Ed's Lobster Bar

When the temperature is hovering around triple digits, humidity is 100%, and dinnertime rolls around, you're not thinking steak & potatoes. This Saturday night during Heat Wave 2011, a seafood meal was calling my name. Having just eaten at Pearl's twice in the recent months, we ventured east to Ed's Lobster Bar (read our friend's blog and inspiration here) to see what it had to offer.

You walk in to an enlongated bar, which I enjoy sitting at for a meal like this. There are tables in the back, but I think it adds to the experience when you're slurping oysters and dipping steamers elbow-to-elbow with your fellow diners. We sat down at the bar and ordered some white wine and beer as a prelude to our bucket o' steamers. I love steamers for the experience of eating them as much as for the taste. First remove the clam's "sock," dip in warm water and then in warm butter...delish!

Afterwards came two lobster rolls, just the way we like it: a warm, toasted bun housing cool, lobster chunks with not too much mayo. I must say that this lobster roll stacks up there with Pearl's, and that I couldn't say either is better. Regardless of its stance, it totally hit the spot and provided for the perfect summer dinner.

We left stuffed, but not too full to indulge in a mini chocolate lobster...

I'm sure we'll be back to Ed's...perhaps to try the whole lobster or one of their other seafood entrees.

Go soon and get your summer seafood fix!

Pearls, Pearls, Pearls…..Oyster Bar

Last Saturday night, we strolled over to Pearl Oyster Bar, a seafood lover's gem amidst the chaos of Greenwich Village. It is known by many to have a top-of-the-line lobster roll & strangely enough, Eric had never had a lobster roll before (yikes!), so this was going to be a special evening for him. Even stranger, we walked in and pretty much sat right down in the bar area. You can usually count on at least an hour wait, so this was music to our appetites! (Sitting in the bar area does mean that they’ll rush your meal along a little quicker, though. If you want to nosh at a slower pace, you should probably sit in the dining room so you don’t get evil stares from the people waiting at the bar for a table while you milk that last sip of wine.)

We started out with a small bucket of steamers and the fried oysters – two solid appetizers. The steamers are a fun “get involved” appetizer and let’s face it, anything you dip in butter is going to be good. The fried oysters come on top of a delicious tartar sauce and again, anything fried is going to be good. I’ll give Pearl a thumbs up for not screwing either of these up, but I wouldn’t say either were OUT of THIS WORLD fantastic.

The star of the evening was by far the lobster roll, which is what you should get at Pearl, hands down. Eric’s world was rocked. What comes in an unassuming bun is a big ole heap of lobster meat mixed with a light coating of mayo and herbs. No celery in this roll…straight up lobsta. And overflowing on the other side of the plate are shoestring fries, a crispy and salty complement.

Jess went with the pan roasted cod, as she had already hit up the lobster roll another time and wasn’t in the mood. The cod was fresh and had a browned exterior that made for a nice texture contrast to the flaky fish. The dish came with sautéed snap peas and almonds and was good, but not fantabulous like the LR.

Pearl Oyster Bar is a place where you can always have a good time & a great meal and is a must for NYC seafood lovers…