Toe in the Water: Niantic, Pawcatuck, Haddam, and Madison

A lot has been accomplished the past few weekends.

Since last post, I have visited these fine establishments:

1 - East Lyme The Rustic Café

2 - Niantic Dad's

3 - Niantic Skipper's

4 - Pawcatuck Seawell

5 - Haddam Blue Oar

6 - Madison     Lenny & Joe's
7 - Branford    Lenny's
8 - Branford    Lobster Shack

In one weekend, it was 5.5 lobster rolls down the hatch. This past weekend was another two. Strong. Determined. Nuts. Whatever.

There's also statement about obsessiveness that could be made here, but I will not. Suffice to say, obsessiveness is how most things in the world get done - think Great Pyramids, the Panama Canal, Great Wall of China, Andy Warhol…The Great Lobster Roll Quest! Anyway, this is more akin to therapy than excess. So.

East Lyme is (actually made up of two Census-Designated Places) Flanders and Niantic.

Friday was a rough day at work. Dealing with crazy people and sad situations has driven many a human to drinking and worse, and with me, it was no different. Beer and a hot lobster roll binge. The beer with my name on it was to be found at The Rustic Café in East Lyme. This was an odd one because it was not near water - how could it have a fresh lobster roll? Uh-huh. This is the first lobster roll in the quest that had me wondering why this restaurant was even making them. And wondering who the reviewers on yelp are who say this is the best lobster roll ever. People nuttier than me, that's for sure.

See all those little curly slivers in the lobster meat? ??

They have wi-fi!

The lobster wasn't fresh, and it had all these tiny leg pieces in it which was not pleasant-looking. The good parts: the roll was a standard tasty, buttered, toasted hot dog roll, and the cole slaw was pretty good. For $10, it was ok, but you'd probably do better checking out some of their other options.

Disregarding the lobster roll, I actually really enjoyed the atmosphere of the Rustic Café, which is really rustic. It's a one-room, side of the road place, kind of in the middle of the woods, reminiscent of one room school rooms. It's capable of seating all of maybe 30 thin or unusually lacking-in-sense-of-personal-space kind of people, max. The kind of place where burly Harley-riding types would be quite comfortable, with or without personal space boundaries. I was a little out of place, but chatting with the very pleasant wait staff and a really cool older lady sitting at the bar having her dinner made me feel welcome.

Dad's and Skipper's

Onto Niantic, and the shore. Water! Niantic is one of those areas that has fortunately not gotten a lot of press and so has a throwback feeling to it. Quaint, older shops, walkable, cute. The East Lyme tourism industry touts its status as "one of the 'Top 20 Places to Retire' by Connecticut Magazine." Whee! You know, there's a reason half of the population of Connecticut wants to leave...

Dad's and Skipper's contribute to the town's relaxed, yet fun seaside vibe. Both feel like they were once young, eager, excited, side-of-the-road, seasonal establishments that grew into portly, late middle age and acquired respectable glassed in decks facing the water, yet retained enough kitschy elements to remind us of their roots.

Dad's walk up counter has a solid "shack" feel to it, though the place is well enclosed with the aforementioned glass, and a wrap-around outdoor deck that faces the Niantic harbor. The lobster roll was ok. The cup of butter on the side was new to me. The lobster tasted fresh enough, but visually, it just looked dry since it was un-pre-buttered. I'm on the fence about this ability to apply the butter yourself as the chance to f-up the application is high. The real downside to self-applied butter is oversoaking your bun, making for a really messy, greasy eating experience. Hence, wet-nap! $13.95

Sidebar to the sandbar:

I just had two lobster rolls and a beer after a long day, and needed a break, so headed down to the water. There's a tiny sliver of a beach that you access from Cini Park, just before a bridge over into the next part of town. The Amtrak train runs along this hidden away water's edge, is very easy to miss, and frankly, not spectacular. But I was glad for it. It's good to know when you need to stop and decompress after experiencing something emotionally taxing. This doesn't always happen. People run themselves ragged all the time, and they don't take enough breaks. Heartaches, grief, vexing problems, life. I needed to feel sand under my feet and the sight of clear salt water lapping along the shore. About a mile long, the little beach is a great place for dogs to romp until Memorial Day. The train running along above it surprisingly isn't too bothersome. The concrete walk is lined with a railing engraved with names of local people and contributors to the walk, a warm gesture to community.

The third roll

Finally, Skipper's, which had an OK hot lobster roll, again, butter on the side in a cup. The meat didn't look as dry as Dad's did, and it tasted fine. I watched the cook heat the meat on the griddle while toasting the bun, and it was fairly clear the meat wasn't super fresh. The atmosphere was more McDonald's than traditional lobster shack. $13.99. The extra $.04 more than Dad's gets you really crunchy potato chips.

With a full belly and the feel of beach sand and salt water, I felt rejuvenated, relaxed, grateful to be alive.

Seawell Seafood, Pawcatuck

The next day, I had a full day planned with some lobster roll pit stops along the way. My schedule for the day included a flax-to-linen demonstration, sheep shearing, arts festival and lobster rolls. The lobster roll destination was Seawell in Pawcatuck (3 Liberty Street) right on the Westerly Pawcatuck border. (There are at least two places of the same name, but only the fish market carries the hot lobster roll.) It has a reputation for excellent fresh seafood to take home and cook. They had huge lobsters in their tanks, and my companion, who arrived earlier than I did, reported seeing a cooler being brought in, likely by a fisherman. So, the stuff is fresh. They also mark where the catch comes from - local RI bivalves, CT flat fish, and of course, Stonington lobsters.

Despite all the lovely looking fishy items to be had, we were steadfast in our mission and ordered hot lobster rolls. The woman behind the fish case asked if we wanted butter on the side. No, thank you. Pre-applied butter, please. There's no place to sit and eat there, but you could walk across the (crazy) intersection of Rt. 2 and Rt. 1 and find a park bench along the river to eat.

This lobster roll was a surprise. Opening my styrofoam container, I was slightly horrified to see an untoasted potato roll and sliced leeks peeking through the large chunks of lobster meat. Potato roll! Sliced leeks!?! Well, what do you expect for $10? Uh, well, in this case, you can actually expect a lot. The meat was incredibly good. Sweet and tasty, it was extremely fresh, claw and tail meat. The only fault was the bits of shell left in it (two), but somehow that gave me confidence in its fresh home-madeness. Overall, I liked it, thought it was tasty, and would say that's it's one of the best values so far, but I could've left off half the leeks.

The second half of the weekend - Blue Oar and Lenny & Joe's

Sunday rolls around, and I had made plans to meet a friend for lunch and she suggested the Blue Oar in Haddam.

It never crossed my mind they would be a candidate for lobster roll questing, but there it was. It's not oceanside, but it is on a beautiful spot right next to the mighty Connecticut River. Not expecting to have the hot lobster roll there, I did not have my camera, but trust me and the New York Times when we say that it's a lovely spot with great food. And, since it's owned by the operators of Simon's in Chester, the best sandwich shop in the state, I do have a soft spot for it.

Their lobster roll was tasty: A foot-long top-loader roll, claw and leg meat, which was well cooked and salty. Good butter. Nicely toasted footlong top-loader. I have come to the conclusion that a well-toasted piece of bread is enormously important, as so often, the last bite of a lobster roll is bread, and nothing but crisply toasted white bread will leave a soul-satisfying mixture of texture and sweetness in the mouth. $18

But wait! Not done!
There are at least three opportunities a day for lobster rolls.

Madison's iconic Lenny & Joe's was the next nearest stop, and so we tried that, too. So, no one warned me ahead of time, but the place is a ZOO. Probably 50 or so picnic tables cover a gravel lot next to the Carousel, and the main indoor dining area. Oh, did I mention this was Memorial Day weekend, perhaps one of the busiest days for the restaurant of the year?? Well, it was.

So, if you have little kids and want good, old-fashioned, fried seafood, this is your spot. You can bring your own table settings and beverages for the picnic table area, and of course, all the friends you can drag in. It felt like a continual, massive, communal birthday party, replete with kids running around and tired parents…

The lobster roll ($15.99) was a regular top-loader, toasted bun with shredded claw meat, and it came with cole slaw. It was fine. I would say it falls in squarely with the good middle of the pack. Totally decent. For a kid's birthday party.

I decided to only have half of one in order to take in half of a fried soft-shell crab sandwich, which was pretty good, while being incredibly weird eating at the same time. Thoughts of sand-covered crabs, waving their pincers at me came to mind. Had to do some mental strong-arming in order to bite into the thing.