Taste Testing Lobster Rolls: Someone's Got to Do It

You've heard of a pub crawl but how about a lobster roll crawl?  While in New England, plans called to start one in the late afternoon and eat our way through three restaurants known for their lobster rolls.  By the end, I guarantee I was the one with a roll-- hanging over my belt.

Perkins Cove

It all started in the quintessential Maine town of Ogunquit. Ogunquit with its Perkins Cove would win the contest for a look-alike Cabot Cove, the charming hamlet of Jessica Fletcher on the old TV series, "Murder She Wrote".  It's upper class, preppy, clean and oh so Maine.  Rocky coastline, lighthouse, walking trails and adorable little shops. 

 The Taste Test

The Lobster Shack, Ogunquit, Maine

First stop: the Lobster Shack. Yes, that is its official name, and an adroit one at that. The seafood shanty has been in operation since 1947, the oldest restaurant in Perkins Cove. Originally built around 1900, the simple lobsterman's shack housed traps, rope, buoys and other fishing equipment.  Over time the building was updated and added to, but was still little more than a storage shed, with no running water, heat, or electricity. In 1947, the shop was converted into a restaurant called Maxwell Perkins Lobster Pound and remained much the same through the 1950's-60. In the winter of 1977 a storm surged through Perkins Cove and did quite a bit of damage to the building, but the original frame remained. This prompted a major renovation that reorganized the kitchen and updated the plumbing, electrical work, and dining room. The “Shack” has been owned and operated by the Evans family since the 1980s.
 
Live lobsters caught by local lobstermen wait in tanks filled with ocean water pumped straight from Perkins Cove. Can't get more local than that!

Serving chowder at the Lobster Shack

 
We started off with a cup of seafood chowder made from an old New England family recipe. The kitchen uses no thickening flour, just the perfect combination of clams, haddock, potatoes, onions and spices in a milk and cream base. After the chowder, I dove straight in for the traditional lobster roll sandwich.  It comes on a buttery toasted roll, mostly lobster meat with or without mayonnaise. I gobbled down about half of it knowing I was in for more. The lobster tasted fresh, tender and juicy- exactly what I wanted.

Lobster Roll at the Lobster Shack

Lobster Roll Price: $17.00

Satisfaction: 10

Next we drove on to Jake's Seafood Restaurant in Wells, about two miles north of Ogunquit. The family-run restaurant stays open year-round and is extremely popular with locals, especially at breakfast time. Believe it or not, they open at 5 a.m. for breakfast, seven days a week.

Jake's Seafood Restaurant in Wells, Maine

Jake's  claim to fame comes from their fried clams and onion rings, but I thought the lobster roll was mighty fine. Only owner Ky makes the seafood chowder because she wants to make sure it comes out right. Jake's lives up to their motto, "Five star dining on a paper plate." The restaurant is also a favorite stop for ice cream, available from the outdoor take-out counter as well as in the restaurant.

Fried Clams

Lobster Roll Price $14.99

Satisfaction: 9

Finally, we headed in the opposite direction and ended up at Shore Road Restaurant and Market, a seat of the pants operation with a fantastic product. The restaurant is in its first year with a new owner, Jason Johnson, and he is working to make it a go.  By all rights, he should succeed.  The lobster roll is brimming with succulent meat and sells for an amazingly low price of $9.99. You can't beat it.

Shore Road Restaurant

The little restaurant rests just minutes from York Beach and they serve breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as offer a wonderful little market with fresh produce, dairy, meat, snacks, and wine and beer.

Shore Road Lobster Roll with homemade chips

Lobster Roll Price: Only $ 9.99

Satisfaction: 9

The Results

Debi says: Could be that I liked the atmosphere in the Lobster Shack and hence rated their product the highest with a 10. Honestly, I would be more than thrilled to eat any of these lobster rolls any day. They were all fantastic. 
 
Judy says: I wanted transplant them all back to Florida's First Coast so we could take turns dining on lobster rolls year' round. If I had to pick one it would be Jake's. Loved the overflowing lobster and the no-gimmicks family atmosphere. I've had better onion rings but their clams were the best.

Afterwards

Nubble Lighthouse, Cape Neddick, Maine

To walk off the feast, we drove to nearby Nubble Lighthouse at Cape Neddick, another spectacular photo-op in Maine.  Didn't have time for a tour but this location is gorgeous. We also passed by what looked like fair grounds. 

Lastly,  we returned to the venerable Cliff House Resort standing high above a rocky ledge (Bald Hill Cliff) with thunderous waves below. The Cliff House has been welcoming guests since 1872 and is the place to stay for an Ogunquit vacation. However, the resort is closing after this season for a MAJOR renovation, so next July and August (2016) it will be even better. But, remember: location is,as they say   everything, and the panoramic vista at the Cliff House won't change.

View from my balcony at the Cliff House, Ogunquit, Maine

My spacious room overlooked coast, but the highlight of the visit was my facial at the spa. The therapist used Maine ingredients to make a blueberry smoothie mask. Wish I had a photo of my Smurf-like face. The additional sensation of smooth hot and cold rocks sliding across my skin made a fantastic indulgence, highly recommended.  

The Cliff as seen from the Cliff House Dining Room

To finish  our trip we attended a sold-out performance at the Ogunquit Playhouse. For 82 years it has been staging quality summer theater and the current facility is excellent. We watched an amazing cast perform "Victor Victoria" to a standing ovation.  No wonder tickets are hard to come by.

The Ogunquit Playhouse

The next morning the Good Girls were driven to Boston where they hopped a plane and returned to Jacksonville and St. Augustine.  We are still raving about our Two Nation Vacation to anyone who will listen; Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Maine make superior summer getaways. Go soon!

Nighttime View of the Cliff House

Seaside Fun in St. Andrews-by-the-Sea

Glorious sun and fun awaited us on our full day in St. Andrews-by-the-Sea.

Kingsbrae's formal garden and maze.

We began at Kingsbrae Garden, one of the prettiest spots you can imagine with its 50,000-plus trees, plants and flowers arranged in a variety of gardens that make the 27-acre site seem twice as large.

 Not only are the gardens artful, art plays a large part throughout. Every year Kingsbrae holds a Canadian Sculpture competition. Entries are displayed with the winner added to the sculpture garden.

 "The Lost Stone" by Dave Hind, first place in the 2014 sculpture competition.

















The Artist-in-Residence program adds to the creative atmosphere. Painter Geoff Slater gave us a sample in the art studio during which we all painted a small work using a limited palette and enhanced by croissants and mimosas. The "of art" label is debatable.

The set up.

Artist Geoff Slater.

Debi

Judy

No costumes to try on here, but we did find photo-worthy locations. The selfie at the obelisk didn't work out so we tried the arched hedge.

Us.

This is one spot even kids will like. There are alpacas, goats, garden cats, ducks, peacocks and other animals...

... a children's fairyland garden with a variety of creative playhouses and a scale model Dutch windmill.

We could have spent the better part of a day at Kingsbrae - word is the restaurant is quite good - but we had a Passamaquoddy Bay tide to catch.
You see, driving over the seafloor at low tide is the way to reach Minister's Island.

Not low enough.

We waited, watching others clam in the tidal pools that were left, until the ranger gave the signal to go.

Almost. Photo by Debi Lander.

Across we go.

We held our breath and started across, a unique experience indeed.

The Van Horne home. Photo by Debi Lander.

The 500-acre half-time island was the summer estate of Sir William Van Horne, the second president and driving force behind the Canadian Pacific Railway. We toured the 17-bedroom, 11-bathroom, 50-room home of Van Horne, his wife and two children.

It would have been a wonderful place to summer, with its colonnaded front porch,

Van Horne's accomplished art work, his collection of native Canadian crafts, the charming Dutch wallpaper in his grandson Billy's bedroom,






the working Dutch windmill and the paths and trails around and through the heavily wooded island,









We hated to leave but tide and whale-watching boats wait for no one. Island Quest was the boat to catch for a whale-watching cruise into the Bay of Fundy.

We saw lighthouses,

ferries,

a lobster boat that showed off its catch for us,

 sun bathing seals,

a bird rookery,

herring weirs

and marks of those incredible tides,

but no whales that I recognized. Captain Chris said a fin we saw belonged to a small-toothed whale, but it looked more like a dolphin to me. Fun, but not what we hoped.

Downtown St. Andrews-by-the-Sea;

What was fun was strolling rapidly about the town - time crunch again - and what did live up to anticipation was a tasting dinner at Rossmount Inn hosted by owners/chef Chris and Graziella Aerni.

Rossmount Inn and Restaurant

Graziella and Chef Chris Aerni.

Each course had three or more selections served family style which made taking accurate notes or usable photos difficult (delay taking a portion and you risked losing a taste of it). Suffice to say, you will find a plethora of beautifully plated, delicious locally sourced selections on the menu.

There was a clubby and cozy bar specializing in single malt Scotches across the hallway but we merely looked in wistfully.

The Sandman was calling our names. 

Overnight at Liscombe Lodge & Sherbrooke Village

The drive from Halifax to Liscombe Lodge on Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore takes about two and a half hours. We arrived at Liscombe just in time for lunch, our first chance to taste some lobster and we weren't shy.  We ordered seafood chowder and a lobster roll.

Seafood Chowder & Lobster Roll
by Debi Lander

The chowder arrived piping hot; a treat for Florida gals as it was a chilly, rainy day. Every spoonful warmed our bodies and souls. Next came the lobster roll and only one word is needed, "YUM." Lovely, large chunks of the cold-water crustacean with just a light touch of mayo on a home baked bread.

The Liscombe River

After lunch, we checked into our rooms. They sat next door to each other: rustic little cabins, called chalets, with a big bed and a small wood-burning stove in the corner. The cabins, with outdoor verandas, overlooked a rapidly moving river. The swishing sounds would surely lure us to sleep at night.

A warm fireplace in the evening.

 I

My Chalet near the roaring Liscombe River.

Interior of my bedroom in the chalet. 

Liscombe Lodge offers 30 Riverside Lodge guestrooms, 17 chalets, and five four-bedroom cottages. They are pet-friendly and also have a fitness center and indoor heated pool. Of course, the main building includes a restaurant with big windowed walls that overlook the river. Many bird feeders hang outside the windows, and a bevy of colorful feathered friends come and go. We were thoroughly entertained by the little fellas.

Birds outside the restaurant entertain diners.

However, it was time to join two other travel writers and set off to Sherbrooke Village to experience life as it was along the St. Mary’s River before the 1900s. In the 1860s, timber, tall ships and gold brought prosperity to this area of Nova Scotia. Today 25 original buildings remain where costumed interpreters bring history to life. We watched sparks fly from the blacksmith’s hammer as he created an "s" curved hook. We saw the printer using his press and witnessed the work of a weaver’s nimble hands.

The Blacksmith at Sherbrooke Village.

The Printer

Our tour was far too brief; this is the type of place you need to spend the entire day roaming around. The Tea Room looked inviting, and the menu featured Fisherman's Pie and Old Fashioned Lemon Snow, a lemon pudding with custard sauce.  Something the Good Girls would have surely devoured. 

Sherbrooke Village in Nova Scotia

Blacksmith's Forge

We were impressed with the variety and number of hands-on workshops held there throughout the year: woodworking, forging, a sawmill and goldmine frolic, a songwriters camp, sewing circle, antique car show, a sporting day for traditional driving- as in horse and cart, a time traveler's reunion and harvest weekend.

Sherbrooke Village reminds me of Sturbridge Village in New England, but it's a smaller version and covers a later period.  Anyone touring Nova Scotia should consider stopping. We give it a thumbs up! 

The lovely Sherbrooke Village in Nova Scotia.

We returned to the Lodge for a salmon planking demonstration. The chefs mounted a wild salmon filet on a board, placed it near an open fire, and brushed with maple syrup and butter. The cooks at Liscombe Lodge prepare this house specialty daily. Since we'd missed dinner the night before, we were ever so grateful to taste the Nova Scotia delicacy. Another yum!

Salmon Planking

Brushing the glaze onto the salmon.

Onward for a crafting project! Generally, the Good Girls don't sit around working on crafty projects. We are too busy gallivanting around the world. But, when given the opportunity, we jumped- no, pounded in. We were offered an array of wildflowers and plant leaves and were to create a print by hammering the natural oils through a piece of muslin. Oh yes, wine was included, too.

Judy hammers away.

Our friend Kirsten works on her craft project. 

Judy got fancy with flowers,

and I stuck with a fern, a fiddlehead fern to be exact. This type of printmaking is one heck of a useful craft if you happen to be angry with someone -- just pound out your hostilities. We then ironed the fabric to affix the imprint and placed the design in a frame. Can't say mine is a work of art, but if my grandchild made it, I would have been thrilled. Nice to see the Lodge offering an activity that includes nature and keeps one busy. A perfect rainy day project.

Debi's Leaf Print

Since the misty weather curtailed a morning boat ride, we made up time with an afternoon outing. Liscombe maintains a marina and offers scenic tours on the water.

The Good Girls, Debi Lander and Judy Wells.

Our boat ride included hors d'oeuvres and wine, an event that placed the Good Girls back in their element.

The View from the Marina at Liscombe Lodge
@Debi Lander

We motored across shimmering crystal clear water and through the noticeably clean air. We passed fifty shades of green trees and peaceful vistas. My goodness, the look of Nova Scotia is pleasing to the beholder. We loved the calming views.

Liscombe Lodge from the River

A Rainbow appeared during out boat ride.

However wonderful the boat ride was, a lobster lesson and feast were next on the schedule for dinner.  We didn't have long to wait. 

Our upcoming Lobster Dinner
(Hint: read the next post to learn about cooking and eating lobster.)