Its that time of year again here in Maine...Our first house guests of the season showed up a few days ago wantin' lobstah. Now, most visitors to Maine love soft shell lobstah because thats what they are taught to like...the shell is easy to break and the meat just slides right out. Dunk it in butter and you have a meal. Well, its still May here and hard shell lobstahs are just beginning to trickle in. these babies are packed with meat and taste entirely different than soft shell lobsters. I called my friends at "Lb" in Belfast and was greeted with a relieving "just got a load in fresh this morning..how many do you want? Are we cooking them for you or are you picking them up uncooked?" Lb, which is a play on pound, the measure by which lobsters are priced, is located on Marshall's Warf down by the tug boats in Belfast Harbor. Its owned and run by Sarah and David Carlson, two hard working admirable souls who have become very, very dear friends of ours in the last two years. Our dog, who does not play well with other dogs at all, loves David and Sarah almost as much as she loves Shadow, the Carlson's happy black lab.
Lb not only offers lobster by the pound, but David and Sarah will cook your lobsters for you and have them ready for you to pick up, or you can eat them on site, overlooking beautiful Belfast Harbor, at picnic tables. Come at the right time and you will see the lobstermen unloading the day's catch at the dock.
The Carlson's have come up with a very unique offering as well, a traditional Maine clam bake for larger parties looking for something different to do for the evening. Sarah also makes the best lobstah roll in town, thanks to her secret grilled and buttered roll.
Getting back to the matter at hand, Lobstah, I went to pick up the beasts and David pulled three beautiful hardshell 1.5 pounders out of the tank for me after asking the what, whos, wheres, and hows of our evening meal. Be ready to get grilled with questions as to how you are serving your meal, what else you are serving the meal with, and who is eating the beasts. Both David and Sarah want all their customers to be happy, so they ask questions and essentially custom tailor the lobster sizes to the meal. They told us that the lobsters were super hard shell and packed with meat. They told us exactly how to steam them (please, one never boils one's lobster), and exactly how much time the lobsters should be in the steam for hard shell (18 minutes). Our guests raved about the lobster so much, that I heard about it all the next day in the car. They had never had such lobsters, what a rare treat, etc..etc.. To top it off, David gave us some fresh mussels to try and said that he would have oysters soon.
We'll be back for that! There is not another place to get as good lobsters or as good, friendly service in the mid-coast. A solid A for effort, friendliness, and overall good food.
Watch for the opening of David and Sarah's new Tapas Bar, Three Tides, directly behind their lobstah Lb.
Enjoy,
Seth
