Yeah…people will pay a big premium for lobster that walked into the bread instead of being frozen and shipped.
Perhaps the locals know places with reasonable prices but the people selling in tourist areas will jack the prices.
They best lobstah rolls are ones you make with lobsters bought off the boat and cooked in your own kitchen.
This seven-week-old article in The New York Times says the price at one Maine shop was $34, because of a spike in the price of lobster. They are cheaper in Connecticut, which is, after all, where the lobster roll was invented. At the place where my parents get lobster rolls, it’s, I think, $19. (My father has weirdly developed a fondness for them in the past few years. I’m not that excited by them. I’d rather get fish and chips.)
Heh, flatlanders.
Years ago I had a work thing I had to go to on the east coast. I had never been, so I decided to leave a few days early, do a road trip and make a workation out of it. One goal was to get a “fresh off the boat” lobster meal from an authentic lobster shack.
My first night I stayed at a nice hotel and, eager for some lobster, ordered the live lobster in the hotel restaurant. It was every penny the same price as it would cost back in Michigan, and the meal came on a fancy plate, with the lobster all oiled up and shiny. It was a perfectly fine meal, but I felt like a dumb tourist getting lobster that way.
Couple days later I found a real, authentic, hole-in-the-wall lobster shack with the menu written on a chalk board, much better prices, and the meal-- lobster, half a corn cob and baked potato-- served in a plastic basket with wax paper. That was more like it!
I thought the correct term was “folks from away.”
The Summer Complaints
Just got back from Cape Cod. First day we could only find cold lobster (salad) rolls, in hot dog buns. There was much disappointment and discussion, but that’s all we could find. (due to a shortage of workers, I think - it’s easier to make and serve, no fiddllng around with a grill), Well, we bought them and they were just scrumptious, huge! serving of delicious lobster, lightly mayonnaised, squirt of lemon! About $17 … Before we left, we went to Provincetown and got the hot buttered lobster in a grilled hot dog bun, ALSO huge and scrumptious. That one was about $21 … If I had to choose, I would be hard pressed to make a choice. I do think I am, for the first time in my life which I never thought I would ever say, I am lobstered out for a while.
Please tell me how to bring them to my place!
I see they now roam the suburbs only. I miss them.
If you want hot lobster and butter, get a lobster with butter. If you want a lobster roll sandwich, get a cold lobster with mayonnaise and crunchy stuff in it.
This is what i was going to say. Hot lobster with butter is delicious, but it’s really messy and a lot easier to eat with a plate and fork than out of a hotdog roll. Cold lobster with a bit of celery and just enough mayonnaise to hold it together, plus a bit of lemon juice, makes a really splendid sandwich.
Mmmm, maybe I’ll get a lobster roll tomorrow.
Hmm…food for thought…
I see where you are going and I would agree but…
There is an ease of consumption with a lobster roll that you do not get with a lobster tail.
Walking along the beach in Connecticut does not lend itself to a lobster tail with a drawn butter dipping dish and utensils.
Instead you get a lobster roll and carry it with you as you eat it.
And, IIRC, it is not a hot dog roll but something better. Dunno what to call it though and I have never seen it in a store. Kinda seems like Hawaiian bread.
Well, obviously, each place that makes them can choose whatever. But i love lobster roll, and have eaten it at many places, and it’s usually a hot dog roll.
Usually I get them in this:
Dunno what you call that but it is not a hotdog bun. A quick Google search and none of them look like hot dog buns.
That is different than this:
That said, maybe where you are, they put lobster in hotdog buns.
Hmm, we have different hot dog buns. That first one is what i usually get with hot dogs, except i don’t saute it in butter.
Eta,
Hey, from wikipedia, maybe it’s regional
Interesting.
They are definitely different.
What you posted seems a little bit more crusty.
But there are a zillion different types of bread with subtle differences.
Every lobster roll I have had has been in a very soft and sweet bun. Not like a typical hotdog bun which is a bit more dense, less sweet, and crusty (soft crust but still more crusty). The lobster roll bun is softer, more pillowy and sweeter.
If you are ever in Chicago look me up and I will buy you one of each and we can see if they are the same (hot dog bun vs. lobster roll bun). Chicago is known for its hotdogs…no shortage of those.
I’ve never seen a lobster roll available for purchase around here. There’s probably a few places in Seattle where you can find them, but I imagine a Dungeness crab roll would probably be more appropriate.
The seafood market in downtown Olympia sells “lobster roll filling” at $24 for a 16 oz. tub, but it’s cut with crab and shrimp, dressed in tarragon mayo.
“Pillowy” or “pilloughy”?
They are different. And I’m aware of the existence of side-cut hot dog buns. They sell them in my supermarket, next to the ordinary (to me) hot dog buns But i don’t think I’ve ever, personally, eaten a hotdog from one of those. Maybe in Denmark i had a Danish thing that was kinda like a hot dog in a bun like that.
The top cut bun has less crust (except it’s often toasted) but I’ve always assumed the bread inside was the same.
I’d describe the bread in a hot dog bun (the ones I’m familiar with) as “like wonder bread”. Maybe the side cut buns are not as soft and are less sweet?