Lobster Rolls - Maine

Sorry for the short hiatus. My husband and I went to a friend's wedding out in Maine and we decided to turn it into a mini vacation. We just returned and I'm super excited to blog about our food adventures in Maine (just in case you ever visit and want to hit up the spots that we ate at. :))

On to the food....

I. Love. Lobster.rolls. After leaving the east coast for the west coast, I haven’t had the luxury of eating lobster rolls (tear drop). (Does anyone know of any places in Southern California? If so, send me a message!) The last time I was in New York City, I was able to eat at Pearl Oyster Bar, which has faaantastatic lobster rolls. In fact, it rivaled the best lobster rolls I ate in Maine, except that the price is double in NY. In my week-long stay in Maine, I had 3 lobster rolls, 1 lobster stew, and 2 full lobster meals (one courtesy of a fabulous wedding). Yum. Except for the fact that I have probably exceeded my mercury level consumption....Mercury toxicity anyone?

Harraseeket Lunch and Lobster (Freeport) was the first place and as of now, is the best place for lobster rolls on our mini lobster adventure. The place was mobbed with people. When we ordered our lobster roll, they informed us that it would take 40 minutes…wait, 40 minutes! Wah?! Well, it was worth the wait. This roll was the most generously filled with super fresh & sweet lobster, with minimal amounts of the mushy end-claw meat and scant mayo (perfect). It's like eating a whole sweet lobster on a bun, without all the work. My hubster also tried the famous lobster bisque, which he loved. I also bought a chocolate whoopie pie based on a few yelpers recommendations. It was quite generous in size, pretty good in taste, but not my favorite in terms of texture…The chocolate cake part of the whoopie pie was rather firm and dry (looked strangely like a portobello mushroom from the outside) and filled with this really sweet white cream that tasted like frosting.

Next place was called the Lobster Shack Restaurant at Two Lights in Cape Elizabeth. We shared a lobster roll and fried clams. Of the 3 lobster rolls we tried, this was agreeably the least favorite because the lobster was smaller in quantity compared to Harraseeket’s, a little “fishier” in taste, more of the mushy-end claw meat, and a giant dollop of mayo that infiltrated our lobster roll despite trying to scoop it off. The unbeatable feature of this site though was the location. There was a beautiful view of the ocean and lighthouse and also plenty of seating. Fried clams were good. The mini blueberry pie was quite tasty as well – a sweet cinnamon crumble topping with a not-to-sweet blueberry filling, surrounded by a basic pastry crust.

On our last day, we tried a lobster roll at Bob’s Clam Shack in Kittery off route 1. Of the three rolls, this would be number 2 in terms of taste. I somewhat regret not being able to try the two other famous lobster roll places since we drove by both but were not hungry at the time (The Clam Shack in Kennebunkport and Barnacle Bill in Ogunquit). But, Bob’s Clam Shack was good. There was a good amount of lobster meat on the bread, minimal mayo, crispy fries, and a nice giant pickle. I had quite a bit of that mushy-end claw meat throughout my roll.... But the flavor was still great and there was minimal mayo so I was overall happy with the meal.

One of these days, I’m going to have to try and make a lobster roll and take it on a picnic to the beach.