A lobster roll through the Hamptons

This article is part of FT Globetrotter’s guide to New York

It’s a misty grey summer’s day at “The End”, as the easternmost tip of Long Island is referred to on tourist sweatshirts, a spot where weary Manhattanites make weekend pilgrimages in search of fresh seafood and a party on a boat somewhere. 

The quiet seaside village of Montauk, home to just over 4,000 people year round, springs to life come Memorial Day. Colourful umbrellas line its powder-sand shores and surfers bob offshore, waiting for waves in an unspoken pecking order. Scantily clad twenty-somethings spill out of bars until the wee hours, including Memory Motel — the one that inspired the Rolling Stones song — and The Surf Lodge, the polarising haunt famed for its unreliable septic tank.

The Sunday crowd is less busy at Duryea’s Lobster Deck, which sits on the north-western side of the Montauk Peninsula. There is something about sitting outside at this classic Montauk seafood joint, as a storm rolls in over Fort Pond Bay and I’m sinking my teeth into the first bite of their lobster roll, that feels a bit magical. 

But then the cheque arrives ($49, excluding tip), and the spell is somewhat broken.

This far stretch of island beyond Amagansett, with its wilder sand dunes and dependable waves, for years upheld a more bohemian vibe than the nearby high-hedged Hamptons. But flashy financiers and DJ-ing bank executives now frequent the surfer’s paradise, too, and with that prices have hiked. 

Duryea’s itself is a symbol of that transition: yet another family-run business that has changed ownership as deep-pocketed investors have pumped money into the hamlet over the past decade. The 80-plus-year-old Montauk institution was bought by Marc Rowan, now chief of the private equity giant Apollo Global Management, in 2014.

Rowan’s investment in the lobster game, despite a series of legal squabbles with the town, has paid off. The surge of inflation-resistant new money flooding Montauk’s rugged coastline has allowed a certain market-price New England delicacy to find a cult-like audience in the New York beach town and its even wealthier, more developed neighbouring enclaves.

Lobster — steamed and served whole, or chopped up in roll form — has become an enduring culinary symbol of summer and, whether people like it or not, status. But it hasn’t always been the most expensive thing on the menu.

On an expedition to Newfoundland in the 16th century, a merchant called Anthony Parkhurst wrote a letter to the British geographer and diplomat Richard Hakluyt noting the sheer abundance of the clawed crustaceans in the area. With his spear it would “take up in lesse then halfe a day Lobsters sufficient to finde three hundred men for a dayes meate”, he marvelled. 

Simple laws of supply and demand meant that English settlers would liken the creature to the then-equivalent of Spam. Used as fishing bait to catch more sought-after cod, it also became a diet staple for the poor and a nice back-up if the harvest came up short. And with the emergence of the commercial fishing industry, leftover lobster catch was a cheap and portable meal for hungry seafarers, sandwiched between slices of bread or in a bun. 

So how did boiled chunks of the stuff nestled in a humble roll evolve from a cheap and easy meal to a lunchtime luxury?

More than a handful of East Coast restaurateurs claimed to have invented the lobster roll. None has definitive proof. The 1983-published Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink states that the lobster roll likely originated in hot form at a restaurant called Perry’s in Milford, Connecticut in the 1920s. That’s hard to prove, though.

The real trailblazers were likely a bunch of hungry fishermen floating on a boat somewhere on the Atlantic, a moment forever lost to history.

Its New York coronation can be attributed in part to chef Rebecca Charles, a native New Yorker who — after some years spent cooking in Kennebunk, Maine — gave the New England delicacy new life in Manhattan’s West Village when she opened the Pearl Oyster Bar in 1997.

There’s a myriad of reasons why the sea critters have become so expensive since lobstermania first sunk its claws into Long Island’s summer scene in the early 2000s. They’re tricky to farm commercially: lobsters take five to seven years to reach a size that can be legally caught and are susceptible to disease. 

Reliance on wild-caught lobsters means that fuel and labour costs weigh heavily on the price tag, whether the lobster population is flourishing or not. Not to mention the price of shipping them alive — they need to stay cool and moist while still having enough oxygen to breathe.

Once it finally arrives on your plate, however, braving the wallet roulette of what “market price” means that day can be worth it if you know where to go.

In the great lobster-roll debate — cold with mayo (Maine style) or hot and doused in butter (Connecticut style) — I’m Switzerland. As a New Yorker, I have no loyalties. In a dish as simple as the lobster roll, it’s the quality of the crustacean that reigns supreme.

I’ve tried and tested some of the most famous spots on Long Island’s South Fork, which encompasses The Hamptons and neighbouring Montauk, to see which ones are worth the journey.

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Clam Bar

2025 Montauk Highway, Amagansett, NY 11930

• $$$$

• Good for: Post-beach bites

• Not so good for: Rainy days

• FYI: Place a pick-up order to beat the afternoon rush

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• Website; Directions

Clam Bar — located almost directly over the road from the Lobster Roll (see below) — is distinctly no-frills. And in a place where frills are almost impossible to avoid, it’s refreshing.

The 42-year-old counter service-only shack has a surprisingly robust menu for its size, with fried clam strips and other greasy indulgences, as well as a raw bar with oysters, shrimp and clams plucked from the sea.

I order a hot lobster roll this time, and know in the first bite that I’ve made the correct choice. The Clam Bar’s hot variation contains claw and knuckle poached in garlic butter, pea shoots and scallions. The lobster is overflowing, and tastes like it was just scuttling across the ocean floor.

But it’s the pièce de résistance — a side of more melted garlic butter for dipping — that makes it my favourite of the trip.

The Dock House

1 Long Wharf, Sag Harbor, NY 11963

• $$$$

• Good for: Solo diners 

• Not so good for: Formal occasions

• FYI: Stop by Big Olaf a few doors down for ice cream afterward, and bring cash

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• Website; Directions

Something feels quintessentially American about the sleepy Hamptons village of Sag Harbor. And it’s not just because Billy Joel has a house there.

The hotel I’m staying at, Baron’s Cove, is a seven-minute walk from The Dock House. My Old English sheepdog and I set out towards the marina to the grey-shingled shack, which smells of fish, and study the chalkboard menu.

Perhaps it’s the US flags hoisted everywhere or just deep-seated patriotism, but something in me was hankering for a handheld meal and some high-fructose corn syrup to wash it down with.

I order a cold lobster roll and a Sprite. It comes in a styrofoam take-out container with Lay’s potato chips, which I dig into at one of the outdoor high-top tables, dog in tow.

The bun is charred and warm on the outside, spongy and cool on the inside. It is the perfect vessel to transport the three ice-cream scoops’ worth of mayonnaise-coated lobster chunks, celery and onion. 

This might be as close as I’ll find to the Wonder Bread-and-leftover lobster meat fixings of yesteryear, and I’m not mad about it.

The Lobster Roll

1980 Montauk Highway, Amagansett, NY 11930

• $$$$

• Good for: Furry friends

• Not so good for: Those without a car

• FYI: Don’t sleep on the Key lime pie

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• Website; Directions

Fans of the US TV series The Affair who happen to drive past the roadside eatery with a massive sign declaring “LUNCH” on the Napeague stretch towards Montauk might be surprised to learn that it’s a real place.

The retro-style seafood shack is a recurring setting in the Showtime drama under a different name: “Lockhart’s Lobster Roll”. 

Whatever you call it (many make the mistake of thinking it’s just called LUNCH), the vibe is the same. It appears that the place hasn’t changed much since the restaurant opened in 1965, but people don’t come here for updated takes on the classics. (The option of a gluten-free bun appears to be a newer addition, though.)

The Lobster Roll serves the cold version of its namesake dish with a hefty amount of crunch, ample mayo and crinkle fries on the side. At today’s market price of $30, it’s actually a bargain compared to other spots Out East. 

The roomy back patio is dog-friendly, making it an ideal stop along the way on the drive from Sag Harbor to “The End of the World”, as Ruth Wilson’s character Alison calls it in the hit series.

Bostwick’s Chowder House

277 Pantigo Road, East Hampton, NY 11937

• $$$$

• Good for: A long, lazy lunch

• Not so good for: Those on a time-crunch

• FYI: Try the baked clams, too — they’re a speciality here

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• Website; Directions

Bostwick’s Chowder House is the type of beachy dive where you come for an early dinner and end up drinking beers with people you met at the bar until closing time — think bait-and-tackle decor, low ceilings and Montauk Wave Chaser IPA on draught.

The staff are impressively friendly, given how packed the place is. They don’t take reservations, which means the tables are never empty. I’m handed a buzzer and told it’ll be a 45-minute wait, but it goes off after 20 and I feel like the lobster gods are smiling down on me.

Opened in 1997 by Chris Eggert and Kevin Boles — friends since their youth — the Chowder House has a loyal clientele. The Symon Sipper, a refreshing blend of Bulleit bourbon, black tea and lemonade, is named for one of its regulars, the celebrity chef Michael Symon.

The menu poses a paralysing choice: hot or cold. I opt for the first one this time, with generously portioned whole chunks of claw doused in hot butter, encompassed by a fluffy potato bun. 

I find myself wishing there was a bit more butter and maybe a tad more seasoning, but it’s the quality of the catch that shines through. And they don’t cut corners — you need a fork to catch the spillage.

Who in your opinion does the best lobster roll in NYC or New York state? Tell us in the comments. And follow FT Globetrotter on Instagram at @FTGlobetrotter

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