Next time in Kittery, try Roberts Maine Grill across the street, very good. Barnacle Billy’s is fine, but my favorite place in the area is Fishermans Catch in Wells. On weekends only, they serve a fish stew that is outstanding.
Viking…yeah we are talking about the same spot I believe. I’m a fan of that joint. Try the barnacle billy roll if you can…quite a good roll and ambiance.
Do you guys have any good stuffed lobster spots closer than newark?
Thanks Jim. Good stuff
So today my man Remy says they have some amazing lobster mac and cheese at the ragin Cajun in belmar. This dude has some good food in his life so I’m compelled to head south a little. Any other good dishes there to try? @gamer1489
CJ, you want to talk lobster, fine, I’ll talk lobster. (I do believe you’ve heard this story already, my apologies for the repeat)
The year was 1993 and I was a much younger and ambitious Jr at this time, I took a vacation with what would turn out to be my future wife and in-laws. The location of the vacation…Las Vegas. Now let me explain to you my father in law is what would best be described as a bit of a frugal man, while he enjoys drinking and gambling and having a good time, to him, fine dining is a waste of your drinking and gambling budget. A “foodie” he is not.
This being my first trip to Vegas I truly had dreams of grandeur, breaking the bank, Presidential Suits, last call with Wayne Newton and a few show girls thrown in for good measure. Well after a week of losing every single bet I made, from the first $1.00 I put into a slot machine in the airport gate after landing, to the desperate last ditch $100. on black…please dear God, please dear God, please dear God, only to hear; 12 RED!!! I lost every single bet for 5 days and to add insult to injury I had every meal at every $ . 99 buffet Vegas had to offer. Powdered eggs, grits and horse meat prime rib were just not cutting it anymore.
Since we were in Vegas I couldn’t help but notice on the top of every taxi, side of every bus and on several billboards was an advertisement for the Rosewood Grille steak and lobster house, Vegas Finest. I would drool every time I saw one of these adds, and on our last night in Vegas, I couldn’t stomach another night of losing my money, but I could sure stomach a good steak. So I made the offer to my fellow vacationers (my future brother and sister in laws) to join me for dinner at the Rosewood Grille. Dinner for all on me!!! (I figured I would use my projected gambling losses and put them to better use)
You can’t walk into a place like this with a table for 10 without reservations and expect to be seated immediately so after giving our name to the Maitre D’ we made our way to the bar. My FIL being a drinker, like myself, we decided to start with the 100 year old Grand Marnier they had proudly displayed on the bar. Approximately an hour and half a bottle+ of Grand Marnier later, our table was ready and we made our way, albeit rather staggered to our table.
The waiter came to take our order, starting from my left; “I’ll have stuffed lobster” next person “I’ll have surf and turf” next person “I"ll have the lobster tails” and so on and so on and so on…finally it was my turn to order last, rather proud of myself for taking control of the evenings events I asked the waiter this question; “How many various forms of lobster do you have for the table”…he repeated the orders to me…to which I said;
“cancel all those orders for lobster and just bring us your biggest lobster!!” The waiter trying to politely warn me placed his hand on my shoulder and said; “But Sir…” in a semi-drunken obnoxious manner I brushed his hand off my shoulder and said; " BRING ME YOUR BIGGEST LOBSTER"!!! With that the waiter repeated " Yes Sir, 1 order of our biggest lobster"…and left the table.
Appetizers, soups salads all came and went as the night progressed we were all enjoying the good food, company and ambiance of one of Vegas’s best steakhouses/ seafood restaurants. As the time neared that I expected our entree’s to be served I couldn’t help but notice much of the help were asking people to move their chairs in slightly, moving a wine bucket here, a person nudged over there…all in what seemed to be an odd path from the kitchen to our table. It literally seemed like they were trying to clear a landing strip from the kitchen doors, approximately 50 feet away, to our table. Obviously curious as to what was happening the lights suddenly dimmed in the restaurant, at the same time the piped in Sinatra playing in the background all night stopped and a booming God like voice announced;
" Ladies and Gentlemen…welcome to the Rosewood Grille Las Vegas premier steak and seafood house proudly serving our customers since 1980. Many of you might have noticed our many billboards, and advertisements with our Manager Enrique in which he is holding Pierre’s our mascot and staple resident of our specially designed tank where he has lived for the past 7 years…Tonight table 115 ordered Pierre…!!!" With that the doors to the kitchen swung open, 4 servers as if carrying a coffin, carried a full sized baking sheet on which rested Peirre’ the lobster pictured in this advertisement. The announcer went on to give us a brief history of Pierre’s life; “He was approximately 60 years old has had between 50,000 and 150,000 children and 1,000,000. + grandchildren…and tonight table 115 will enjoy him”…and with a rather dramatic “thud” they dropped the baking sheet bearing Pierre on my table, and the waiter proudly proclaimed “That Sir, Is our BIGGEST LOBSTER”…and walked away.
The women of the table got up screaming…it looked like a cross between a high school biology project and a first year medical students cadaver. I had to request it removed from the table, and they would bring us out chunks of meat roughly the size of a 14oz NY Strip Steak. It was tough…it was horrible, after my first piece I had enough…my father in law being “frugal” wasn’t gong to let it go to waste, he ate portion after portion after portion. I do not know if he finished Pierre…and to be honest I couldn’t care less if he did.
23 years later I still have this advertisement we brought home from that night…I also have a picture somewhere of my brother in law, a larger man himself, holding that big claw up next to his head, and the claw was larger than his head.
That my friends is my lobster story. I swear to God on my children’s lives the major details are 100% accurate and true.
12 Likes
Fantastic!
I am curious how much Pierre set you back?
Jr is the Ernest Hemingway of food tales! Nicely done buddy! I have read at least two accounts of this journey and it never gets old! Stay thirst my friend.
A purveyor friend is going to get me a 10 lb case of Canadian 5 oz hard shell tails for $15.99 lb. which is the cheapest I have seen all year.
Nice size to go with a 20 oz steak…big green egg flames dancing nicely after the steaks come off & on go the tails. Bowl of melted butter, cold beer & its heaven.
To be perfectly honest the exact amount is probably the least vivid memory of the night for a couple of reasons;
1.) I was beyond intoxicated by this point of the evening
2.) I never really looked at the check but just blindly gave my credit card in utter disgust
When the check arrived back I literally couldn’t read it, so the story goes;
The waiter returns the check and my bride to be insists I inspect the check to make sure they didn’t already add the gratuity since we were a large party. After a brief argument I realized her point and opened the check to proclaim; “Holy shit this is the best place ever, the check is only $250.!!!” Well that was actually just my bar tab that I started at the bar (remember the half bottle of 100 year old Grand Marnier!!!..plus whatever everyone else drank during our wait)
At that point my bride to be took the check from me and the total check was around $2,000. - Pierre ran about $1,500. as best we can remember.
1 Like
Holycrap!!! Now that is a good story!
You totally win the internet today…!
1 Like
That’s probably because you got one of those fancy French Canadian lobsters - Pierre! Now had you asked for Ralph, the largest American lobster…
1 Like
Ralph has diabetes and lives in the drainage reservoir of the Bellagio Fountains.
Sadly this is only the 2nd largest “loss” I experienced at a Las Vegas “hospitality” venue, the largest loss is not appropriate for this forum, and that story will have to wait for a personal telling over a few cocktails.
2 Likes
That poor Champagne Room has never been the same 
1 Like
Tom, you have no idea…
1 Like
I’m down. Can we make it at a happy hour? If I’m going to drink I like to start early.
That would be fine, we could/should do a late lunch at Greek Spot, then we can move on to a happy hour somewhere. (or not, whichever is fine with me. “If” I even drink…I’ve really cut back but we’ll see)
1 Like
Count me in!
I’m not sure I can tell the story in “mixed” company. 
