In All The Years Of Reading Dumb “Best Lobster Roll” Articles I’ve Never Seen Such An Abortion As The One Laurie Wilson Wrote For Open Table

It’s been 4 years.  People always send me photos or links to articles that have terribly bastardized lobster rolls and I’ve been on hiatus for several years, but the article by Laurie Wilson brought me out retirement from the stupid lobster roll review shaming game.

It’s THAT bad.

First a refresher course before we get to the silliness in Laurie Wilson’s Top Lobster Roll article hack job.

A PREEMPTIVE LOBSTER ROLL REFRESHER COURSE BEFORE ANYONE GETS ALL CRAZY

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Joey C

I’m putting out this Lobster Roll PSA at the beginning of this lobster season to save chefs from making the horrible dastardly crimes against lobsterdom that so many make each year when they try to go all fancy with their lobster rolls.

One of our lobstermen, Dave Jewell’s boat was originally christened as the KISS.  Chuck Kersey built it and explained the meaning behind the name-

KISS– Keep. It. Simple. Stupid.

What I will suggest to you is to take the name of the lobster boat which Chuck Kersey christened and apply it to your lobster rolls.

You don’t want to end up in the list of lobster roll debacles like the ones we’ve chronicled through the years here on GMG-

 

Bastardized Lobster Roll on Tap Today At Gloucester Gourmet

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Joey C

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What Is Wrong With People???? Another Lobster Roll Disaster From Some Broads In California

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Joey C

The Broads Out In California Try To Defend The Undefendable

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Joey C

What Does a $50 Lobster Roll Look Like???????

Posted on December 21, 2010 by patrickr

Grandma Ethel Needs To Put Down the Crack Pipe

Posted on July 19, 2011 by Joey C

IDIOTS!!!!!!!!

Posted on June 25, 2009 by Joey C


HERE’S THE LATEST LUNACY FROM LAURIE WILSON-

Roll Call: Top Lobster Rolls to Celebrate National Lobster Day

LAURIE WILSON JUNE 15, 2017

Avenue Restaurant, Long Branch, New Jersey

(Click here for photo)
Order the lobster roll and you’ll get fresh lobster with tomato, spicy mayo, oranges, and arugula, all crowning a brioche bun.

In all my years I’ve never seen such an unmitigated disaster of what some people call a lobster roll as this one that Laurie Wilson puts in her Top Lobster Rolls In The Country article.  Tomato?  Really??? Oranges???? Arugula????  OMG.  Laurie Wilson you have insulted your readership with this nonsense.

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Baptiste & Bottle, Chicago, Illinois

(Click here for photo)
Chef James Lintelmann’s chunky lobster roll keeps things interesting with a little fruit. The roll is created with housemade crème fraîche, fine herbs, shallots, chopped celery, and honey crisp apple.

I’m not even sure where to start here.   Normally it’s easy to decide where to hammer the outrageousness but there’s so much going wrong here it’s hard to decide which to list first.  I guess I’ll start by saying that when looking straight down at a lobster roll if you can’t optically distinguish anything at all resembling lobster then you automatically start out with a failing grade and can only go down from there.  But we can’t let the whole “Fruit” thing slide.  You’ve all heard the phrase “Don’t fruit your beer”.  I really didn’t think we had to spell it out for the Foodies (and lets be honest, is there anyone that refers to themselves as a foodie that you can talk to for more than three minutes before you want to kill yourself from pretentiousness overload), but let me spell it out anyway-

DON’T FRUIT YOUR LOBSTER ROLL

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Kingbird at the Watergate Hotel, Washington, D.C.
It’s a New England Lobster roll — with a twist. This ocean treat is created with yuzu mayonnaise, and scallions on a brioche bun along with classic pommes frites

(Click here for photo)

Uhmmm Kingbird at The Watergate Hotel, how bout you rename this yuzu mayonnaise roll with a hint of lobster?


You have to go 8 deep on her list before you get to a restaurant location that is a place where lobster catching is a staple of a community.

Baptiste & Bottle, Chicago, Illinois

Avenue Restaurant, Long Branch, New Jersey

Blue Island Oyster Bar & Seafood, Denver, Colorado

Cull & Pistol Oyster Bar, New York, New York

Vince Young Steakhouse, Austin, Texas

Rick Moonen’s RM Seafood Restaurant, Las Vegas, Nevada

Ways & Means Oyster House, Huntington Beach, California

Paddlefish, Lake Buena Vista, Florida

The Hourly Oyster House, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Siena Tavern, Chicago, Illinois

View, Oakdale, New York

Kingbird at the Watergate Hotel, Washington, D.C.

Striper’s, Kennebunkport, Maine

This lady has to be a Yankees fan, no?

To list Chicago, New Jersey, Denver, New York, Austin Texas, Las Vegas, Huntington Beach and Lake Buena Vista before you even get to a Maine or Massachusetts based joint, you gotta be out of your foodie mind.   Don’t they revoke your foodie card if you’re not pushing farm to table in every article you write?  This is food critic blasphemy in this, the Golden Age of Pretentious Food Writing.

Ed Collard put it best after listening to me rant about this article while creating this blog post.  Ed says- “The poor lobster already died once, why are you killing it again?

May god have mercy on your soul Laurie Wilson.  I don’t know how you sleep at night.

Would I Be Wrong To Post This Sign In My driveway?

So at the new homestead we have a skinny driveway that opens up to a space where you can easily park four cars with the teeny tiniest amount of courtesy and common sense.  You can clearly see the open space in front of you where you can park three side by side and one in the corner allowing everyone easy access to come and go as they please.

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I’d say 5 times out of 10 people that are visiting or doing work pull right to the skinniest part of the driveway and park, making it impossible for anyone parked respectfully inside of them to leave.  Equally if not more frustrating, if someone is coming home they will have to block the person that parked like an asshole in, and then have to go back out to move the car to let them out.

So after having said that, do you think it’s entirely inappropriate to put up this sign right at the skinniest part of the driveway?

BTW Frankie Gwynne says it’s a total power move to park like that big of a dickhead

Sizing up more details

June 17, 2017 stage review — preparation continues.

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(and how it looked June 8, 2017)

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St. Peter’s Fiesta 2017 poster with traditions and…Ravioli eating contest! Cape Ann Big Band! The volunteers are so amazing and on top of things; see next year’s dates printed along the bottom margin of  the poster.

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Karen Pischke Represents In Nova Scotia

We happened upon these Canadian dory rowers in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia – Kelly Jones, President of the Canadian Dory Racing Association, (her husband John was the one that passed out rowing last year) and Glady Collicut; ‘pumped up’ and ready for the mixed doubles in this weekend’s International Dory Race.

All photos courtesy Karen Pischke

 

Nova Scotia International Dory RaceNova Scotia GMG Dory Racers Kelly and GladysNova Scotia Dory Racers

FIESTA HAT LADY AMY CLAYTON TEACHING THE KIDS “Me chi samiou tutti mutti”

Photos from Alice Gardner’s children’s book launch party will post tomorrow when I have a little more time. It was lots of fun and there was a great turnout. Here is Crazy Hat Lady Amy Clayton at the Sawyer Free Library teaching children the call and response “Me chi samiou tutti mutti – Viva San Pietro!”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVcmZcMFtsE/

Gloucester’s own Fiesta Hat Ladies Robyn and Amy with Mayor Sefatia, sister Rose, niece Lia, and friends. I can’t wait to see the sister’s whimsical, wild, and wonderful creations this year!!

GIANT SQUID VS. SPERM WHALE EPIC BATTLE

HAPPY #cephalopodweek!

Imagine how many of these Colossal Squid versus Sperm Whale battles take place every year. Take a guess–a dozen, two dozen? I think you will be just as surprised by the answer as was I.

The answer is here after the page break.  Continue reading “GIANT SQUID VS. SPERM WHALE EPIC BATTLE”

International Dory Race Results 6/17/17

Damon Cummings reports – 

Mixed
1. USA Alex Pizzamenti, John Francis 6:01
2. CAN Gladys Collicutt, Morgan Smith 6:18

Juniors
1. CAN John Ernst, Josh Bell 5:53
2. USA Anthony Sanfilippo, Robbie Horne 6:29

Women
1. CAN Taylor, Danielle Dempsey 6:40
2. USA Alexis Novello, Kristen Burnham 6:51

Masters
1. CAN Willie Wells,Walter Nickerson 5:57
2. USA Jimmy Tarantino, Rick Miles 6:04

OPEN (long one mile race)
1. USA Mark, Nick Giacalone 9:43
2. CAN Brett, Todd Dempsey 9:50

Create Some Once In A Lifetime Memories- Catch A Sail On The Lannon For Sail Boston Today!

The Lighthouse Cruise is now operating daily!

The Lighthouse Cruise is now operating daily!

Come aboard M/V King Eider for a delightful trip around Cape Ann!

http://www.capeannharbortours.com/lighthouse.html

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Cheese and Food Combining ~

Ayurveda Wellness Healing, LLC's avatarCape Ann Wellness

Cheese and Food Combining…

Our digestive system was not designed to handle non-stop large, heavy, complex meals. The western eating habits place continual stress on the digestive system with inadequate “down-time” for the system to recuperate. When we over eat, eat too heavy or snack in-between meals we overwork the system causeing log-jams downstream resulting in undigested food that putrefies and ferments, leading to gas, bloating and potential accumulation of “ama” (toxins) from food and unprocessed emotions.

Though the lens of Ayurveda – food combining plays a big part in our digestion.

Cheese, which is cold, heavy and mucus forming, is best eaten alone or with vegetables. Many of the western serving methods (i.e., cheese and crackers; cheese and apples; macaroni and cheese, cheese with sandwiches, cheese pizza, etc.) are very difficult to digest.

Ayurveda Wellness Healing, LLC loves cheese sprinkled with a bit of black pepper.

“Blockage is…

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Figs wrapped in prosciutto and stuffed with Gorgonzola at Tonno tonight

tonnogloucester's avatarcapeanneats

We are featuring one of my favorite dishes from Prezza tonight.
Figs wrapped in prosciutto and stuffed with Gorgonzola.
Here are the rest of tonight’s specials. -Mushroom Risotto
-Short-Cut Rigatoni with lobster
-Halibut with fregola and tomato agrofolce
-Lamb porterhouse with summer squash and zucchini

View original post

SIMPLY STELLAR BRUNCH AT FEATHER AND WEDGE!

With rainy weather predicted for Saturday and Father’s Day celebrations Sunday, this weekend would be the perfect time to try the wonderfully delicious weekend brunch fare at Feather and Wedge. My girlfriend Claudia and I went last Saturday and it was delightful in every way. The decor is exquisite (I think I mentioned that in a previous post) and now with Chef Doug Papows at the helm, the food, and welcoming wait staff, make for a dining trifecta of fabulousness.

I regret to say that the photos that I took of our lovely brunch went the way of my faulty memory card. Memory cards occasionally wear out, and usually at the worst times. Dear reader, you don’t need photos of the food, just go, you’ll have a wonderful dining experience, we sure did!

The menus change everyday. Brunch is not posted on the Feather and Wedge website, but you can imagine how delicious are the brunch offerings by checking out tonight’s dinner menu.

Feather and Wedge Dinner Menu June 16, 2017

Pemaquid oysters | cucumber mignonette   2.75 ea.

Tomato fennel soup | gruyère crostini   10

Ahi tuna tartare | white miso citrus vinaigrette, chives   14

Smoked bluefish pâtĂ© | arugula, lemon, crostini   10

Halibut crudo | radish, bronze fennel, ginger scallion sauce   17

PâtĂ© de campagne | cornichons, whole grain mustard, crostini   10

Cheese plate | daily selection with accompaniments   14

Charcuterie plate | daily selection with accompaniments   15

*  *  *

Simple salad | field greens, turnip, tomato, red onion, house vinaigrette   8

First Light Farm greens | cucumber, hakurei turnips, radish, green goddess dressing   13

Beet salad | arugula, feta, orange vinaigrette  

                                                                           *  *  *

Clams and pork belly | tomato, beer braised chickpeas, lime, cilantro   26

Lobster and asparagus | prosciutto, poached egg, turnips, soy hollandaise, spicy bread crumbs   29

Sea Scallops | Japanese eggplant, mushroom trio, yuzu and Thai basil aioli, Oolong rice   29

Organic Faroe Islands salmon | scallion, quinoa, bok choy, togarashi aioli   26

Chicken under a brick | bulgur, mirepoix, lemon rosemary pan sauce     24

Bone-in pork chop | maple mustard brined, new potatoes, rainbow chard, marrow butter   25

Prime ribeye | salsa verde, new potatoes, rainbow chard   35

Housemade cavatelli puttanesca | crispy pancetta, pesto, sunflower seeds, mozzarella   23

add halibut |   32

Seared eggplant | quinoa, arugula, cucumber, peas, feta, pistachios   16

*  *  *

Sauteed spinach   6

Roasted beets   6

*  *  *

Plum blackberry crumble | buckwheat crust, vanilla ice cream   10

Fresh strawberry tart | sweet shortbread crust, sweet cultured cream,  apricot glaze   10

Vanilla bean panna cotta | mango coulis   10

Warm chocolate budino | sweet cultured cream, fresh blackberries   10

Affogato | vanilla ice cream, hot espresso, amaretto, toasted almonds   10

 

Feather and Wedge is located at 5 Main Street, Rockport. They are open Wednesday through Sunday for dinner and Saturday and Sunday for brunch. For reservations call 978-999-5917.

Feathers and wedges photo by Reiner Flassig

 All the beautiful images you see on the walls of Feather and Wedge are from the archives of the Cape Ann Museum and Sandy Bay Historical Society.

MR. SWAN CHILLAXIN AT WONSON COVE

Thank you to Rocky Neck resident Anne Malvaux for sharing her photo of Mr. Swan, spotted last night sitting on the beach at Wonson Cove. When I checked on him at Niles early this morning, he was sleeping peacefully in the middle of the pond.Â