There’s still time to eat a lobster roll
Fred’s Shanty open through Sunday, while Captain Scott’s, Sea View to close later this month
On Sept. 2, the Mystic seafood shack Sea Swirl posted an image of chowder and a lobster roll with the text, “Wear a sweater. It tastes just as good in the fall.”
Sea Swirl, like Abbott’s Lobster in the Rough in Noank, closed for the season on Columbus Day. But recent days have hardly been sweater weather, and consequently, Fred’s Shanty in New London made the decision to extend its season.
It was “just because the weather was so nice, and it just felt right to stay open that one more week, for the customers,” said Mike Joyce, an employee of the Pequot Avenue establishment.
Fred’s Shanty will be serving lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. through Sunday. Elsewhere in the area, Sea View Snack Bar in Mystic closes on Oct. 29 while Captain Scott’s Lobster Dock in New London is open until Oct. 28. But customers at the latter can still go to the fish market through the end of the year, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.
Captain Scott’s has “definitely had a really good September and
October,” said owner Susan Tierney.
She added of customers, “They just think it’s always their last hurrah, but the weather just keeps going strong.”
While the unseasonably warm temperatures and sunny skies surely brought additional customers Tuesday and Wednesday, Uncasville resident Glenn Fanelli commented, “I would sit out here in the snow if they were open. I would. I really would.”
Fanelli mimed the action of shoveling snow off the picnic table bench.
Ledyard residents Bill Armitage and Frances Walsh, in their 60s, “like to bring people who visit us to Abbott’s, because it’s so quintessential New England,” Walsh said.
Armitage speaks highly of the Lobster Bomb at Ford’s Lobsters in Noank, and on Wednesday, he and Walsh were eating at Captain Scott’s.
Like many others, they always make a point of going at the end of the season.
While Columbus Day was a rainy and dreary day, Abbott’s owner Deirdre Mears said loyal customers still came to the Noank eatery “and they’ll be here on the first day, bless their hearts.”
Abbott’s will reopen at 11:30 a.m. on May 4. Dad’s Restaurant of Niantic and Sea Swirl will reopen in April.
At lunchtime on Tuesday, Lori Rogers sat with her aunt and uncle at Fred’s Shanty, all three eating ice cream. Rogers moved from Waterford to Cape Cod a few months ago, and she was visiting family in New London.
She always goes to Fred’s on one of the last days of the season, and she goes when it opens again in the spring. If necessary, she’ll wear a winter coat, and maybe sit in the car to eat.