Seafood restaurants that offer mallets.

[smccormick22]

Does anyone know of a restaurant that offers its diners a mallet and bib for cracking their crab or lobster open? It can be in RI, Western MA( not Boston), or Northern CT.

[Callywally]

I'm just joining this thread three now! Did you find what you need OP? We will be visiting the Atlantic side from Newfoundland CA down to New York USA, and would love a similar experience to Seattle's Crab Pot. I've only seen pictures, but that place looks fun. Has anyone had a similar dining experience on the Atlantic side in any of the Provinces/States I'll be driving through in September this year (2012)?

[rkstrat]

Never saw or used a mallet for cracking lobster in my life, and I've cracked alot of lobster in my day. It sounds messy with all the broken shell in the meat. I guess the best way to pass judgment is to see it done.

[johng58]

I have never seen this type of restaurant in New England............but in Maryland, they are plentiful! Maryland is of course known for great blue claw crabs and the best places to have them are at the pubs or restaurants that serve 'em up in buckets steaming hot .....along with a pitcher of beer and a mallet, bib on a table covered in butchers paper. Then.......let the feeding and hammering frenzy begin!

[mollydingle]

Yes, please. Especially if the beer is Yuengling....That's why we love to visit Maryland. We're going in April this year, though- the crabs will likely be from the Gulf coast. Still, YUM!

[sinned61]

Been to this place in Baltimore while on a Red Sox excursion.
GREAT PLACE!

http://www.lpsteamers.com/

[mjoyous]

Western MA and northern CT are land bound so you're not going to find the sort of "on the sea" restaurant you seem to be looking for. BTW, no one smashes a lobster with a mallet.

[smccormick22]

I don't see why not. It's a very popular thing to do in Seattle where I'm from. I know the proper snobby New England thing to do is to use a lobster cracker, but we're not snobs. We're practical.

[im hungry]

the lobsters are different here i guess.its way easier to use the cracker thing on these lobsters,the idea isnt to totally smash the thing into a million pieces,its to just open the shell up,to get at the meat.even in maryland,using the mallet to crack open the claws takes a very special hit to just break it open,without smashing it all up,you want the big pieces of meat,not crushed shell and meat together.

[Harp00n]

Very "nicely" put, im hungry.

Harp

[hargau]

Shaws in new harbor maine has the boards/mallets on all the tables for lobsters. I remember from when i was a little boy how exciting that was!

[Harp00n]

It certainly could be possible but more likely they got more of a work-out on the crabs :-D

Harp

[hargau]

not sure if thats in reply to me or im hungry (great sw they have here)... Anyway Shaws doesnt have crabs, only lobsters and thats what everyone always used. You could go to the counter and request a cracker if you wanted. I think in recent years they have made crackers more acessible

[Harp00n]

Oops & nope!
Mis-directed cursor :-(

Harp

[joan mar]

I wish I had a mallet several years back when my husband took me to a seafood restaurant in Guildford called Seabreeze for a lobster dinner. I had only had a whole lobster once previous to this time, so I wasn't very experienced at using the lobster cracker. Well, I was trying very hard to crack the shell and I was holding the lobster claw with one hand and the cracker with the other and the claw went flying out of my hand and landed on the table behind us. Luckily, we were there for an early dinner and I think there was only one other table occupied. I was mortified and thought my then boyfriend would never want to bring me to a restaurant again, but he did and we got married. Lucky for me he liked clumsy women!

[im hungry]

why is using a lobster cracker "snobby",explain this.....

[jspear]

Use the tool made for the job, a mallet is not made for cracking a lobster, no snobbery there, common sense.

[Harp00n]

In the land of the mallet, the one-eyed cracker is King.

Harp

[Gio]

HAHA... I'm so bad I once took fish forks and crackers to Woodman's. I Must be a snob.

I have never seen a mallet at any seafood restaurant on coastal New England.

[hargau]

Guess you have never been to shaws fish and lobster in new harbor maine. Every table has a wooden board and a mallet. This is a real working fish dock/clam shack sort of place complete with seagulls landing on your table and taking food away if your not carefull

[Gio]

Is that the one that's right on the water and folks bring hampers with beer and such... down a steep ladder to the deck....?

[Harp00n]

Nope, but as our fellow Hound hargau sezs in a couple of different posting north of this that he has. I've been to New Harbor but it was years ago.

But the question is not whether there's any isolated localities that engage in mashing Homarus americanus by mallet in N.E. Rather, is it a more practical solution than a cracker which I submit it is not. Hell, on a Softshelled lobster you don't even need a cracker. After breaking off the pincher claw you can remove any other pieces of meat simply by using either half of that claw other than the legs of course.

Here's a link to the Lobster Conservancy's great website site if you'd like to wonk-out for awhile :-D http://www.lobsters.org/misc/mission....

Harp

[hargau]

I have been to other places with them as well but cant recall exactly. Believe it or not the crackers are (or at least used to be) very popular things for rude tourists to want to swipe from places. I have even been to lobster shacks that required you to leave your drivers license in order to get crackers for your table. Then you get your license back when you return the correct number. They are also often thrown out by accident on peoples trays..

[Harp00n]

Everything you've said I've found to be absolutely my experiences as well .But I must say, I've never seen a mallet and there aren't many shacks that I haven't been to at one time or another.. Maybe somebody else will chime-in with one but by the range of Hounds commenting here there can't be many. And again, my prime point is it's efficacy not it's existence. :-D

Harp

[Passadumkeg]

Beal's in SW Hbr used to give you a short piece of 2X4 board. Only know Dave Mallet, the folk singer. "Inch by inch, row, by row" guy.

[Harp00n]

C'mon Pass,
You know darn well that those pressure-treated lengths of 2x4's were there as a non-alcoholic alternative for the stern men. In lieu of a Screech or Sailor Jerry morning wake-up!

That reminds me, did you ever make it to Sarah's Dockside in Georgetown last year? Formerly Lisa's Lobster, now owned and run by the same good people of Sarah's Cafe in Wiscasset.

Harp
BTW. if you have nothing else in your collection by David Mallett get "This Town" (1993) and "Midnight on the Water (Live)" (2006)

-----
Sarah's Cafe
45 Water St, Wiscasset, ME 04578

Sarah's Dockside
80 Moore's Turnpike Rd, Georgetown, ME 04548

[Passadumkeg]

No, didn't make it to Sarah's; car sick daughter-in-law.

Have all of Mallet, taught w/ his bro, wife, and niece. He taught a song writing lesson in my classroom.

[Harp00n]

Hopefully, it's all alphabetized so David Mallett's aren't rubbing shoulders with your extensive collections of John Denver, Kenny G & Yanni

Harp

[im hungry]

OUCH!!!!

[Passadumkeg]

P00n,
Double ouch!
Give a listen this Sat at 11 am to my radio show, Gracias a la Vida, of Latin dance music and shake that fat Irish ass of yours!
Listen to me on Woodstock Radio on Sun 3/15 at 2 pm and groove that B52 tail gun to some Tet Offensive Rock n Roll.
All on WERU FM, Community Radio, mainstreamed at weru.org.

[Harp00n]

Hey, it's not fat!
It's just proportional and I will. :-D

Harp

[Gio]

Thanks, Harp. I probably should have said that I hadn't seen mallets at any shacks I've been to, etc Crackers serve very well, I think, and certainly the soft shells are easy......Mallets just seem like overkill.

[Harp00n]

Yeah, Gio,
Save 'em for the blue crabs and those Florida Spiny wannabee lobsters! :-D

Harp

[Gio]

EEK... I Hate those FSWLs.....crabs I like.

[ScubaSteve]

i too had no interest in spiny lobster until i had one done live at Fugakyu.

[Harp00n]

All kidding aside SS,
I've had it many times fresh off the reefs in the Lower Keys and it is tasty. Just not as sweet and tasty as it's northern cousins.

Harp

[ScubaSteve]

agreed on the taste, it was the texture i really liked, much firmer than raw local lobsters.

[jspear]

Well really, smmcormick, you are a thinking negatively against us New Englanders, maybe a little reverse snobbery. My dad the ultimate transplanted maniac is the most practical guy I know...

[ScubaSteve]

iirc, The Barking Crab in Boston gives diners rocks for cracking lobsters and crabs.

[Harp00n]

LOL SS,
Well a mallet would certainly qualify as a micrometer rock!
I haven't been to TBC in years, is it still as touristy bad as I remember?

Harp

[ScubaSteve]

pretty much.
we only go now for beers on mid-week summer nights, early, and usually only get p&e shrimps and crab legs. it gets a good vibe going when there's a reggae band.

[Harp00n]

A little reggae, good apps and brews?
Ya, I think I could be up for that.

Harp

[ScubaSteve]

yup, out of the 4-5 times i was there last summer 3 times i hit it just right and was able to enjoy myself before the crowd became oppressive. i think the trick was going mid-week and getting there early enough to stake out a claim that allowed easy Bar access.

[im hungry]

summer evenings with good seafood,beers and reggae,it doesnt get any better then that!!!YEAH MON!!!!!!

[Harp00n]

im hungry,
There's only one Jamaican export that could make it anymore mellow..............an ounce or so.
And by that, of course, I mean a nice snifter of Appleton Estate V/X rum.

Harp

[im hungry]

I hear ya,although a fattie wouldnt hurt either!!

[Passadumkeg]

Being blunt?

[im hungry]

check!!!!