Maine’s prime lobster season produces softer, sweet dishes
Get cracking. It’s the best time of year to go to Maine, which just happens to coincide with when the lobster here is the tastiest. It’s new shell season — the period between July and the holidays when lobsters that have outgrown their shells move up to the next size — according to lobster fishermen. That means there’s a bit of room in the new shell, which lets salt water marinate the meat, making it both softer and sweeter.
What better time to take a trip to New England to gorge on lobster and gaze at lighthouses? I started out in the city of Portland, where I took a 90-minute trip out into Casco Bay with Lucky Catch Cruises (luckycatch.com, $35), which brings visitors along with licensed lobstermen to see how they catch the crustaceans.
Captain Tom Martin took the boat out to their traps, identified by a distinctive red, white and green striped buoy (each lobsterman has their own pattern). He pulls them up, then measures the lobsters inside with a metal gauge since strict rules are in place to safeguard the population. Lobsters that are too small need to be given a chance to breed and go back into the water; big ones are sent back as well because they’re likely to reproduce with lots of eggs. Any lobster pulled up with black eggs inside means it is a breeding female and gets a “v” notched into its tale with a knife, and then can’t legally be harvested for the rest of its life.
We help clean out the cages of other wildlife that might have gotten stuck inside, like hermit crabs, and fill bait bags before moving on to a few more traps. After, we cruise around the bay, boating past the remains of Fort Gorges and Fort Scammel, Civil War fortifications, as well as Portland Head Light (portlandheadlight.com), the oldest lighthouse in the state and beacon into Portland Harbor.
Later, I checked out the tiny and perpetually packed Eventide Oyster Co. (eventideoysterco.com). While the oysters are tempting, I instead go for the green curry lobster stew ($15) and lobster roll ($15), served on a Chinese-style steamed bun and dressed with warm brown butter.
Ready for a drink, I head to Allagash Brewing Company (allagash.com), which offers free(!) tours all week, along with four different samples. The Portland brewery is known for its Belgian-style Allagash White, but you can also purchase some of Allagash’s more experimental concoctions, like its Coolship line which uses natural microflora in the air to start a spontaneous-fermentation process before the beer ages in white oak barrels.
In downtown Portland, I take an evening stroll to the harbor, which is a mix of working fishing wharves and warehouses that have been converted into restaurants and bars. I head to one of the more recent additions, Scales (scalesrestaurant.com), opened by two Portland restaurant industry vets. I opt for a couple of light crudo dishes, a fluke ceviche in a lime and jalapeno vinaigrette ($11) and tuna tartare with black garlic ($12) before walking over to Vena’s Fizz House (venasfizzhouse.com), a small cocktail bar tucked in a store selling vintage glassware and a wide selection of bitters and tinctures to make creative cocktails.
After some time in Portland, I head southeast to Kennebunk, about a half-hour drive away, and the neighboring town to Kennebunkport, the “summer White House” during George H. W. Bush’s presidency. The family, and seemingly everyone else in town, is a fan of casual seafood place The Clam Shack (theclamshack. net). The fried clams are a must, ($19.95 for a half pint) as well as the lobster roll, famous because it’s got big, freshly-picked chunks from a one-pound lobster ($18.95), rather than processed meat. The Clam Shack is positioned on a marina, so I grabbed my food and ate it in the sun.
There’s a cute downtown area to stroll around, and more local brews to be had nearby at Federal Jacks (federaljacks. com), home of the Shipyard beer line. I try a Taint Town Pale Ale and take in the water views from the second-story perch.