Category Archives: Waterfront

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.

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

The Lobster Shack at Two Lights – Cape Elizabeth, Maine

Posted on March 22, 2013 by lobstergal

This is one of the more famous lobster rolls in the state of Maine. In fact, when people find out I eat a lot of lobster rolls and write about it, I would say I get asked if I’ve tried Two Lights most often, more so than even Red’s. When I arrived at this location, it was immediately clear why this place is famous and I suspected it wasn’t for the actual lobster roll. This is truly THE most stunning view in the state of Maine that is accompanied by a lobster roll. Sure there are other gorgeous views, Five Islands, Stewman’s and Dolphin immediately come to mind. Those examples may not be the best, because Five Islands is a rare convergence of a stunning Maine view and the best of the best lobster roll. Dolphin has a very good lobster roll and Stewman’s is decent. But, I guess a red flag always goes up for me when a place I’ve heard has a great lobster roll has an amazing view. People tend to color their opinions with the entire experience, which, I suppose is normal. I mean when you’re in Maine wanting a lobster roll, ideally it should be the whole ocean/lobster experience. I get the opposite phenomenon when I pull up to a lobster roll place and it’s a total dump with a view of a highway and I’ve heard it has a great lobster roll. In those cases, I get super excited because I know this lobster roll is likely to be a real life changing eating experience because the lobster roll is biased in no way by the ambiance. Fisherman’s Grill, I’m looking at you.

Two Lights lobster roll did indeed live up to my expectations or I should say, lived down to. I had seen photos of this roll and couldn’t for the life of me imagine how what was in the picture could possibly be good, let alone great. Every picture I had seen involved what looked like a hot dog bun, half of which was covered with a giant blob of mayo and the other half with a pickle slice. Yuck, I couldn’t imagine how that could be right, there must be some amazing stuff under that, but it looked like only enough lobster to barely show through. I can say one thing for them, they are consistent. What I received looked exactly like every picture I had seen. I found the mayo blob much more confusing once I actually had it in hand. The pickle can easily be removed without leaving much pickle residue. But, what are you really supposed to do with that blob? If you really like mayo, do you just smear it across the top? You certainly can’t toss it so every piece is equally coated, as is ideal. It seems like trying to spread it around would just make for a huge mess and cause the lobster to fall out. I chose to scrape it off, but this had its challenges too. These are pieces of lobster, so even scraping it off leaves a rather significant amount still caught in the pieces. The only way I could think to remedy this would be to remove and wipe off every piece with a napkin of knife, but that seemed unsanitary. So, I proceeded to eat a half completely dry lobster roll and a half mayo chunky lobster roll, just weird. Actually, to be truthful, after trying the disappointing combo of dry and mayo, I went to the counter and got a cup of butter to dip the whole thing into. Everything is much better that way. The lobster amount in this roll is rather skimpy and on the low-end of average lobster roll weight after I removed the mayo blob and pickle for weighing. The meat is fresh picked every day here and they include both tail and claw, which is always good, and it is tasty but they sure don’t give you much of it. I have a system of moving all of the lobster meat down the bread so that I always get an ideal meat:bread ratio in each bite, regardless of the overall ratio. Using this system, I had a full half of the empty bun left over. The bread is your standard split top bun, the grilling technique leaves some butter and crunch to be desired.

I wouldn’t say this is a bad lobster roll, just disappointing because it is so far away from matching the beyond stunning view that accompanies it. They do home-baked desserts here. I think I would get that when I return. And yes, I will absolutely return. This truly is exactly what you picture when you think of the Maine coast. The cute, cozy, creatively decorated, very comfortable on a cold day, dining room has wrap around windows overlooking the ocean. The picnic table area is right on the ocean on a flat area with evenly spaced, very clean, bright red picnic tables interspersed with a very comfortable amount of trash cans to keep it clean. This is in every way, a top-notch quintessentially Maine, seaside seafood shack. Clean, efficient, well maintained, bright, cheery outside, cozy inside and all this is on one of the best spots of real estate where lobster is served on the Maine coast. I really can’t say enough good things about the actual location and the restaurant itself. Except the lobster roll, it’s the only thing that just doesn’t measure up.

Weighed in at 5 oz.

Two Lights website

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Visited April 2012

Bite Into Maine – Cape Elizabeth, Maine

Posted on March 8, 2013 by lobstergal

It’s not easy to find this cute, silver purveyor of tastiness if you’re not familiar with the area, but it’s well worth it. It’s actually located in a park and my GPS got confused by that destination. The gentleman at Bite into Maine couldn’t be nicer, on the phone he walked us through directions and when we got there, he was more than happy to talk about his fantastic lobster roll and what makes it great. The lobster meat he uses is fresh picked, which is always key to a top tier lobster roll. He pointed out that it’s a question that needs to be asked before ordering a lobster roll because so many in Maine these days, even ones you don’t think, use previously frozen lobster meat.

The choices here involve Maine style (mayo) and Connecticut style (butter) and four more , which I didn’t have the stomach space to try this time around. Frankly, when they were ready, I really couldn’t tell which was which. They are both served with the meat cold, which isn’t technically Connecticut style, it would need to be warm meat for that. This inability to tell the difference was a good thing for the Maine style roll because the meat was tossed with just enough mayo to make it glossy, but not visible. For the CT style, the butter was served on the side. I have to say, I didn’t prefer this one. Most likely because I was expecting it to be warm, but also because I prefer my butter tossed to poured on myself. I like a cup of butter to dip my cold, mayo lobster rolls into. When there is no mayo and you try to dip, the meat all falls out and doesn’t stay in the bun for a good butter bite.

Bun was your standard split top white bun, perfectly buttery grilled on both. I had heard the hype about Bite Into Maine being one of the great lobster rolls in Maine and I must say, every bit of it is true. The meat is perfectly cooked, tender, flavorful, chunks, generous amount, minimal spongies, and perfect meat:bread ratio. It had everything I look for in a great lobster roll except tail meat (and a bakery fresh bun, but that’s so rare, I don’t take off points for not including it). This was one of the rare times when a lobster roll is so good that I don’t even miss the tail meat, putting it in in my top tier of all lobster rolls. Actually, the only other time I didn’t miss the tail meat was Sander’s Fish Market. They use a bakery fresh bun, so technically, I have to give Sander’s the edge on this one, but Bite into Maine is well worth driving far out of your way for.

I really knew I loved this lobster roll on my victory lap of Columbus Day weekend in Maine. What is a victory lap you may ask? Well, I try lots of lobster rolls all season long, and honestly, many of them are crap, lots are decent, but not good enough for me to want to hit again. Then there are the good and the great ones. Victory lap weekend is where I figure out the difference between whether I thought it was good or great. Some lobster rolls have all the elements of a very good lobster roll, but when I get to Maine, I’m not feeling the overwhelming need to be sure I eat that lobster roll before it disappears for the long winter. It’s kind of like a last meal, but my last meal lasts for a four day weekend and involves as much lobster as I can fit in before I pop. This one made my victory lap craving list. FYI, here’s the victory lap list from 2012, in quasi order, I can never really decide: Clam Shack, Five Islands, Boothbay Lobster Wharf, Bite into Maine, Sanders Fish Market, Erica’s, Red’s, and Muscongus. Also, picking up lobster meat at Atlantic Edge to make a few when I get home. I can’t say this is an exhaustive list of lobster rolls I crave, it’s Mainely focused (pun intended, ha) and seasonal focused. I also find myself craving Woodman’s, JT Farnham’s, Captain Scott’s, Roy Moore’s, Eastwind, High Tide Gourmet, Champlin’s and Ford’s.

But, I digress, back to Bite into Mane. The other thing that sets this cute little not quite truck, not quite trailer apart, is the view. I would eat this lobster roll anywhere, but it happens to be in a lovely park overlooking the ocean with a lighthouse. If you can handle not eating your lobster roll right away, which is tough, you could walk across the street and find a picnic table with one of the best views in Maine while eating one of the great lobster rolls of Maine.

Weighed in at 7 oz.

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Bite Into Maine webpage

Visited August 2012

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Posted in butter, claw meat, cold, Maine, mayo, Oceanfront, Seasonal, Shack with seating, View, Waterfront and tagged bite into maine, butter, cape elizabeth, claw meat, cold, lobster roll, maine, mayo, oceanfront, portland, seasonal. Bookmark the permalink.

Bill’s Seafood – Westbrook, Connecticut

Posted on February 18, 2013 by lobstergal

Kind of a fun vibe going on here and by fun, I mean rough around the edges in a way where weekend bikers and prissy college girls can all go mingle, drink and feel tougher than they are. It has a nice, large deck that’s very crowded with happy patrons on a warm summer day. It overlooks some type of water, not very pretty though. My friend Jill, who joined me that day, pointed out that I shouldn’t miss the “singing bridge” view, apparently a big draw here. Frankly, I don’t get it, it’s not pretty and I didn’t hear any singing, just cars.

After setting up camp at a prime table on the deck, we ordered up some vino (yes, they have a full bar) and I asked about the lobster rolls. Yes, the meat is fresh picked and cooked there, according to the waitress. I was actually only going to order the cold version, but since she said it was fresh picked we ordered up a hot and cold lobster roll. Kind of unusual, and a good thing, to have a choice. Most places are committed to one version.

Upon arrival, they looked to be good sized rolls, slightly longer bun than usual, but the meat just looked, well, sloppy. It just didn’t look as appealing as you would like it to. It was kind of a mess, shreds, chunks, poorly distributed mayo, all just shoved into a bun in an uneven manner. They just didn’t look that good, probably partly because we had just eaten the beautiful, lobster roll perfection served by High Tide Gourmet maybe two hours before. The lobster rolls both weighed in at about a hearty 8.5 oz, generous amount. Trying not to judge a book by it’s cover, I tried out both. The cold was pretty good. I could do without the lettuce and tiny bits of celery, but it had good flavor, not too much mayo, buttery split top bun. Really, pretty good, but not so good I’d come back soon for it. The hot was worse. There was a lot of butter and that certainly never hurts a situation. The problem was the meat. As Jill put it, it tastes like how lobster ravioli tastes when it’s been sitting around hot for too long. There was tail and claw in both, and if the waitress was correct about the fresh picked status, which I do feel like I’m questioning, this should have been great. Booze sold, waterfront, fresh picked, choice of hot and cold. Bill’s had all the elements, but somehow missed on bringing them together.

Then there’s the check. I get lobster stands not taking credit cards, I don’t like it, but fine. By the way, most these days do take credit cards, I mean you can get a credit card swiper on your phone now. This place is a full service, year round restaurant that serves booze and they don’t take credit card. With checks that size, to only take cash is a problem. They point out that they have an ATM in the front, great. I’ve heard all the arguments why places don’t take credit cards, mainly because the card companies charge a % of the transaction, but I would think that works out in your favor when you figure how much less people spend when they know they can’t outspend the amount of cash in their wallet. All cash business also depend on a great deal of honesty at all levels of the business. While at the front for the ATM, I stopped in the restroom and had to hold my breath the whole time because it reeked of urine. This is the ladies room, on a Monday afternoon. I can’t imagine how the mens room smells after a Saturday night. Never a good sign at a food service establishment.

On the up side, the onion rings were quite good. Also, they do have an ice cream stand outside that serves Gifford’s ice cream and the staff was all very pleasant and fun. I’ll be back to Bill’s for an ice cream, but doubt I’ll return for the lobster roll.

Weighed in at 8.5 oz. for cold and 8.2 oz. for hot

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