Lobster roll, onion rings

I love lobster rolls and usually have them several times during the summer, but somehow I have gotten all the way to mid-July before having the first one of the season. We met our daughter in York Beach, Maine yesterday for the afternoon, and began the visit with lunch at Fox’s Lobster House at Nubble Light. My family has been going to York Beach since my grandfather was a little boy over a hundred years ago, and I have been to York Beach and Fox’s almost every summer of my life.

A few years ago, the price of lobster practically collapsed, and around here you could buy live lobsters for as little as $2.99/lb., but the prices have not only rebounded, they have gone up a lot this summer. The warmer water temperatures are driving the lobsters further out to sea, which means the lobster boats have to travel farther to catch fewer lobsters, using more gas, which is expensive, and so on. At one local restaurant here in Salem, a lobster roll will set you back $40.00. So I felt like I was getting a bargain when the lobster roll at Fox’s was “only” $27.95. I hope nobody tells them they could be charging forty bucks, because they absolutely would if they thought they could.

The one thing you can say is that they serve you a no-bullshit lobster roll, as you can see from the photo. All claw meat, and plenty of it, a scant amount of mayo, and one little bit of lettuce. That’s exactly how a lobster roll should be. Which is not to say that other styles of lobster roll don’t have their place, but if you want a lobster roll the way they’ve been made in Maine for over a hundred years, this is the Real Thing.

And, yes, I have been to Red’s in Wiscasset, but it’s a long way to go from here. Plus, I remember when you could just walk up to Red’s and get a lobster roll without having to wait in a two hour line. Red’s probably wins for the sheer amoubt of lobster they put in their roll, but they’re not the only place in Maine where you can get something just as good.