4 Badass Lobster Rolls
These fully-loaded summer sandos are guaranteed to hit the spot.
Summer has arrived, which means every restaurant and bar within a six-hour drive of the Eastern Seaboard has tacked a lobster roll onto their menu. Most are interchangeable – a bit of mayonnaise, a bit of butter, a wilted claw – but some kitchens manage to create unique variations on the classic summer treat. Here are four of the best.
Red Hook Lobster Pound’s Lobster BLT
This Brooklyn favorite (which also operates an award-winning food truck) has taken the world’s two best things—lobster and bacon—and combined them into one mouth-wateringly insane-o sandwich. It all starts with fresh-picked Maine lobster meat blended with celery and spices, and doused in butter. Add in some full strips of crispy bacon and chipotle mayo, and you’ve got a quarter-pound slice of heaven on a hot dog bun.
Bite into Maine’s Spicy Lobster Roll
It may be a tiny food truck, but this Portland institution serves up a spicy lobster roll with some seriously large flavor to picnickers brownbagging beers in Fort Williams Park. Made with curry, wasabi, and chipotle, it’s served with a layer of homemade slaw and brushed with drawn butter. Goes down well with some Old Gollywobbler from nearby Sea Dog Brewing.
Abbot’s Lobster’s Burger-y Lobster Creation
Is it a burger or is it a lobster roll? A lobster roll or a burger? It’s almost too much for us to handle. Served hot, Abbot’s famous lobster roll contains a quarter-pound of sweet lobster meat, slathered in melted butter and piled on a sesame seed hamburger bun. If you’re counting calories, you better be good at math.
Hinoki and the Bird’s Black Lobster Roll
The first thing you’ll notice about the lobster roll at this L.A. eatery is the bun. Because it’s black. Chef Kuniko Yagi uses charcoal powder to dye the roll; she then combines garlic aioli, salt, green curry paste, and lobster meat in a mixing bowl, and tops the salad with Thai basil leaves and flowers. The finished product is a piece of edible art.