Lobster Gal

Cape Neddick Lobster Pound – Cape Neddick, Maine

Posted on May 18, 2013 by lobstergal

I find it so much more disappointing when a gorgeous view is accompanied by a mediocre lobster roll. I guess I just think that all great views should be accompanied by outstanding food. To do otherwise feels like a crime against humanity, or amazing views, or something. I’m exceedingly sorry to say that Cape Neddick fell into this category. Again, I feel really strangely bad reporting that it was not a lobster roll I will find myself craving. When I have a lousy lobster roll at any other place, it doesn’t pain me to say I didn’t particularly like it, but with this view, ugh.

I was actually just going to do a quick takeout order and be on my way since this is a sit down restaurant and I really just want to try the lobster roll, not fool them into thinking I plan to engage in a whole dinner experience. But, once I walked in and saw the expansive view through the wrap around, two story windows, looking out on the lovely river all around, I just had to stay. They also have a full bar, being a full service restaurant and all, so that certainly didn’t hurt either. We were seated at a cute table right by the window. The tables here are all spread out enough that you don’t feel like other people’s conversations are invading your personal space, very pleasant. Our waitress was great, super helpful, answered all my questions while staying very friendly. She said that their lobster roll was amazing, huge and that the lobster meat for it was picked right there, right before the shift. I was so excited I could barely contain myself, always a setup for a letdown.

The lobster roll arrived and well, it was indeed large, more of a foot long hot dog roll, not split top, but that’s fine by me. However, it looked more like a crab roll. That is to say, completely white, slathered in mayo and shredded. Trying very hard not to judge a lobster roll by it’s cover, I have had some very tasty, ugly ones (Markey’s), I took a bite. Sadly, it was exactly how it looked, tons of mayo, so much that I honestly can’t tell you how the tastiness of the meat was. It was fully disguised in mayo and the chunks were so small, that wiping off the mayo for a taste was a futile effort. There was also a piece of lettuce and chives or parsley mixed in. I did confirm a piece of tail meat involved, so I believe her that it was fresh picked. But, this just proves, that restaurants can manage to kill even the best setup. The view, the very fresh picked meat, it still disappoints me just to talk about it. I imagine the meat was probably excellent because I did still manage to eat a decent amount of it and it didn’t taste bad, just really, really mayoey. I left feeling somewhat ill because that much mayo sits in my stomach like a rock. Thank goodness they serve sav blanc, which did offset it somewhat.

All was not lost. Ken’s swordfish tips were fantastic and very fresh. The were also served with fiddlehead ferns. If you’re not familiar with them, they are the greatest vegetable known to man and are only available in New England for about two weeks out of the year. They’re a bit of a cross in flavor between asparagus and broccoli and look like a cute little swirly disk. It really kills me that this lobster roll was what it was because everything else was so good, the view, the service, the fish, the fiddlehead ferns, even the onion rings. This place is absolutely worth visiting, but not for the lobster roll, maybe I’ll order a lobster dinner next time and be disappointed that fiddlehead ferns are out of season

Weighed in at 9.8 oz.

http://www.capeneddick.com/

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Visited May 2013

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Posted in Booze sold, cold, Maine, mayo, Restaurant, Seasonal, tail and claw meat, View, Waterfront and tagged cape neddick, cold, foot long, fresh picked, lobster pound, lobster roll, mayo, restaurant, seasonal, shredded, view, waterfront. Bookmark the permalink.

H.B. Provisions – Kennebunk, Maine

Posted on May 17, 2013 by lobstergal

This place is a real lifesaver if you ever find yourself staying the night in Kennebunkport and needing something besides restaurant food or nautical interior design accessories. It is a little market with just the right amount of stuff and a full aisle of wine. It wasn’t until recently when I liked them on Facebook that I discovered that they also do lots of food, home baked goods, full breakfast, sandwiches, etc. I guess the fact that it is essentially across the street from Clam Shack has resulted in me never actually going in there hungry. So, I found out that they do a lobster roll, which they serve until 9pm and you can eat it at the cozy seating area they have and watch the old men do jigsaw puzzles. It’s like a shop out of a bygone era, you might expect the horse drawn ice truck to go by, I love it.

I confirmed that the lobster meat is fresh picked and local, no specific names were given there. The lobster roll is served on a round bun, which is not a grocery store style, more of a bakery fresh roll, very tasty. Maybe a kaiser, potatoish combo flavor. They grill the inside to a perfect buttery crunch. The meat is all claw meat, no tail, a bit of a skimpy amount in my opinion, but very tasty meat. The problem is that they spread a ton of mayo on both sides of the bun, but I’m guessing that could be remedied by asking for mayo on the side. The mayo actually does taste like it may be a homemade type, not sure, but it tasted very creamy and not jelloey like most jarred mayo is. So, it was good mayo, if you’re into that sort of thing. They also involve lettuce and a tomato slice in the sandwich, a mistake which I quickly remedied by removing. Overall, this was a very good lobster roll that could use less mayo and more meat. No, it doesn’t compare to Clam Shack across the street, but few places do. It’s unfortunate proximity to the greatest lobster roll on earth shouldn’t be held against it. I am still craving that buttery crunchy bun, maybe I can request double meat next time.

Weighed in at 6.3 oz. after lettuce and tomato removed.

http://www.hbprovisions.com/

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Visited May 2013

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Posted in Booze sold, claw meat, cold, Maine, mayo, Open Year Round, Shack with seating and tagged bakery bun, claw meat, cold, fresh picked, grocery, H B Provisions, kennebunk, kennebunkport, lobster roll, maine, mayo, round bun. Bookmark the permalink.

Footbridge Lobster – Ogunquit, Maine

Posted on April 18, 2013 by lobstergal

Ken was pretty confused as to how a lobster roll that involves lobster served up fresh by a lobsterman on a bakery fresh bun, so far south on the Maine coast had not been eaten yet. Frankly it baffles me too. But no matter, I found out about it this winter, and thanks to Facebook, I found out that they would be opening on the very day we were planning to drive to Bar Harbor. What luck! This actually makes this very lobster roll, my first of the 2013 seasonal lobster roll establishments.

Perkins Cove in Ogunquit, which is normally insane and unapproachable in the summer months was quiet, but waking up on the Friday before Easter, opening day. I get very excited eating a lobster roll on opening or closing day, preferably both. Footbridge Lobster is just a cute little window for take out where I ordered a lobster roll and lobster grilled cheese from the man who, I’m not sure, but may have been a lobsterman himself. He told me about how they had many of their own traps where they got the lobster. I can’t remember the number, but he did. I’m a sucker for all lobster rolls that cut out the middleman. There is really no seating at Footbridge, save two chairs by the window, so you’ll need to find your own spot to enjoy your lobster roll. I suggest you head over to the walk around the harbor on the other end of the parking lot and snag one of the park benches overlooking the ocean.

This was a lovely lobster roll, chock full of large chunks of tail and claw with few spongies and minimal mayo. They actually mix the lobster meat to order, so you can get it however you like, another huge plus in my book. The bun was nicely grilled, and I believe was bakery fresh from what I could see of the bags, but didn’t seem to impart any different flavor from the standard style bun. Take that however you like, I still give them points for bakery use. The meat flavor was good, but somehow not as flavorful as I was hoping. The claw meat was perfect, but the tail meat had a just slightly off texture, almost like it had been stored too cold. Not quite frozen, but it messed with the texture, just a smidge, or maybe it was some other reason, that was just my guess. The lobster grilled cheese was amazing, perfectly grilled, generous amount of lobster meat, gooey cheese mixing in with the lobster and heating the meat seemed to remedy the tail texture situation. Footbridge serves up a very good lobster roll. I will most certainly be back. I feel strongly about supporting lobsterman owned lobster roll establishments, there are so few of them. Particularly ones that use bakery fresh buns. I also want to try it again to see if the tail meat was just working out an opening day kink.

Weighed in at 6.7 oz.

Footbridge Lobster Facebook Page

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Visited March 2013

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Posted in cold, Maine, mayo, Oceanfront, Seasonal, Shack without seating, View, Waterfront and tagged cold, footbridge lobster, fresh picked, lobster roll, lobsterman owned, maine, mayo, mixed to order, oceanview, ogunquit, perkins cove. Bookmark the permalink.

Ruth and Wimpy’s – Hancock, Maine

Posted on April 17, 2013 by lobstergal

I never actually imagined I would be trying this place so soon. I mean, it’s north of Bar Harbor, which is of course kind of no man’s land. It was on my list as it had been in the lobster shack book I love to reference and for some reason I think it was on some food show. So, imagine my surprise as we headed up Rt 1 on Easter Sunday to see it right there, not far from Elsworth and shock of all shocks, open on Easter Sunday, until 8pm! Since my stomach was in no mood for lunch at the time, I just stopped in to confirm that they had a lobster roll and that it was fresh picked by them, never frozen. Sure enough, in fact the waitress I asked actually gave me a bit of a friendly eye roll, like, of course it’s fresh picked, why would it be anything else, that’s ridiculous? I agree. So, we stopped back by for dinner, and by dinner after poking around the coast and the ”other” Acadia. Worth seeing, by the way, if you have not.

The evening shift didn’t seem quite as on the ball as the lunch shift. After standing there for a few minutes, a waitress told me to have a seat anywhere. I did, then a lady sitting at another table informed me that the table I had chosen was reserved. Once settled in at an approved table with menus, it took a rather significant amount of time before I was able to place an order, longer for water, the food came fairly soon after placing the order, but the check was another wait. I don’t like to color my judgement of the lobster roll at a location because of the service, but this gal really made it challenging. On the other hand, the owner (I assume she was the owner) was an exceedingly friendly woman, who was having a great time making the rounds to the tables and being the Easter bunny. You could pick out an egg from her basket and you won candy or other menu items, every egg was a winner. I saw a guy win a shrimp cocktail app. It really was fun and a nice touch, she even noticed when Ken came in and joined me, some time after I had sat down. I did win a lovely bag full of Easter candy and received it, well before I got water or saw my waitress, so that happened.

Ruth and Wimpy’s really is quite a unique place. Kind of like a museum of Americana/diner/lobstering establishment. I quite liked it. Outside, there is a guy with steaming pots in brick ovens where you can walk up on a boat and watch him work. I’m not entirely sure what he was doing that day since it seemed to be mostly locals and I didn’t actually see any whole lobsters come out. There is a classic car parked across the front and apparently there is usually a huge lobster statue, but I guess he hadn’t made it out this early in the season. The inside is quite cute, pine walls, diner booths, toy car collection covering one wall (if you collect them, I assume you don’t call them toys, but I don’t know what to call them). License plates covering the other walls, quite kitschy in a fun way.

I ordered the regular and the jumbo lobster rolls. The regular was good size, standard buttery bun, could have been better grilled, fresh picked tail, claw, knuckle lightly coated in mayo. It was decent, but I felt like Tracey’s, farther up Rt 1 was way better. But, to be perfectly honest, it could have been my mood from sitting at a table for 45+ minutes before food arrived. The jumbo was really something to behold. It really was a bun the size of a large hoagie, filled with lobster and shredded iceberg. It was also good, but pulling of a good meat:bread:lettuce ratio would be impossible without putting in so much meat that you would have to charge $50+. It was more of a sub experience than a lobster roll, but still good and worth trying. The weight really, is mostly the dense bread. I, of course, pushed the meat down the bun until I had the meat:bread ratio the way I like it, but Ken thought it was quite good as is, and liked that it was more filling. Ruth and Wimpy’s is certainly worth a try, and is obviously very popular with the locals, which is always a good thing. Maybe I’ll try it again, but judging by how crowded they were on Easter Sunday, this place must be a mad house in the summer. On the other hand, maybe they have a take out window then, which could only be a good thing.

Regular weighed in at 4.8 oz., jumbo weighed in at 13.9 oz.

Ruth and Wimpy’s website

Visited March 2013

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Posted in Booze sold, cold, Maine, mayo, Seasonal, Shack with seating, tail and claw meat and tagged cold, fresh picked, hancock, lobster roll, maine, mayo, ruth and wimpy's. Bookmark the permalink.

Eventide Oyster Co. – Portland, Maine

Posted on April 16, 2013 by lobstergal

I love it when two favorite things are so close to each other, so got rather excited to see that Eventide was right around the corner from my very favorite bakery where the finest whoopie pies on earth are served, Two Fat Cats. Just to be clear, I actually think it’s their pumpkin/maple whoopie pie that is the finest on earth and it can only be had a few months of the year. Everything else there is really good, so I always stock up. I suppose I expected Eventide to be something different from it was, judging from its fine food pedigree, awards, etc. I expected that I would need to budget time for a whole sit down, fancy dinner. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is actually more of a high-end, casual chic eatery/bar. There are only a few tables, then there is a bar with lovely oysters displayed and seating along the bar and the window facing the sidewalk. The whole young, beautiful people, in the know vibe is topped off with just the right amount of retro chic, exemplified by the gentleman behind the bar with a waxed handlebar mustache. I’m very into this whole concept that seems designed for people who want to drink and have small plates of finely crafted food, without having to go through the whole process of a sit down, fill yourself to the brim meal.

Eventide has three options for the lobster roll, mayo, rum butter and hollandaise. This was one of the more difficult decisions I have encountered, but after some agonizing, I went with the mayo option, but obviously need to try the other two highly innovative options soon. My order arrived in record time and at first, I thought it looked more like a lobster slider. I say at first because once I weighed and ate it, I found that it was actually a hearty amount of meat in a small, light bun. The bun was more of a vehicle for the lobster instead of the usual half of the experience. I think I get so used to seeing a decent sized bun that it can confuse you as to how much meat you are actually getting. On first bite, I thought this lobster roll was way to creative for my taste. It uses fresh picked and cooked in-house meat, and the meat tastes as such, full of flavor. The meat had, what I would normally consider more mayo than I like, there was also dill, chive and chunks of sea salt mixed in. The bun was unlike any I’ve ever had, it was a steamed, asian style bun. It kind of annoyed me at first that it was kind of sticky.

I say all of this at first because by the time I finished this lobster roll, I had changed my mind completely from my first impression. Sure, it wasn’t what I was expecting or used to, but I found this to be the most craveable of the six lobster rolls I ate this Easter weekend. It was the one I kept thinking about and wishing I was eating again. The dill, chive, mayo, salt combo just seemed to wake up the lobster and add another dimension. The bun was the perfect size and texture to highlight the lobster while the bun just allowed the whole thing to perfectly melt in your mouth.

This lobster roll reminded me to keep an open mind about lobster rolls. In Maine, this allowed it to stand out from the pack. Even fresh picked, tasty lobster on a perfectly grilled grocery hot dog bun can start to seem, dare I say, ho-hum. Creativity can go wildly wrong with lobster rolls. I can see why the chef at Eventide is considered a culinary genius. Don’t question brilliance, just go with it, it just might blow you away. My only regret is that I didn’t summon up the stomach space to try the warm, rum butter option. Mmm, can anything be wrong that involves the words “rum butter”?

Weighed in at 5.1 oz.

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