Clinton Lobster Landing vs. Guilford Lobster Pound!

So delicious!  This weekend's lobster rolls were both really great.  It didn't hurt that it was a picture perfect day, Mother's Day no less, with cloudless blue skies, mid-seventies, enough sun to start burning people's bare shoulders lobster red.  Lobster on my mind…

Clinton's Lobster Landing (no website, just a non-informative facebook page) has been open since April, and I didn't know it!  I thought it opened in June, but being antsy, I called them, and it turned out they've been open! Shows what happens when you don't actually call a place and just rely on secondhand Internet reporting.

 At the end of Commerce Street, the famed shack sits in all its swayback glory.  Being a perfect day, it looked perfectly picturesque, with lobster traps sitting on the dock next door.  Due to several years of declining lobsters in Long Island Sound, authorities had banned lobstering for three months last fall, but apparently, a few lobstermen are still able to go out and catch the clawed comestible.  Many places have to get their catch from Maine and Canada, but a few Connecticut gems still bring in local flavor.  Mmm, Long Island sludge-fed lobsters!

 

But what a flavor!  You order at a makeshift counter under a white tent, then go stake out a table and wait until someone brings you your roll wrapped in foil.  No sides, just one delicious lobster roll.  For $16, Clinton Lobster Landing serves up a nicely toasted, foot-long top-loader roll full of fresh, small chunks of lobster and plenty of butter.  Now, if, in your haste to shorten the time between you and your lobster roll, you didn't paid attention to the menu board, you might have been surprised by the slightly sweet tang of a pre-applied touch of lemon juice!  This is a unique roll.  All of the other ones I've had so far give you a slice a lemon on the side, but here, the recipe doesn't allow you to tweak.  I have to say, despite having my libertarian culinary senses slightly offended, I wouldn't say no to another Clinton Lobster Landing lobster roll. 

To the right of the menu is a big vat of melted butter.

We had a mother with us, on Mother's Day, so the party wasn't about to end with one lobster roll.  We rolled on over to Guilford to sample the offerings at the Guilford Lobster Pound, which seemed appropriate to pair with Clinton's as the owners of both restaurants are some of the very few who still catch their own lobster out of Long Island Sound.  The Guilford eatery is located at the end of Whitfield Street in Guilford, with picnic tables on their own beautiful dock facing a lovely view of the Sound.

Stand-up paddleboarder out in the distance.

Here, you get a standard sized hot dog roll full of large chunks of hot buttered lobster, no lemon.  Lemon is on hand should you want to add some, but the roll by itself is $15.  I loved it.  I would've loved to have had another one.  Others in the party voted for Clinton's roll, opining that its lighter feel was nicer.  I can't say I would say no to another Clinton Lobster Landing roll, but Guilford's was pretty great.  The only thing I would change is to get it in a larger size, maybe a footandahalf-long roll...

Want this NOW!

Lobster fact: Lobsters are nocturnal and are able to sense their prey in the dark via sensors on their hairy legs.  What do your hairy legs do for you?