Think Outside the Shell

Lobster is a perennial favorite treat, but do diners like to see it in progressive applications?

By Katie Ayoub

Nothing is quite as fabulous as lobster. Caviar and foie gras may sparkle, but lobster is true glitterati. Sweet lobster meat pulled out of deep-red shells and dunked in drawn butter—that’s a sexy splurge that diners are willing to make. But what happens if you split lobster away from the classic, candlelit presentation? Do diners still see it as a luxury item? Are they willing to try, say, ethnic presentations of lobster, and shell out the bucks for these novel dishes?

We found chefs who indeed appreciate the simple beauty of the classic boiled lobster dinner. But like most chefs, they like to expand their horizons, even beyond Thermidor and Newburg. And with diners becoming more adventurous—well, lobster spring rolls may live on the fringe, but they still reside within the comfort zone.

Even the Maine Lobster Promotion Council sees a desire for ethnic applications with lobster. It partnered with The Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, N.Y., and developed myriad recipes showcasing lobster in a multicultural light. These recipes include a lobster/potato relleno and lobster quesadillas. And they are not the only ones developing ethnic recipes for lobster, taking advantage of lobster’s highly perceived value and the growing globalization of diners’ palates.

Bring ’em in

Although Colette Connor, executive chef/co-owner of The Inn Spot on the Bay in Hampton Bays, N.Y., sees lobster as a money loser, she features it throughout her restaurant and catering menus. “Lobsters bring people into your restaurant, but you hope they order something else off the menu,” says Connor. “Or in the case of our lobster nachos, they hear about them, and that brings them into the restaurant, or they inquire about our catering because of them.”

The lobster nachos are The Inn Spot’s most popular passed hors d’oeuvre. Connor starts with boiled fresh lobster tail or claw, either from Maine or, when in season, local New York lobster. She places either the whole claw or a sizeable chunk of the tail meat onto a house-made tortilla chip that has been spread with housemade guacamole. Crème fraîche is dolloped atop, and then the nacho is finished with a speck of pico de gallo. As an appetizer, she charges $12 for four nachos on a plate. The dish runs a 50% food cost.

A more exotic lobster appetizer is her candied lobster tail with a ginger glaze and plum/sake paste. “This is for my adventurous clientele. It's a great novelty item,” says Connor.

She first breaks off the whole tail from the lobster body, and skewers it to stop it from curling. She then poaches it in salt water for just a couple of minutes, and dips it into a glaze of fresh ginger juice, sugar and a bit of dashi. “It’s like making a candy apple. The heat from the sugar finishes the cooking process. It’s a lobster lollipop,” says Connor. For the dipping sauce, she mixes sake into a dried-plum powder. “Lobster meat is so sweet. It can work with so many different things. The plum/sake paste has a sourness that complements the lobster really well,” she says. The appetizer sells for $28 and runs a 6% food cost.

For an Italian take on lobster, Connor offers a lobster cannelloni in a vanilla sauce. She poaches the lobster, then pulls off the tail, knuckle and claw meat. She tosses that with ricotta, local goat cheese and chives. She adds a beaten egg to bind the mixture, then spreads 1 ounce onto the housemade cannelloni, which are then rolled up and steamed, just up to temperature. The cooked cannelloni are tossed with a vanilla sauce-butter, heavy cream, shallots, white wine and Tahitian vanilla. The dish sells for $32, and gives three cannelloni per order. It runs a food cost of about 30 percent.

Roll ’em up

For a Mexican interpretation of lobster dishes, a trip to Charlotte, N.C.’s, Cantina is in order. There, chef Richard Buchsbaum serves an appetizer of lobster/black bean spring rolls and an entrée of enchiladas de langosta (lobster enchiladas). He uses Maine lobster for both applications.

For the spring rolls, the bulk of the labor stems from cooking the black beans. Buchsbaum cooks down the beans with onion, poblano chile and seasoning. He then bakes the mixture on a sheet pan to dry out the beans, stirring them every five minutes to avoid a crust forming. “You want the flavor from the liquid to tightly coat the black beans. It’s sort of like making a black-bean cake,” he says.

He poaches the lobster, and chops the tail and claw meat for the spring rolls, reserving the knuckle meat for the enchiladas. He lays the lobster meat on the spring-roll wrapper, along with a bit of the black-bean mixture and some green onion. A little Cholula sauce adds heat. The rolls are wrapped, then deep-fried in soybean oil. For service, they’re placed on a bed of mango slaw tossed with sesame oil, sesame seeds and cilantro, and accompanied by a spicy dipping sauce. The appetizer sells for $10.95 and runs a food cost of 30 percent.

“You really want a good amount of lobster in your spring roll, in big chunks, so your customers can see what they’re getting,” says Buchsbaum. “This dish is really nice because the earthiness of the black beans really complements the sweetness of the lobster.”

When he runs his enchiladas de langosta, he sells out every time. “The key to this dish is to use the claws, some of the tail and stock for other applications. That’s the beauty of lobster,” he says.

After poaching the whole lobster, he cuts big chunks of the tail and knuckle meat. He makes a béchamel, then adds the lobster chunks, onion, red and green chile, stock reduction, some 31–40 count shrimp, garlic, ancho powder and red pepper. Once the mixture cooks, he cools it rapidly on a sheet pan in the walk-in. He then adds manchego, Cotija and añejo cheeses. Once this relleno, or stuffing, is thoroughly chilled, he places it on corn tortillas, rolls the tortillas and bakes them at 400°F until they reach an internal temperature of 150°F. The enchiladas are then topped with Buchsbaum’s ranchero sauce—a tomato sauce made with ancho, guajillo and tomatillos. Sour cream and a red-pepper crema finish the enchiladas. They’re served with saffron rice and vegetarian black beans. This entrée sells for $17.99 and runs a 40% food cost.

At Boston-based Legal Sea Foods, with 31 units throughout the East Coast, lobster is, of course, a given. But the concept is branching out from its traditional lobster offerings and reporting success-most of the time.

A popular appetizer that executive chef/executive vice president Rich Vellante rolled out recently is a Vietnamese lobster spring roll. He dips soft rice paper in water to make it pliable, then adds mango strips, cooked cellophane noodles, cilantro, scallion and large chunks of boiled Nova Scotia lobster knuckle and claw meat. He dresses the mixture with rice-wine vinegar to add brightness, then rolls up the rice paper. A Vietnamese dipping sauce of Thai chile, scallion, carrots, mirin, granulated sugar and lime juice accompanies the spring rolls. The appetizer sells for $10.95 and runs an average food cost. (Lobster cost is probably lower here, as the restaurant is also its own purveyor.) “We do the larger chunks of lobster for the visual effect. Nothing says luxury and hospitality like lobster,” says Vellante.

One ethnic lobster dish that didn't fly at Legal Sea Foods was a Thai lobster bisque. “I made it with galangal and lime and coconut. It was okay, but it was just too far away from the tradition of what we’re about,” he says.

“The steamed lobster stands the test of time because lobster is mostly about tradition. It sparks memories, brings people together. But these new preparations are exciting,” says Vellante. “We want to be stimulated. Part of our culture is, ‘What’s next?’”

Lobster sashimi anyone?

A stunning presentation of lobster sashimi is a head-turner at Fugakyu, a Japanese restaurant in Brookline, Mass. Hiro San, its head sushi chef, starts with a live lobster. He cleans it with a brush, then cuts and removes the claws and tail. He removes the meat, places it in an ice bath for two minutes, then drains it and cuts it into small bite-size pieces. Plating gives this simple dish eye-popping flair. Daikon feathers the plate, then the head and claws are nested atop. The lobster sashimi sits on the side of the nest with a garnish of shiso leaf and lemon wasabi. The head often is still moving when the dish is presented. “Some are surprised because of the movement, but overall, they are happy because of the fresh flavor and beauty of the preparation,” says San.

Katie Ayoub is based in Keswick, Ontario, Canada. She is editor-in-chief of our sister publication, Sizzle.