Luke's Lobster Visited 9/8/2011 3 Forks

Luke's Lobster 93 E 7th St., (between 1st Ave & Avenue A), New York, NY 10009

Ahhhh, lobster rolls, one of my favorite sandwiches of all time.  I've had lobster rolls at a lot of different places: Pearl Oyster Bar, Mary's Fish Camp, Mermaid Inn, Ed's Lobster Bar, and Red Hook Lobster Pound.  So I had to add Luke's Lobster to that list.  One of the main difference between Luke's and most of the other places is that it's really more of a take out place (so similar to Red Hook Lobster Pound) with only a few stools for you to sit at.  It's a great concept because sometimes you just want to be able to take a lobster roll to go and eat it at home without having to deal with the whole restaurant experience.

Luke features 3 kinds of seafood sandwiches: lobster, crab and shrimp.  Since it was just me, I opted for just 1 sandwich although if I was with someone else, I would have definitely ordered at least 2 different kinds (if not all 3).  The sandwich itself is $16, which is at least $10-12 cheaper than what you would pay at a restaurant (granted you usually get fries and the benefits of a sit down restaurant).  They did have a combo which was a sandwich, soda and chips for $18 which is actually only a $1 cheaper than if you ordered all 3 separately.  I'm generally annoyed at places that barely give you a discount for combinations...I mean do they think you can't do the math?!

The sandwich was ready quickly and I couldn't wait to dig my teeth into it.  My first impression was that it was a bit on the small side compared to the other sandwiches but I guess what's why is slightly cheaper.  My 2nd impression was that this was a CT style lobster roll, which means it doesn't have mayo but it's dipped in butter and sprinkled with herbs instead.  While this roll definitely had nice big chunks of lobster claws, it was too buttery for me (I know, how can something actually be TOO buttery?).  The bread tasted like it was soaked in butter and the combination of the 2 was just too much butter.  This sandwich made me realize that I definitely like the mayo style lobster roll instead.  Don't get me wrong, this is a good, solid lobster roll and I definitely appreciated the obvious big pieces of lobster (vs. lots of miniscule chopped up pieces of lobster that some other places serve).  Total bill for 1 lobster roll for take out: $17.40

photo credit: Yelp