Yeah, I know...my hair is messy, I look way too happy to be holding a shackled live lobster and the light hitting my sunglasses making one eye visible makes me look like some kind of cyborg. Whatever...let's talk about Maine.
Last year during the heart of the summer of COVID, we visited Vermont for a few days. I couldn't believe it. Maybe the pandemic got me a pass on this sort of stuff but I couldn't believe I had actually elected to visit any state in New England for a vacation after having grown up in Connecticut. What's the problem with that? Well, I guess growing up in central Connecticut I developed a distaste for most things New England-related. Something about the Revolutionary War history (I'm English) and Boston sports teams (I picked the New York Jets when landing in the USA), I'm thinking.
We weren't supposed to go to Vermont last year. It was a substitute for a Maine trip that was scuttled when the State of Maine decided to require quarantining after arrival for absolutely everyone traveling there. We weren't supposed to go to Maine last year, either. That trip was invented as a substitute for Costa Rica, which we were shut out of last year just due to plain common sense. There's no logical tie from Costa Rica to Maine, by the way; absolutely none.
But that Maine seed grew over the last year. Maybe we felt we were denied something or maybe we were actually excited by the possibility of visiting. I reluctantly admit that I was super excited to head to Maine in late June, although even in my anti-New England mode I'd surely claim I'd be excited to go anywhere after learning up close about segregation in the South. Hello, Maine!
So what was up in Maine? Well, honestly, lobster was up in Maine.
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| Lobster boats anchored in Bar Harbor, Maine. |
I have for a long time maintained that I don't get why people love lobster. Just don't understand it. It's expensive as all get out and when it comes down to it, I'd rather eat crab, which is also expensive but which is generally way less expensive and way tastier than lobster. I figured Maine was the place to try lobster at its best and either decide that I (a) truly didn't get what the big deal is about lobster or (b) really do like lobster after all, but only in Maine. Bring on the lobster rolls!!!!
But not yet. Let's get on a lobster boat first.
A trip on a real, genuine lobster boat was a must-do experience for me in Maine. No way was I going to spend hours gobbling down lobster rolls if I didn't get out on the ocean and get a little better understanding of how these creatures are caught and brought back to shore for hungry tourists like me. This was super important. Time for an almost-sunset tour from Bar Harbor around the lobster buoy dotted Frenchman's Bay.
We didn't have a whole lot of luck with boat rides on the seas off of Maine. Or at least we didn't start out with much luck anyway. Our plan was to take a trip on a small, working lobster boat between Portland and Bar Harbor but a cancellation of that trip with very little notice forced us to improvise and pick whatever was available. We ended up on the Lulu Lobster Boat Ride out of Bar Harbor and, lest you think I'm poo-pooing that experience, it was pretty awesome. We got most everything we could have hoped for out of a trip like this.
The big attraction for me on this trip was seeing the pulling of the traps up from the bottom of the ocean floor and then the rebaiting with rotting herring guts (attractive, I know, but that's what lobstermen use). Each lobsterman has a uniquely designed buoy which is also displayed atop the vessel. The Lulu (despite its lack of commercial fishing license) was no exception to this rule. Their green and purple (or at least that's how it looked through the lenses of my sunglasses) buoy is mounted on top of the roof of their boat.
We pulled three traps on our evening trip and we did catch some lobsters, one of whom had a damaged claw that our tour guide yanked off the lobster and tossed into the sea. She claimed they feel no pain when she did it and that the lobster likely had already started the process of shedding it so he or she could grow another (yes, they regenerate limbs; how cool is that?) but it was still a little jarring to see a claw yanked off and tossed overboard. And by "we" pulled some traps, I don't mean me. I had very little to do here except sit.
The emptying and rebaiting of the traps didn't take long, particularly because our captain, Dallas, used a motorized wheel to raise the traps from the depths and there wasn't a whole lot in the traps themselves. A Maine lobsterman leaves the traps down in the ocean for up to a week. I'm guessing the Lulu pulls theirs at least once a day on one of their four daily tours, including Sunday between Memorial Day and Labor Day when commercial fishermen are forbidden to fish.
So once you get the lobsters on board, the question is...can you keep them? Notwithstanding it was a Sunday when we were out on the water, we went through the motions anyway. If the lobsters you raise from the depth are egg carrying females (ours were not, but the eggs are on the underside of the abdomen), then you have to throw it back after cutting a notch in the tail. The notch takes five years to grow back fully and until it is, no lobsterman may keep that lobster. It's the ultimate get out of jail free card.
If the lobster is egg-free, then the only criteria for keeping is size. If they are too small, they go back. On board every lobster boat is a lobster measuring device that shows the minimum length of the lobster's carapace that makes the lobster a keeper. The carapace is the piece of the shell which can be loosely identified as the head of the lobster. The tool measures the distance from just in front of the lobster's eye to the joint on the back of the front-most shell segment. Ours were all too small (but only just) so they all went back.
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| Aboard the Lulu. Trap up, emptied and rebaited. |
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| Too small. Only just but too small is too small. Throw it back! |
If you think my experience on the Lulu had me getting any romantic notions of becoming a lobsterman, you'd be dead wrong. Ignoring the whole age thing for a minute...rotting fish guts, rough seas, nipping pincers, measuring each and every lobster for size and facing fines for non-compliance, a trap pulling and baiting timing that far exceeded the leisurely pace of the Lulu (about one a minute on a commercial lobster boat; a full load of lobsters on a boat is about 800 pounds!!!). No thanks. Not to mention the work hours which typically range from a half hour before sunrise to about noon. I like the early quitting time but sunrise in late June is close to 4:30 in the morning. I'm an early bird but that's kind of extreme.
Even if I had a notion of packing it up as an architect and buying a lobster boat, there are some other obstacles. To get a commercial lobster fishing license in Maine you need to be a Maine resident (could probably swing that one), have a high school diploma or equivalent (check!) and serve as a sternman on a lobster boat doing whatever nasty tasks the captain made you do for a minimum of 1,000 hours (yeah...not doing that). Then there's the whole 10 to 15 year wait list for a commercial lobster license. I'd be retired before I even started.
Despite all those requirements (or maybe because of them), there is a potential pending crisis in Maine. The average age of a Maine lobsterman is 62 years old. There is a genuine need to get younger people into the profession, which is why you can skip the wait list if you are a minor in Maine and secure your own fishing license pending satisfactory completion of the diploma and experience requirements. Too bad I'm not 18 or younger. Well...not really. I'd rather just start sampling some lobster.
Bring on the rolls!!!!
For a five day trip to Maine, I feel we ate a good amount of lobster. We ate six non-breakfast meals in Maine and four of mine were lobster rolls. I had lobster rolls in Bar Harbor and Bernard and Sullivan and Wiscasset. I paid as little as $12 and as much as $29.95 (admittedly fries were included for that price). I got instant gratification with little wait for some rolls and stood in line waiting for about three hours (NOT a typo) for one of my rolls. I did research in advance by checking Eater.com and other lists on the internet and I just winged it and ordered one at one restaurant with no known in advance pedigree. I have to say after all that, I can say that I do like lobster rolls in Maine.
Before we get to what I considered to be the best lobster roll I had in Maine, let me address Red's Eats in Wiscasset just for a couple of paragraphs. Red's is, by most lists and accounts and experts in lobster eating, pretty much the number one lobster shack in Maine. It's famous the whole country over. The Food Network has been there. Andrew Zimmern has been there. Various other sorts of celebrities have been there. It's a legend. It's a little shack on a corner of two streets in downtown Wiscasset, Maine with a deck out back where there are a few tables for you to savor that lobster meat (or whatever else you decide to order) after you order if there's space available. When our original lobster boat tour was cancelled, we decided we could make our way over to Red's for some lunch instead.
We got to Red's and got in line at about 10 minutes before 1 p.m. on a Friday. The line was around the block, but all things considered there weren't that many people in line. I'd waited in longer lines for food and been really pleased. Franklin Barbecue in Austin and Pink's Hot Dogs in Los Angeles come to mind here.
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| Waiting in line at Red's Eats. |
A little more than two hours after we started standing in line, we got to the counter. From there, it took us an additional 35 minutes to have our food brought to us, walk to a picnic table near the water (we were denied seating on the deck; they said there were no tables available but there were - just maybe no two person tables), unwrap our food and start eating. Two hours and 40 minutes from standing in line to eating. That's a long time.
The lobster at Red's is good and there's a lot of it. There's no question you get your money's worth in lobster for the $28.95 you shell out for a lobster roll. It's served plain with a side of melted Maine butter which makes the lobster taste better. But what doesn't taste better when dunked in melted butter?
I say the time in line waiting for this lobster roll is not worth it. By the time I got my food, I was legitimately hangry. I'd had about enough waiting when I got to the counter to order. We waited a little more to order when we got to the counter because the process of assembling lobster rolls (from the tub of already cooked lobster) seems to be the job of the person who is also taking orders. There are a number of twenty-somethings and teens working at Red's but none of them seem involved in the process of taking and fulfilling orders. If they streamlined their work process, I believe our wait in line could have been cut in half or better. It's about the most inefficient kitchen I've seen in recent memory. No way do people need to wait more than 2-1/2 hours for food considering the length of the line we joined that Friday afternoon. Rant over.
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| Thurston's in Bernard. These guys are cooking lobsters to order and turning out food faster than Red's. |
Maybe the wait at Red's affected the enjoyment of my food but I did not think that I got my best lobster roll of the trip in Wiscasset. That honor for me belonged to the Side Street Cafe in Bar Harbor. It was the only roll I had that was not on some list I found online and I thought it was the best bit of lobster I put in my mouth in our five days in Maine.
Side Street's lobster roll was the most expensive we ate, although legitimately that price included fries. It was sensibly sized with a great bread-to-meat ratio while also not skimping on the lobster. It was dressed in a tiny bit of mayonnaise with some Old Bay seasoning and a lemon slice on the side. It was juicy and tasted like lobster (or as I put it at the time...not like shrimp). In my montage of lobster roll eating photographs above, it is the last lobster roll next to the Shipyard glass. I would go back here for that meal any time, even at the price point. Lobster ain't cheap, but that roll was amazing.
And that's all I really have to say on this subject. Post pretty much over. Go to Side Street Cafe if you are in Bar Harbor. And if you are in Southwest Harbor, Thurston's is pretty darned good too and with some way better atmosphere and scenery than any other place we ate lobster.
We didn't do everything we set out to do in Maine. We missed out on whale watching due to the weather and we scratched a moose watching trip off our list because we'd seen a ton of moose last year and if we wanted to see a moose with huge antlers (because moose without antlers are just not worth it), we'd be going at a time with no puffins around (and we HAD to see puffins). But we got our lobster experience in full force. If I ever go back to Maine, I know I'll be having some lobster rolls. Maybe not at the same places, but if this trip proved one thing to me, it's that I do actually like lobster. Mission. Accomplished.
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| Piers and lobster traps near Thurston's Lobster Pound. |
How We Did It
I spent all told about 96 hours in Maine over five days and had four lobster rolls. The places listed below are in order of my personal preference.
Side Street Cafe in Bar Harbor served us the best lobster roll at a price of $29.95 (which included fries). A little mayo, some old bay and a lemon wedge for squeezing on the side. Just awesome. Side Street is located at 49 Rodick Street in Bar Harbor. We went on a Saturday at just after noon and got seated with no wait. The outdoor seating area on the deck is packed pretty tight but it's worth it. Find a table out of the sun. The noon sun on that deck in the spots not sheltered by umbrellas was brutal.
Thurston's Lobster Pound in Bernard is about a half hour drive from Bar Harbor. It's super quiet down there with some great views of the water and lots of lobster traps. You order at the counter at Thurston's and get a number and sit down to wait for your food to be brought to you. The line was out the door and halfway to the street on the wooden walkway outside the restaurant when we got there on a Friday night and it moved really quickly. Thurston's has the efficiency thing down. Thurston's lobster roll has the right amount of lobster to bread and is served lightly dressed with mayo atop a lettuce leaf. It tasted a lot like shrimp. Lobster roll at Thurston's: $22.99.
I've already talked a lot about Red's Eats in the post above. Get there really early or be prepared to wait a long time. Price at Red's was $28.95 and you get a ton of lobster for that price. In addition to eating as much lobster as possible, we had a similar quest to eat a ton of the Maine specialty, the whoopee pie. Red's had by far the best one of these we ate. They are made locally by Glen B's Bakery. They are phenomenal. I'm sure it's the marshmallow fluff.
Tracey's Seafood in Sullivan is at the bottom of my list. It was by far the cheapest (at $12.00) and the smallest lobster roll we ate in Maine. It was dressed with mayo and had some crunchy veg in the mix. I'd say skip Tracey's entirely except that the haddock sandwich was absolutely delicious. Get it with the pickles. It really is outstanding.
If you are interested in a lobster and seals tour around Frenchman's Bay, I'd highly recommend the Lulu Lobster Boat. There were more people that we would have liked (I'd say a little more than 30) on board but the trip was super informative and really fun. They run four tours a day seven days a week in the summer season. I'd highly recommend reserving a spot in advance. We were able to make a reservation about a week ahead of time when our other tour cancelled but they were turning people away in person the day of our tour.
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