beef. There's about 5 outlets but the best is on Revere Beach near the airport. Their lobster rolls have the meat of 2 one pound lobsters. P.S.......their roast beef ain't bad either.

i think it was dean & deluca thats selling them now, you can order them.

Yeah, Kelly's in Revere does a good lobstah roll (not to mention tasty fried clams and the famous roast beef sandwich), plus you get the inimitable "ambiance" of Revere Beach. Beware the seagulls, who are horrendously opportunistic as you attempt to fight them off and eat your meal at the beach pavilion across the street. Easily accessible from Logan outbound on the Blue Line, if you have a stopover.

Word around BOS is that the best lobster roll in town is at Neptune Oyster in the North End, with B&G Oyster in the South End coming in 2nd. Both very pricey but quite tasty, and you can get equally pricey vino or brew to wash it down.

Yep. Came across this a few days ago...

www.luxist.com/2008/08/01/dean-and-deluca-lobster-rolls-only-a-day-away


Wonder if they'd ship those badboys to London :p

serving them for a limited time @ Shaw's Crab House
 

Just had one the other night at Shaw's Crab House, two locations in the Chicago area (city and suburb Schaumburg), quite tasty and tons of lobster.^

Kelly's is a good 20 min walk from Wonderland at a fast clip; it's
possible to catch a taxi I guess, but the cabbie won't be thrilled
to give you that short of a ride.

The seagulls are amazing, aren't they? I took my violinmaker there for
lunch, and she had a famous roast beef sandwich ... she was talking
animatedly, waving the thing around, and swoop, a gull came and
picked the meat neatly out, leaving her with bread and lettuce.

World Traveller, nice job remembering the source. ^

I had lobster rolls for the first time at a little restaurant on the CT / RI border called Two Little Fish.

I liked it so much I took a few more for the road, and my folks at home enjoyed them very much although they were cold by the time I got to Jersey.


--Russ

Damm ... I'm craving for some lobster rolls now :(

I will be in BOS next week and was going to try Neptune. My dilemma is that I want lobster bisque too, and neither B&G or Neptune show it on their menu.

Any ideas on a place with a great lobster roll and lobster bisque, or do I need to make two stops?

Ya know, I really couldn't say. Not that I don't like lobster bisque, but I don't notice it much when I'm looking for a lobster roll fix. Besides bisque seems more like a winter thing, lobster rolls more of a summer thing. Check out Atlantic Fish Co. in Back Bay to see if it has both.

Speaking of soups, if you really want something classic in BOS you should dress up and go to Locke-Öber for the famous and venerable oyster stew...JFK's favorite. There are also lobster preparations on the menu (like lobster Savannah, I think) but no lobster rolls AFAIK.

As a former sternman and lobster hauler (the cold pure waters off of ME), my whole family has a lobster roll habit.

The best lobster roll is cold. CT may know the hamburger, and the Polish kielbasa, but the warm roll just runs the wrong way.

When I make them, I use the crusher claw, knuckle meat, and mix in some hand-broken tail meat left over from the previous day's cook. (Steam them, let sit in the fridge *covered and sealed* overnight).

For each roll:

Two tablespoons Hellman's or a home-made aioli (light on the garlic, please)
1 teaspoon dijon mustard (or white-wine prepared mustard from powder)
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
Splash of salt, couple grinds of black pepper
Touch of apple cider vinegar to thin it all out

Heavily butter the outside of a New England hot dog roll. Place on a griddle, and crisp and flip until perfectly brown and golden. Bread should be more than just done, but butter soaked done :)

Mix lobster and dressing. Fill roll until roll nearly splits. Enjoy.

Note, adding a leaf of romaine is OK. Celery chunks are illegal. Pincer claw means execution.

Cheers,

-Andrew

+1.

It was worth the wait in the rain for our collection of lobster and full-belly clam rolls. At least we had the foresight to bring umbrellas - most of the other people just stood there and got soaked. Nobody left the line.

Red's fresh blueberry ice cream makes for a good finish.

Lobster Rolls
 

Every time I go to New England to visit my step-daughter, I gorge myself on lobster rolls. Some are better than others, but I don't really care. I know they are not a gourmet dish, but I am hooked. I sit here in California obsessing about them.

Has anyone found places in the west, especially in California, where you can get a good lobster roll? Maybe they will hit the gourmet menus the way lobster mac and cheese has! BTW, I really do not like those lobster mac and cheese dishes.

Fresh lobsters $3.99 a pound this week, and a few weeks ago short expiration date unsalted butter was 25 cents a pound (yes, four pounds for a buck, stocked up on probably a years worth of unsalted butter in the freezer)

All day long I've been thinking of poaching some lobster in some butter, and into a roll.......

I also love Lobster Rolls. My go-to restaurant is The Hungry Cat. Fantastic lobster rolls. Just had one this weekend.
http://www.thehungrycat.com

Lobster Rolls
 

If you are ever in San Diego, Bite of Boston in university city has great ones. Real New England bun also. I just had one today!

While ordinarily I might not merge into a four-year-old thread, in this case the previous thread, on the same subject, has information and opinion that is on-point to your questions.

cblaisd
Moderator, Dining Buzz

I've found Sam's Chowder in Half Moon Bay to be really good, though pricey. Their food truck always has a long line when they come through town.

New England Lobster near SFO recently started a food truck serving lobster rolls. I haven't tried them yet, but they seem to get good reviews.

After moving back to SF after 5 years in Boston, I also get my lobster roll cravings now and then. Luckily, I was able to get one at James Hook Lobster a couple of days ago while staying in BOS for business.

Damn. I'm far away from lobster country, and you guys have me craving the stuff. Thanks a lot. :mad: