A regional argument over how to serve a lobster roll is playing out across Maine and Connecticut, and it comes down to two ingredients: butter or mayonnaise.
Maine-style lobster rolls use cold lobster meat, either mixed with mayo or served with mayo on the side, piled into a toasted, split-top brioche bun. Connecticut-style rolls use warm lobster meat poached in butter or topped with warm butter, on the same style of bun.
Peter Bissell, co-owner of Highroller Lobster Co. in Portland, Maine, says his restaurant serves both and isn’t picking a side.
“We just want to make people happy with fresh, never frozen, Maine lobster meat, and our specialty mayos was sort of our differentiating factor,” Bissell told Fox News Digital. “But we’re not dying on any of these hills. It’s really good either way.”
Highroller is known for specialty mayos in flavors like roasted red pepper, fresh lime and roasted garlic, drizzled in a zigzag over the lobster instead of mixed in. Bissell said customers who order Maine-style like the contrast between the tangy mayo, the cold lobster and the warm, crisp bread.
Butter has always been available at Highroller too. Warm butter over cold meat has been on the menu since day one, but fully warmed, Connecticut-style meat is a newer addition.
“We added Connecticut-style,” Bissell said. “It’s a $1 upcharge because the cooks, they poach it in butter for 45 seconds to one minute on the line, so now customers can order fully warmed meat with butter if they choose.”
This past summer, roughly half of Highroller’s lobster rolls were ordered with mayo and half with butter. Of the butter orders, a quarter were Connecticut-style, according to Bissell.
Connecticut chef and restaurant owner Robert Marcarelli takes a harder line. His restaurants serve only Connecticut-style rolls — warm lobster with butter, no mayo.
“Connecticut is very die-hard butter, no mayo. As you head a little bit north, mayo starts coming into the picture,” Marcarelli told Fox News Digital. “I will try the mayonnaise ones here and there, but my favorite is just hot lobster with butter.”
Where the two restaurant owners agree is on the meat itself. Both say fresh lobster beats frozen every time, regardless of what you put on top.
“A lot of people are out there buying frozen lobster meat, and it doesn’t matter whether you put it with mayo or butter, you could taste the difference between fresh meat and frozen,” Marcarelli said.
