I’ve been AWOL for the past few days, facing up to the formidable challenge of sampling this year’s crop of lobstahs in Southern Maine. Here is my report.
On the drive from Portland to Boothbay, our destination, we stopped for lunch at an unpretentious place we fondly remembered from a previous trip, the Sea Basket in Wiscasset, a picturesque little village. Our memories of the Sea Basket were not playing tricks on us: They serve the best lobstah rolls, by far, of any we’ve ever had. Huge, succulent chunks of lobstah, mounded into a tasty French roll, with a tub of drawn butter. Ah, life is good.
Speaking of lobstah rolls, as you leave Wiscasset, just as you get to the bridge, on your left you’ll spot what looks like a little hotdog stand, except that it’s really a lobstah roll stand. That’s the even-less-pretentious Red’s, and if it’s anywhere close to lunch time there’ll be a long, long line of people waiting to get theirs. The wait in line can take 45 minutes or so, and then more time will pass before you actually get your food. Red’s has been named the #1 Lobstah Roll spot in Maine. I regret that we’ve never had enough time en passant to try it. If any “Monkey Cage” readers have sampled Red’s cuisine, I hope they’ll enlighten the rest of us.
The guy who had checked out our rental car at the Portland Airport made what we took to be a joking remark about the price of lobstah now being so depressed that it’s cheaper than hamburger. Well, I have news for you: He wasn’t joking. Oh, in a restaurant, even an unpretentious one like the Sea Basket, a lobstah roll goes for more than a burger. But whole lobstah? Well, take a look:
Inside this place, which seemed to have pretty standard prices, the signs said: 1-1/4 pound lobstah, $4.49, 1-1/2 pound lobstah, $5.29, etc.
In beautiful Boothbay (see the picture below, snapped from the deck of our room), we looked forward to sampling the lobstah rolls at the Lobster Dock, a famous local place which, as it turns out, will soon be featured on Bobby Flay’s “Throwdown” on the Food Network. The Flay-Lobster Dock competition is on crabcakes, and that may be the saving grace for the Lobster Dock because their lobstah roll just doesn’t cut it. Small pieces, small portions, and small, flavorless hotdog bun. If the Sea Basket version is an A, the Lobster Deck’s is about a D-.
On the drive back down to Portland for the last day of our three-day jaunt, we took some sidetrips, and stopped for lunch a tiny place (actually, it’s the place pictured above, with the sign for lobstah bodies). Feeling driven by scientific curiosity and recognizing the perils of small-N analysis, we sampled yet another lobstah roll. A solid B this time, erasing memories of the Lobster Dock’s puny effort.
And the next morning? Breakfast at Becky’s Diner in Portland, a dive recently made nationally famous by a televised visit by yet another Food Network star, Rachel Ray. The “to-die-for” American fries came up short (neither crispy nor flavorful enough), but the blueberry pancakes were amazing (and amazingly huge, too).
And now you know. All in all, a grand trip, but we’ll have to get back up there soon to try Red’s. Unless one of you has a better suggestion.
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If memory serves me, the Lobster Dock crab cake throwdown was actually in 2007. I think Bobby won. So, apparently, their crab cakes aren’t so great either…
Ari:
Thanks for the information. The signs left it unclear whether it had been televised yet or was upcoming. My cynical hypothesis was that it had been shown already and the Lobster Dock had lost. My wife, being less cynical, suspect that it hadn’t been shown yet. It sounds like cynicism wins again.
My family and I have made the sacrifice, Lee. We have eaten at Red’s. In fact, when you mentioned Wiscasset my first thought was of Red’s.
We weren’t there at lunch time (if memory serves it was mid-afternoon), so we didn’t have to wait too too long.
The lobster rolls? Sublime. I have no idea how you ended up eating at the Sea Basket, but obviously you need to remedy that character deficiency. You need to go back and go to Red’s. Now.
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