I grew up eating lobster. But where I grew up lobster wasn’t the delicacy it is considered now in most parts of the world. Growing up in Newfoundland, lobster was just something we ate. It wasn’t anything fancy or special and we surely didn’t have a lobster roll with cut up lobster, spices and mayo on a tasty bun. Hence I never had a lobster roll until well after I left Newfoundland.
So my great adventure to find where the best lobster roll began. Since my kids were young we have been going to Old Orchard Beach Maine, and that is where I had my first lobster roll. I later found out that lobster rolls originated in New England and the Canadian Maritimes. Wikipedia says a lobster roll is lobster meat served on a grilled hot dog-style bun with the opening on top rather than the side. It can also contain butter, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Liek anything there is variations with replacing butter with Mayo or adding diced celery, potato chips, onions or more.
I kept my research to where lobster rolls originated, New England, Nova Scotia and added in my hometown of Montreal. Here are the best of the best I found.
Maine
Portland Maine has so many places where you can find lobster rolls. On my recent trip to Portland Maine everyone suggested we check out The Highroller Lobster Co.. With their promise of always fresh, never frozen Maine lobster and crab I knew it would be good.
Perhaps it was because I had been lobster fishing with Lucky Catch Cruises but for the first time in a long time I was looking forward to having lobster.
The lobster roll is $19 USD and did not come with any fries. If you ordered the crab roll (for $16 USD) does come with fries. Both are served on a brioche roll baked daily from Southside Bakery. The roll itself is good in total, but perhaps it was because I was there early in the year in early June, but the lobster was lacking flavor compared to the others we tried. The big difference was they offered a wide variety of flavored butters to go with your roll.
The Highroller has a great diner-vibe and it’s also great that you can have lobster right in the middle of downtown Portland.
As an added bonus they have a lobster cheese crisp taco which is basically a lobster roll on a fried cheese taco shell. Great for anyone who wants all the flavor of a lobster roll but is living a keto lifestyle!
Nova Scotia
I travel to Nova Scotia every year to visit family and friends. As I mentioned Lobster isn’t a big thing for us, but after having been to Portland Maine recently I wanted to compare. So we went for our usual dinner with a view at the Quarterdeck, I decided to give it a try.
Did I mention that the view looks out onto Summerville Beach Provincial Park? How much better can it be to be eating a lobster roll as you hear the rolling ocean?
This was the most high scale of the 3 places. We knew it would be a great meal when they brought us popcorn with a drizzle of seasoning and truffle oil.
At the Quarterdeck for $23 CDN you got the Joli Lobster Roll which they claim is ‘traditionally made’ served on a ‘Five Girls Baking’ french roll with hand cut fries and Quarterdeck ‘Slaw’. We had been into Five Girls earlier in the day and was looking forward to our roll. Unfortunately, the lobster had great flavor and seasoning and the fries and coleslaw was great, but the bun itself was very dense and hard. It made it difficult to eat the lobster roll as a sandwich but when I ate the lobster out of the roll it was great.
Montreal
Montreal is a foodie’s paradise. They have monthly food truck events and you can also find food trucks all over downtown Montreal and throughout the entire city. The first Friday of the month during the summer there is a food truck gathering at the city’s Olympic Stadium.
I really LOVE food trucks. They are quaint and usually due to their small proximity they specialize in only a few items, which means those few items are done exceptionally well. In Montreal, among the popular Grunman 78, Europea and Le CheeseTruck, I came across Bleu Homard or ‘Blue Lobster’. After seeing it around a few times I decided to wait in line and see what the fuss was about.
Well the wait in line was worth it! For $14 CDN we got a ‘Guédille de Homard’ or lobster roll. We could have gotten a side of fries for $2, but opted not to. The lobster in this roll was cut up smaller than the others, but we realized afterwards that it meant we actually got more meat in the roll! The lobster mix was well seasoned with mayo and lettuce. It’s important to note they actually laid a layer of lettuce on the bun before adding the lobster to ensure that and juices wouldn’t soak the bun in case you were taking it home to eat later. Very smart Blue Homard!
I only found out later that the Blue Lobster is a merger of people from Quebec and Acadian French. It’s still in the Maritimes, but New Brunswick not Nova Scotia, so I counted them as separate.
Which was the best?
Not because it’s where I live and can go back as much as I want, but Blue Lobster was the winner for me! There was a lot of meat, the bun was soft but not too sot and the seasoning/mayo-ratio was perfect!
Where is the best Lobster Roll you’ve had?
