The Lobsta Truck

Each costs $11 and is served on a custom-made, toasted and buttered split-top roll. The publicist assures us “no tarragon” is used in the preparation – funny how we weren’t worrying about that. FYI, there’s also New England clam chowder, Cape Cod potato chips, Whoopie Pies and Maine Root sodas. Go to www.lobstatruck.com, Facebook and Twitter to find out more.

The Lobsta Truck came about after a innocent autumn trip to New England.It all started after a long drive through the White National Forest, arriving at our first lobster shack in South Freeport, ME, the Harraseeket Lunch & Lobster Company. Here we ordered two fresh cooked Maine lobsters with drawn butter, fried clams, and some lemonade. The meal was delicious, but it was only the start of our two-day Maine lobsterfest. As it was still early in the afternoon, we decided to leave South Freeport and head for the most famous lobster shack of all, Red’s Eats in Wiscasset, ME.

Upon arrival, we saw the customary line and proceed to wait our turn. After a one hour wait, we were finally rewarded with our first and best lobster roll of the trip. The lobster roll was overflowing with lobster meat, falling out and into our tray as we ate it. We had ours prepared without any condiments, but dipped it in butter and mayonnaise. The large chunks of lobster tail and claw meat were delicious and it was well worth the wait.

We ended up calling it a day for lobster after Red’s Eats and headed back to Portland, ME. While lobster was not on the menu for dinner that night (we went to a very good restaurant called Fore Street in downtown Portland and had more seafood), we were ready for more the following day.

Our first stop of the day was at the Clam Shack in Kennebunk, ME (the same Kennebunk that the Bush family compound is located in). There was not much of a line at the Clam Shack and the lobster roll came out fairly quickly along with some steamer clams we ordered. Instead of coming out on a traditional New England split top roll, the lobster roll came in hamburger style buns. The lobster roll was good, but not as good as our first roll and definitely did not have as much meat as Red’s. After our meal, we strolled around Kennebunk for a little while and then headed to our next lobster meal at Barnacle Billy’s in Ogunquit, ME.

Ogunquit is a beatiful little town and definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area. Barnacle Billy’s is not in the main part of Ogunquit, but rather located at Perkins Cove, which has great views of the Maine coastline. On top of this, they have a cute little draw bridge to allow for sail boats and lobster boats to enter the cove. Nonetheless, we ordered our food at Barnacle Billy’s and sat outside to take in the great weather and crisp clean air. When we got our food, a lobster roll and clam chowder, we dug in right away. The lobster roll was mixed with a little mayonnaise and dusted with paprika. It was a decent lobster roll, but both Red’s and the Clam Shack delivered a better product. After our meal we went to the towncenter and strolled around. We visited the beach and proceeded to check the temperature of the Atlantic Ocean and boy was it cold (I guess that’s what makes Maine lobster taste sooo good). After grabbing some ice cream, we proceeded to find our next lobster roll.

Our next lobster spot was supposed to be Chauncey Creek Lobster Pier. Unforunately it was closed and we had to find another place to get our final roll. We ended up coming across Bob’s Clam Hut and decided it was worth a try. We ordered a lobster roll along with some fried clams. Being our last lobster roll of the trip, we were hoping for a home run. Nonetheless, we did get a good lobster roll and some good fried clams, but Red’s Eat was officially the winner of this two day lobster binge.

A few weeks after the trip, it was decided that we were going to open the Lobsta Truck. With the lobster shacks in Maine similar to the taco shacks in LA, it seemed like the perfect fit. We proceeded to find a supplier that could deliver us fresh lobster and worked on developing our own lobster rolls. We tried a few types of bread, as we couldn’t find the traditional split top New England rolls in LA, but it just wasn’t right. As a result, like the lobster, we get our bread fresh from New England. We couldn’t just have lobster rolls as our only menu item, so we decided to also add crab rolls, New England clam chowder, Cape Cod chips, and fresh squeezed lemonade. With all the pieces in place, we were ready to roll!