Without this, there is no summer to me.

I am of course talking about the Lobster Roll. Admittedly, Miami is not
exactly heaven sent for these amazing feats of sandwichery. Yes, you can get
one at Joe's Takeaway, but it's just not quite the same as the ones you get
along the Northeastern coastline in the summertime. Now I don't remember
these at all from growing up in Philly, so pretty sure this is a New York
and north of NY type of delicacy- obviously Maine has the cream of the crop.
And with Memorial Day fast approaching, all thoughts turn to summer, the
beach, and a relaxed ease that goes best with a beer and some old reggae.
And nothing goes better with all of the above than the lovely oh so lovely
lobster roll, another quintessential summer treat.

I remember a particularly joyous summer weekend afternoon in New York City-
that amazing feeling when the city is completely null and void of people,
and you pretty much have the place to yourself. Of course I love the
weekends at the beach, but there's something about summer weekends in the
city that are delicious. David and I spent the day hanging around our
neighborhood, which culminated in a late afternoon beer or three at one of
my favorite bars of old, The Ear Inn. You get a great view of the Hudson
from there and the sunset starts to creep in and lights up the whole west
side like the Olympic torch. It's quite special. After a few Stellas, we
decided to saunter over to the West Village to Mary's Fish Camp, light beer
buzz and giddy afternoon vibes in tow. There we had lobster rolls and all
was truly right in the world- was an amazing afternoon- so simple, yet so
SUMMERTIME. And that's why I love the lobster roll- not super complex, yet
it completely captures the goodness of summer in each bite. A dear friend of
mine posted something on Facebook yesterday about some sort of lobster roll
claw off in NYC in June. You can bet your sweet lobster roll that I would be
there if I still resided in the 212. Here is the link to that event- if you
are there, you should go to there.

http://tastingtable.com/lander/clawoff

Happy beginning of summer to you. Take a deep breath and enjoy it in all its
glory. And that's what's up this clawed Wednesday in the 305. XO