My mother and I stopped at Mabel's Lobster Claw Restaurant in Kennebunkport, Maine where we had, what the waitress called, the perfect lunch. A cup of clam chowder and a lobster roll meal.
The clam chowder was absolutely delicious. Very creamy with satisfyingly big chunks of potatoes and clams. The scallions gave it an extra kick and the oyster crackers topped it all off.
The lobster roll was quite perfect. It had pretty much no dressing which allowed the lobster to remain the star of the show. I was fascinated my their coleslaw (which I will attempt to make in a future post) and their fries were kind of bleh. Overall I was really impressed by the food.
My friend Jonas from Sweden asked me why us New Englanders have a tendency of eating lobster in a roll. Lobster in a roll is much cheaper than purchasing a meal with a whole lobster. Thee amount of meat given is probably a bit shy of a whole lobster. It's easy to prepare since the meat is all lumped up and doled out on buns. No need to cook a lobster to order. Also, eating a whole lobster is very messy and the meat is hard to get to. So eating lobster in a roll is much easier and you can get at the meat in a more satisfying way.
It is very easy to make a bad lobster roll (McDonalds and D'Angelos are two such places where you'll find lobster roll disasters). The secret of a good lobster roll is to let the lobster's natural sweet flavor shine through and not to drown it in mayonnaise. So if you get Lobstah and Clam Chowda in New England, make sure you go to a reputable place like Mabel's Lobster Claw Restaurant!
