Maine Lobster Outlet- Surprise, It's Great

Maine Lobster Outlet
360 US Route 1
York, Maine 03909
207.363.9899
http://www.mainelobsteroutlet.com


I've started a lot of reviews with this: "I've been avoiding this place for years..."  Usually I am right, but this time I am not and happy about it.  From the road this place lacks charm, there isn't even a picnic table with an umbrella. Let's face it, if you are headed south you are only two more minutes away from Bedrock, why would you bother?  Here's why you bother: claws! This roll was outstanding and had 3 perfect whole claws in it. After I ordered it seemed like the guy went out back forever.

Given the decor and newness of it all I assumed a tourist trap, never mind the name- "Outlet?"  The length of time to prepare made me nervous because there was no waiting line, so I assumed the place didn't know what it was doing.  It took so long because the roll had to be properly buttered and grilled to a sublime golden brown. It was wrapped with foil when handed to me, but I wouldn't open it until I got to the "Roller"- my truck. I was dissing the roll and the stupid bag of chips for 30 paces and was I ever wrong.

The meat was delicate and flavorful and quite possibly seven ounces. Given the price per pound of shucked meat, the math didn't work out. The mayo was applied to the inner sides of the roll prior to the kingly stuffing of lobster meat. I know this sounds a little sexual, and it almost was. It was spiritual at least. The old adage, "Don't judge a book by it's cover," applies here. I have always related the vibe of this place to Linda Bean's as just the commoditization of Maine culture and outlets, but this place actually transcends this by delivering something really good at a fair price. I recommend that they disassociate themselves with the consumerism nearby, so people don't jump to conclusions, meaning: change the name. A name like Sewall's Lobster or Sprague's- how about Chester Coombs Lobster Shed?

The price was a meager $12.95, a bargain at any time of year and crushes that recent disappointment in Ogunquit. Don't be put off by this place and mos def stop if you are just getting some sauces and jams up the road at Stonewall. That place gets bigger every year. Doesn't everyone have some weird Vidalia onion sauce from them in their cupboard that's at least 5 years old?

Captain's Catch- 2014 Season Opener

Captain's Catch
414 Maine Street
Ogunquit, ME 03907
207-646-8008
http://captainscatchogunquitme.com


Let's start the 2014 season with a bad review. I knew the second I pulled into the parking lot that this was going to be bad. I was starving and trying to hold out until Bedrock Lobster Pound, but then I realized that it was way too early in the season for Bedrock to be open. I tend to do long stretches on Route 1 instead of the Turnpike trying to recall Maine from year's past.

Let's start with off season prices. Yes, I know everything is hard shell right now and offshore causing a premium, but demand is really low. Compare the $19 paid here for a roll in April to the $9  paid for a far superior roll a week earlier at Sue's in Kittery.  

It was off-putting when the proprietor told me it was really fresh and just came in today, but then proceeded to open a big plastic tub of lobster salad. There was lettuce and he didn't ask if  I wanted the roll without.  Despite the meager portion and outrageous price, the worst infraction was the sprinkling of paprika all over it- who does that? Maybe he should have had a piece of kale with a twisted orange slice just like the 80's- a throwback roll. What's the point of the lemon wedge? I didn't ask for iced tea or baked scrod. This was a bad roll on many levels and the place was soulless to boot. It says a lot when the bad fries were the best part of a lobster roll. Maybe the ketchup was the best thing...When you see that sign and you are headed south, hold out for Bedrock. Actually, hold out for Burger King. 

I don't wish the owner bad tidings, but he may want to take heed if he wants to thrive. The prices, quality and setting seem designed only to fleece tourists. 

Erica's Seafood: Straight to the Top

You cannot see the angels circling above.

Erica's Seafood

Basin Point

Harpswell, Maine 04079

(207) 833-7354

www.ericasseafood.com

2013 Update:

I have since returned by watercraft. I did use the Dolphin's facilities to get to Erica's.  I literally ran up the gangway to get there. Lobster prices have been decimated this year by an abundant catch.  Read James Surowiecki's piece in the New Yorker about why- http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2013/08/26/130826ta_talk_surowiecki
The prices at Erica's mirrored the boat prices.  Andrea was offering 3 full lobster rolls for $27 bucks. More importantly Andrea is now offering the seafood roll equivalent of the Cronut- The Crabster, or the Crabby Lobster. This is lobster and crab salad combined.  I ate a life altering Crabster for $9.  Three days later I dragged my whole family there to celebrate my birthday with another Crabster and some seafood chowder.  I have become a little obsessive about Erica's and googled the establishment to find the minutes of her Planning Board hearings.  This was interesting reading and the process frustrates me about how much work is was for Andrea to make a nice place to eat where she employs people.  I am no Libertarian, but sometimes municipal zoning requirements are just crazy.

This is The Crabster- look how perfectly golden it is.

Original Review from 2012:

The original intent of my trip to Harpswell today was to validate my hunch that the Dolphin Marina had entered in to some Faustian arrangement for the new restaurant building. The Dolphin has always been dear to me, but I'll save that for another review.

The view to Bailey's Island

I really don't enjoy writing bad reviews and that was my intention at the Dolphin when I headed down Harpswell Neck.  The day was picture perfect, the kind that tends to happen only in September. The State of Maine Air Show was in full swing as I passed by the old Naval Air Station.  A Navy Corsair buzzed me as I passed Fat Boy. I built a couple Corsair models as a kid, so it was a thrill. A Corsair is one of the most beautiful planes ever made.

When  almost at the Dolphin I noticed some new signs. What were once Erica's Lobster signs now said Erica's Seafood and Takeout. There was hope that I might be writing a positive review today with a brand new place.  I assumed that the old Dolphin building may have been turned in to a seafood shack- as it was meant to be.  Erica's is the parking lot just before the dreaded Dolphin. I promise that is the last time I'll mention The Dolphin in this review.  Erica's is a tiny little white "shack" with tables and umbrellas out front- very unassuming and typical of Maine. The view to Bailey's, Flag, Haskell, and Eagle Islands is better than their neighbor's because there is no glass separating you from the view!

If you have followed my blog at all, then you know that I am on a holy quest to find honest and sincere Maine experiences and Erica's is exactly that. Harpswell has a lot to offer in the lobster roll arena: Estes, Allens, Nance's... This is my new #1 for Harpswell and also a top 5 pick for Mid-coast.  Erica's is on par with Waterman's Beach (James Beard Award winner), Five Islands, Muscongus Bay Lobster, and with much better prices. I was floored by the value offered at Erica's. A behemoth crab roll with the sweetest meat and nice claw pieces was a mere 8 bucks, how can this be? The lobster roll was $11 with a pickle.  Andrea Hunter (proprietor) uses unbelievable restraint with the mayo. She makes lobster salad like James Bond makes a martini- with perfect precision. The lobster pieces were perfectly sized, toothsome, and so sweet.

The float- tie up on the sides

I can't say enough about this place. I hung around taking lots of photos and the guys killing their Sunday with a six-pack at the lobster pound made mention of my loitering. I was loitering. My only concern about Erica's was how to get there in the boat? I don't think the neighbors, the ones I'm not talking about anymore, would be very pleased if I pulled up to their float and returned with a lobster roll from Erica's.  I noticed they had a dock and boathouse, so I asked if it was OK if I landed on their float to place an order? "No problem, just tie up to the sides of the float, not the end."  The skies parted and the angels did sing. I can come here on the boat, which is actually quicker than driving from West Bath.

I wish I would have found them earlier in the Summer.  Driving to Basin Point is a long haul, but now it is absolutely worth it. Get there before they close for the season! I'm not kidding- Bucket List this place.


Postscript:  I feel like a chump for not getting a scallop roll. I have since learned that Andrea's partner runs a scallop boat- you can see it to the left in the photo above. 

Funny Signs

Nance's Seafood Shanty- I have been Withholding......

Nance's Seafood Shanty
Route 123 (90 Barton Lane)
Harpswell, Maine 04079
207-504-1373


The fact that I am posting this now is a travesty-Nance deserves better. I have been there 3 times since 2012 and just haven't found the time to write a review. The photos are from my first visit, but still the same. Nance's is just over the Brunswick line in Harpswell.  An honest and genuine place that is always staffed by Nance herself. She'll ask if you want a toasted bun and/or lettuce- of course no lettuce and a toasted bun. The farm setting is beautiful and cool breezes come off the neck. There's shade to be found under her umbrella on hot August days.  I like coming during the State of Maine Air Show.

I've actually seen Nance shucking meat and you would know it was fresh and local by the tomalley staining.  I love seeing a little green in my lobster salad.  The prices are great for perfect rolls: $10 for a crab roll and $14 for a lobster roll. My only criticism is Nance can be a little heavy-handed with the mayo, but always perfect with the buttering of the roll.

If you don't feel like driving down to Erica's or Allen's this is the place.  I find it is better to go to Erica's, have a roll and then stop at Nance's for dessert: another roll- maybe a crab roll at one place and a lobster roll at another.

2013 Season Opener! Bite Into Maine

Bite Into Maine

Fort Williams
1000 Shore Road

Cape Elizabeth, Maine 04107

(207) 420-0294

http://www.biteintomaine.com

This was opening day for lobster roll hunting and also for Bite Into Maine for the 2013 season.  I have had them in my sights since early April and have been impatient for them to open. Bite Into Maine is an itinerant purveyor of Maine foods with pretty consistent residency in the parking lot at Fort Williams.  If you haven't been to Fort Williams, this is even more of a reason to come.  Fort Williams is a gorgeous setting with views of Portland harbor, Cushing & Peaks islands, lighthouses... it has all the picturesque Maine stuff and cool colonial forts for kids.

Get to the roll!  Solid roll and great value. Currently we are eating hard shell offshore bugs fetching about 8 bucks a pound.  This should warrant a $16 dollar lobster roll in this beautiful setting.  My textbook roll was $13.95. We also had their grilled tomato, basil and fresh mozzarella sandwich for just south of 5 bucks- this was delicious and a bargain.

Bite Into Maine has done a great job of educating and exporting Maine summer foods by competing at food festivals with the food truck (trailer) and winning!  They have the requisite whoopie pie, moxie, and I am sure when the season arrives a lot of blueberry things.

The proprietors work the truck and are extraordinarily kind folk that care about their work.


It was incredibly pleasurable this year to have my season opener be essentially perfect- weather included.  Keep it up Bite Into Maine! Word of caution: I had to resist this judgement myself, but Bite Into Maine is not a lobster shack from the '30s and should not be judged as such- still great!

Amato's- Raised On "Real Italians"

Amato's

You can tell there's alot of mayo.

Everywhere, Maine
www.amatos.com

I initially thought I would feel guilty about doing this review. I reviewed Amato's lobster roll in 2007, when they were advertising that they proudly served Duhaime's Lobster Salad. That lobster salad was inedible- way too salty and mushy.  It has been a few years since the review and 'tis the season for cheap lobsters. Amato's is now advertising a lobster roll for $8.99.  I could not resist buying one while picking up a veggie Italian for lunch.

If the roll was bad I might have had second thoughts about writing a review that denigrated Amato's at all. It would be like writing a review slamming your grandmother's cooking. You see, I was raised on Amato's and so were my siblings. Yes, we had normal food: corn, tomatoes, clams, and lobster, but we ate at Amato's a lot and it is one of the few food experiences I distinctly remember from childhood, along with sucking on lobster antennae stolen from the fridge. I would suck on them like licorice.

Amato's is a Maine institution and has come to define the Maine submarine sandwich style, with a super mushy roll, sparse meats and cheeses, wedged veggies with salt, peppah, oil... It has similarities to a Chicago style hot dog, sans the neon relish. Amato's is as much Maine as Mardens or Reny's. These establishments still primarily belong to Maine and have yet to take the international stage like Beans. Whenever my older sister returns home from Seattle she makes Amato's her first stop.  The unchanged style and taste of their subs brings us back to a simpler and happier time.

Brunswick Location

I took my first bite of the lobster roll with the expectation bar buried in a hole- nowhere to go, but up.  I was really shocked with the roll. It was heavy on the mayo and the lobster meat was obviously processed, but processed well. It had that sweetness missing from so many lobsters. There were whole claws and knuckle chunks interspersed with smaller pieces comprising the mayo matrix.  The roll was not grilled as a smaller version of the Amato's sub roll.  There was iceberg lettuce by default.  There was quite a bit of lobster salad, a good 6 ounces.

I am giving this a thumbs up and so did Serious Eats. I probably won't eat another one this summer because I need to spread my lobster money around, but this was more than a solid roll at 9 bucks. I will still eat lunch at Amato's twice a week for the entire summer.  I am partial to the Bath and Brunswick locations. A comment about their tag line: "Home of The Real Italian." Don't take this too seriously. The only other food I might be suited to blog about is the italian porchetta sandwich.  I have roamed Tuscany for 9 years in search of the best (Acquapendente Market on Saturdays- 2 Euro) and my Porchetta purveyors would become arabiata about the misappropriation of "Italian" used to describe Amato's- I still love 'em!

Patty's Seafood and Takeout- The Trailer is A Rockin' with Flavor



Lobster Roll

 Patty’s Seafood and Takeout

Route 1 on the Newcastle-Edgecomb Line

Edgecomb, ME 04556
(207) 882-7292
www.pattysseafood.com (this link has never worked)

I’ve been a long time fan of Patty Grant’s seafood trailer in Edgecomb, Maine. I posted one of my first Yelp reviews about Patty’s in 2008. That review, along with some others (Beach Plum in Hampton, NH), have gone into the ether. I have no idea why Yelp just deletes reviews. They were not filtered, just eradicated. It is just as well because I may have just transposed the 2008 review without going back.



Crab Roll- The Best!

 It was a rainy Sunday on the way to Bath, Maine and lunch time was nearing. I had intended to hit the dreaded Taste of Maine and just get that over with. We stopped and looked at the menu posted outside and were just turned off. We were hungry and did not want to eat just for the sake of a review, particularly one we knew would be bad. I decided to push on to Patty’s. Once we hit Red’s in Wish-past-it (Wiscasset) we began to wonder if it was such a great idea. The bridge over the Sheepscot was backed up coming south and we would need to head back south after lunch. We pushed on and the traffic was a parking lot all the way to Mary’s Pop-In and further still. The southbound traffic did not subside until Patty’s.

We ordered quite a bit: lobster roll ($13.95), crab roll ($8.50), scallop roll ($9.00) and a bowl of haddock chowder ($3.50). All were terrific, but as I recalled from prior visits, Patty’s crab roll is a standout. You always taste the crab sweetness and the portion is substantial- at least 6 or 7 ounces of crab salad. The lobster roll was good, but did lack that elusive meat sweetness. I do know that Patty takes particular pride in her crab rolls. All the rolls came in buttered and grilled side-split hot dog buns- the “right propah” way to serve a roll. There was crisp iceberg and a slice of lemon atop. It pains me to say this, but Patty can be a wee bit heavy handed with mayonnaise, but I am being overcritical. I almost forgot the fish chowder: exceptionally flavorful and not mushy. I reminded me of the fish chowder at Cindy’s in Freeport.

Patty’s is an honest Maine experience and should not missed, especially if you were contemplating that place with the “Osprey Cam” (Taste o’ Maine) further to the south.

As for avoiding the southbound traffic heading back to Wishpastit, go left out of Patty’s and head north a little bit, past Sherman Lake on the right, and get on Sheepscot Road over to Route 218. You’ll take a traffic free and scenic trip back to Wiscasset. Route 218 dumps you out on the south side of the Sheepscot and beyond the nightmare created by Red’s and Treats- don’t ever get me started about Treats. If it happens to be morning stop at Ship’s Chow Hall for breakfast and avoid the Miss Wiscasset Diner further to the South. Don’t be put of by the exterior of the Chow Hall. If you stop in to Huber’s Market, please let me know your thoughts. As an aside, we’ve always noted the amount of For Sale signs along Route 1 as you are heading into Wiscasset from the south. We make this trip a lot since my parents live in Damariscotta. This time we noted the same amount of signs in Route 218. Is everyone in Wiscasset trying to unload their property? Is the traffic driving people out of Wiscasset?

Scallop Roll

Lobster Tastiness- This is not a Review

I've been coming back to Massachusetts every Sunday or Monday all summer, or every summer for that matter. Yes, I am a Masshole, but not really. I was born in Portland, Maine while my parents lived in South Freeport. I am a Mainer.  I can't make a living in the design profession in Maine, so I live outside Boston. I am not proud of it.

Anyhoozle, I have learned a lot from my study of lobsters over the last 30 years coming back and forth from Maine and hauling my own: lobsters have colons.  When lobsters defecate it is a signal for everyone.  If you own a New England seafood shack and have tank with slow turnover, it is bad.

Here's the deal: if a lobster relieves himself (herself, and they don't pee) in a tank that isn't on a pier exchanging water into a little Maine cove, then they are deucing in the tank. This is bad for for the tank and maybe your health. Solution: stop feeding them and let them starve.  Imagine being a cannibal and eating a starving human or buying the scrawny chicken to roast for a Sunday "suppah". This is not good for flavor. I am sure my torso is chock full of flavor after eating lobster risotto the night before, as opposed to eating me after I dropped 20 post-Andean plane crash. Fat Nat is better tasting and more nutritious.

See my review of Belle Isle Seafood

What I have found over the years is when the tail end of a lobster's alimentary canal is packed and green it means they were just yanked from a place where they were feeding and happy. This means tasty lobster. If you peel back that tail skin and find black intermittent waste solids, the lobster won't be that sweet.  If it is clean like a jumbo prawn in a Thai restaurant then the meat will have no flavor at all.

I don't eat the tube full of green stuff, but my ancestors from the Maritimes do.  They're weird and have one vowel sound, so I don't give them much cred as gourmands anyway. They regulary eat dinner at Tim Horton's. Find places that consistently sell lobsters with their colons packed with green mud and you will have a very tasty lobster.  I recommend Day's in Freeport, The Bedrock Lobster Pound in York - a new fave.  These are places that turnaround lobsters quickly and don't "tank" them where they starve. Muscongus Lobster Co-op is another place.

This is the scientific truth about lobster storage: Lobsters in Tanks- University of Maine Report.  Make sure to read the disease part, they clearly recommend unloading diseased lobsters to humans for immediate consumption- I'm not kidding.

The Clam Shack

Kennebunkport

2 Western Avenue

Kennebunkport, ME 04043

(207) 967-2560

clamshack.com

I really did not want to do this on a weekend during the high summer season.  I stopped at the Landing Store first to have a roll for baseline comparative reasons.  The Clam Shack has a lot of buzz and a lot of posters of awards from lobster roll competitions held where lobsters are flown in.... They have signed things from people like Rachel Ray, Bobby Fay, Guy Fieri... I'm making up some of the last part, but humility is not in the Shack's DNA.  I really don't care if Barbara Bush gave them a blurb about liking their clams. We are talking about their lobster rolls.

They have a roll very similar to Red's, you get the meat from a chicken (1 pounder) on a roll with either mayo or Connecticut style with butter. The buttered lobster roll is not a Maine thing and I don't understand why we don't have the same reaction toward it that we do about Manhattan Clam Chowder?  Again, like Red's they place a bifurcated tail on the roll just to say, "We use lobster tails!" Whatevs, it just tears out in one bite and gets stuck in your incisors. Besides, I truly believe knuckle meat is the best part of lobster salad.

The Shack uses the hamburger bun delivery method akin to purveyors in the Thomaston area. I am finding this more and more to the south, like here and Bedrock in York. As opposed to  Bedrock, they do grill the roll with butter. 

Please, Dear Lord, Who Art in Heaven, please make him get to the point: what did the roll taste like?   Well, it was pretty good, but at $17 dollars and change (tax) for a standard 4 oz. roll on a hamburger bun, and a royal ass-ache drive with insane parking, just go to the Landing Store. You avoid the tourist nightmare and the motif short wearing tourists. The Kennebunkport tourist set is a special breed that I can only begin to describe. The word entitled comes to mind, and maybe d*&%$@ (starts with d, rhymes with swoosh), also madras, or loafer (with bits), or the thought,"Why is she with him?"

I remember when my uncle used to keep his Hans Christian at the Nonantum during the vice-presidential reign of Bush I. I used to come up as a teen and use the boat for parental getaways. When my uncle would be with us he would proclaim, "I wonder what the poor people do?" I love my uncle dearly, but those kinds of statements suit him perfectly for the Kennebunkport set. .  He spends his time now dominating the septagenarian golf scene with his 80's era 500 SL- also a match for the KBPT attitude. I should have a blog just about my uncle and cousins.  When on his boat I would drink gin made in Lewiston, Maine and fish for crabs over the side. Kennebunkport was pretty cool back then, but now it is a disaster, just a few outlet stores short of hell.

View of Bridge from Shack

Bulletin Board of Self Promotion

That dude in the khakis has whales on his belt and bits in his loafers.

York Lobster & Seafood - I Am Not Sure I Actually Ate Here



I could swear this marginal roll was from Linda Bean's



York Lobster and Seafood

855 US Route 1

York, ME 03909

(207) 363-5000
yorklobsterandseafood.com


My recollection of this place is that I came in on two separate occasions, got bummed out about what I saw and left. How do I have these photos on my camera?  I am not a big drinker...? I will post a real review some day, but if I walked out twice, what does that say? I think their website was put to gether by the template provided by the Maine Lobster Council- they do not serve their members well.