August 20, 2014 — The toasted bun was heaped with succulent chunks of Maine lobster meat slicked with clarified butter and flecked with celery bits, salt and pepper. It was love at first bite.
That lobster roll was our first, served at Sam’s Chowder House in Half Moon Bay, and was indicative of the classic New England sandwich – simple in concept, stunning in flavor.
“We serve between 85,000 and 100,000 lobster rolls a year,” said Sam’s executive chef and partner, Lewis Rossman, who came from the East Coast to open Sam’s eight years ago. “The lobster roll catapulted our success.”
The made-to-be-messy lobster roll is an East Coast specialty whose fans obsess over its tradition and insist on fastidious preparation, but it’s much more about mystique than mystery. After all, it’s simply lobster on a hot-dog bun in two styles – in chilled-salad form (Maine-style) and as butter-drenched chunks (Connecticut-style). Its monumental stature as a regional delight may puzzle the uninitiated – until they taste one.
Though the lobster roll continues to make inroads into the California dining scene, it’s not easily found on menus in our area. That’s why we’ve taken to making it at home, and you can, too. But first, let’s take a boat ride.
Read the full story from The Sacramento Bee