By Korsha Wilson, The New York Times
On the outdoor dining tables at Jordan Lobster Farm in Island Park, New York, lobster rolls, served warm or cold, seem to be on every table at the casual seafood restaurant. The cold version, with just enough mayonnaise to bind the meat and some chopped celery together, is a bestseller. But about four years ago, a warm version that comes with a side of drawn butter was added to the menu.
“People kept requesting a warm one, so we added it,” said Brian Glennon, 45, the chef at the restaurant since 2019. “We started with 15 to 20 a day, and now we’re selling more than 70 each day.”
And although the warm version of the lobster roll is gaining in popularity, “the cold is by far the most popular,” Glennon said.
A beloved summer staple, the lobster roll is now a common menu item across the country. But in New England, allegiances historically belong to either the cold, Maine-style roll with mayonnaise or the warm, buttered Connecticut-style, in a rivalry as fiercely contested as the one between Chicago- and New York-style pizza. Until relatively recently, it would be unheard-of to find both versions offered under the same roof — or on the same dock — but more restaurants are splitting the difference and selling both options.
The invention of the warm version is often credited to Perry’s in Milford, Connecticut, after a customer requested a boiled lobster dinner with drawn butter to go in the 1920s. As for Maine-style, lobster salad with mayo as the binding agent, it has appeared in New England cookbooks since the 1800s, said Amy Traverso, the senior food editor of Yankee Magazine and a co-host of “Weekends With Yankee,” a travel show highlighting the dishes and restaurants of New England.
“Lobster salad is a dish that would have been popular at the turn of the century,” she said. “And World’s Fairs popularized hand-held foods,” she added, speaking to the hot dog bun, introduced in 1904, which provided a portable platform for the salad.
The mayo-smothered lobster roll as we know it, served in a buttered and griddled split top bun, became popular in the early to mid-20th century after Maine invested millions of dollars into paving state highways and the proliferation of car ownership allowed families to explore the state’s coast.
In the years since, the lobster roll’s fame has only grown, with cold, warm and even hybrid versions taking root.
“Red’s Eats sits right on Route 1, and its popularity goes hand in hand with Maine becoming ‘Vacationland,’” Traverso said.
Red’s doesn’t serve the Maine style in the classic sense but instead offers customers a choice of either a side of melted butter or mayonnaise to go along with its roll, piled high with warm lobster meat.
Ben Conniff, a co-founder of restaurant group Luke’s Lobster, said that the sandwiches have only become more popular since the first location opened in 2009, with the group selling 1 million lobster rolls annually across its 24 American outposts.
The group’s standard lobster roll falls into the hybrid camp: chilled, unembellished lobster meat, mayo spread onto a buttered split top roll with warm lemon butter drizzled on top, which he says sells more than all of its other lobster roll variations combined.
Conniff prefers the Maine-style roll because the quality of the meat isn’t compromised. “One of the biggest downsides is the texture of the lobster meat that has been reheated. I feel like you make some sacrifices when you heat that lobster,” he said.
Beyond the Maine-Connecticut divide, though, the sandwich can also offer restaurants a chance to experiment. At Hinoki and the Bird, a California-style restaurant in Los Angeles, the lobster roll is mixed with a green curry aioli and served in a jet black charcoal bun — a bestselling item that has been on the menu since the restaurant opened in 2012, according to Beverly Wu, the general manager.
“We usually describe it as a Southeast Asian take on a classic New England version,” she said. “The lobster roll itself is like Americana; it’s so nostalgic on the East Coast and on the West Coast, too.”
Chelsea Leonard, the third-generation owner of Abbott’s in the Rough, a waterfront restaurant in Noank, Connecticut, welcomes the broadening appeal of the dish.
“I think that it’s certainly still a luxury item and special, but I don’t view it that way,” she said. At Abbott’s, diners can order the OMG roll with a half pound of warm lobster meat or the LOL roll with a full pound.
For Traverso, the allure of the lobster roll goes beyond the culinary. Even though lobster meat is actually better tasting in the winter, thanks to colder water temperatures, she said, its associations with summer can’t be broken.
“When lobster is being steamed or boiled in salted water, that smell of salt and water and meat smells like the ocean,” she said. “It’s just a reminder of a coastal vacation.”
Recipe: Lobster Rolls
There are two long-standing, popular styles of lobster rolls, and they differ in two primary ways: temperature (cold versus warm) and sauce (mayonnaise versus butter). One style hails from Maine, where chilled lobster meat is tossed in a mayonnaise dressing (often with minced celery and chives), while the Connecticut version warms lobster meat in butter and serves it glistening in the butter sauce. These rolls embrace the best of both worlds and are both buttery and bright. The lobster meat is warmed in butter, quickly tossed in a light mayo dressing, then tucked into butter-toasted buns. Serve with potato chips and tangy coleslaw for a classic summer meal.
By Kay Chun
Yield: 4 servings
Total time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 top-split hot dog buns
- 1 pound Boiled Lobster, coarsely chopped
- Chopped chives, for garnish
- A few pinches of celery seeds (optional)
Preparation
1. In a 10-inch nonstick skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium. Add buns and toast the two outer sides until lightly golden, 1 to 2 minutes per side. (Watch carefully, as the second side will toast faster than the first.) Transfer buns to two individual plates. Rinse skillet under cold water to cool off the pan.
2. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons butter to the skillet and melt over low. Add lobster meat and gently warm it, tilting the skillet as needed to frequently baste the lobster until just warmed through, about 2 minutes.
3. Divide lobster between the toasted buns and drizzle on the butter sauce. Garnish with chives and celery seeds, if using. Serve immediately.
Recipe: Connecticut-Style Lobster Rolls
Connecticut-style lobster rolls celebrate the pure flavor of lobster, simply warming the cooked meat in melted butter to bring out its inherent sweetness and preserve its plump texture. (Maine-style typically serve chilled lobster meat tossed with mayonnaise.) The approach is simple: Toast your buns in butter until golden, then heat the cooked lobster in the same skillet just until warmed. The use of salted butter seasons the meat, so no extra salt is required (though seasoning to taste is never discouraged). Although the optional celery seed is not traditional, its herbal brightness nicely highlights the seafood flavor. Serve these lobster rolls with potato chips and tangy coleslaw for a classic summer meal.
By Kay Chun
Yield: 2 lobster rolls
Total time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons salted butter
- 2 top-split hot dog buns
- 6 to 8 ounces cooked lobster meat, coarsely chopped
- Chopped chives, for garnish
- A few pinches of celery seeds (optional)
Preparation
1. In a 10-inch nonstick skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium. Add buns and toast the two outer sides until lightly golden, 1 to 2 minutes per side. (Watch carefully, as the second side will toast faster than the first.) Transfer buns to two individual plates. Rinse skillet under cold water to cool off the pan.
2. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons butter to the skillet and melt over low. Add lobster meat and gently warm it, tilting the skillet as needed to frequently baste the lobster until just warmed through, about 2 minutes.
3. Divide lobster between the toasted buns and drizzle on the butter sauce. Garnish with chives and celery seeds, if using. Serve immediately.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
