Ready to (Lobster) Roll: How a New England staple became a calling card dish for the East End

Credit for the invention of the lobster roll is often widely disputed.

The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink claims it was first born in 1929 as a hot dish at Perry’s in Milford, Conn., after a famished traveling liquor salesman was in dire need of a portable sandwich. An article from National Geographic says that English and Portuguese sailors and fishermen created the earliest iterations of the iconic handheld crustacean-crammed dish by sandwiching discarded tail and claw meat between pieces of bread. There’s also a case for the almost century-old Moody’s Diner to get the credit, as the Waldoboro, Maine-based eatery is often attributed with revamping an 1829 recipe found in The American Frugal Housewife published by Lydia Maria Child, a prominent New England women’s rights activist. Child’s version called for tossing cooked lobster meat in a cold egg yolk and lemon-based dressing seasoned with celery and herbs, commonly referred to as a Maine-style lobster roll.

And while the inception of the lobster roll isn’t totally clear, the dish has long been associated as New England’s staple dish. So how did it get out here, to our tiny little East End corner of the world?

We have 14th-generation North Fork-based farmer Fred Terry to thank for that. 

Both Amagansett and Southampton Lobster Roll restaurant (aka “LUNCH”) locations offer cold and hot lobster rolls, overstuffed into toasted brioche rolls. (Photo credit: Doug Young)

Making LUNCH

“I am the person who popularized lobster rolls in the Hamptons,” says Terry, former owner of the Lobster Roll restaurant in Amagansett. “I originally started at Salivar’s Dock in Montauk in the 1960s, working my way through college, on the road to be a college professor. There was a tiny, tiny clam bar on the Napeague Stretch for sale. The owner was ailing and I was introduced to him through an uncle. He had no children and he took great affection to me and taught me what he was doing. He had named this little clam bar the Lobster Roll, and unfortunately he wasn’t doing much business.”

At the time, Terry says, the owner of the clam bar was serving only two items: a cold lobster roll, ostensibly made with mayonnaise and celery, and one made with butter, which was sautéed to order. Terry made a down payment to buy the business and its building in early 1965, partnering 50/50 with his father. They took over the Lobster Roll as co-owners  and continued the tradition of preparing and selling two styles of the sandwich. 

Not long after the Lobster Roll restaurant, which became affectionately known as “LUNCH,” opened in 1965, the portable, luxurious yet casual lunchtime delicacy gained serious traction, becoming beloved by locals and traveling tourists alike. The quaint roadside seafood shack quickly became a Hamptons institution, expanding its physical footprint in Napeague and firmly settling in as a flagship lobster roll mecca.

“At the time there were no other lobster rolls out here,” says Andrea Anthony, one of the current co-owners of the restaurant, as well as its second more recent Southampton incarnation since 1977, and Terry’s now ex-wife. “We pretty much kicked off the lobster roll for the East End, and for that matter, the New York metro area. Of course, we know it was in New England, but not in this area.”

From lobster rags to lobster riches

Lobster was once considered a poor man’s food due to its bottom-feeding nature, and eating them was often seen as a sign of financial hardship. Most research indicates lobsters have long been a food of necessity and a plentiful resource across the Northeastern coast going back to Colonial times. Before the late 19th century, its low status stemmed from its extreme abundance.

At the time Terry opened the Lobster Roll, and across the entirety of the East End for that matter, all the lobsters used were from local waters. “Gosman’s and Duryea’s provided us with fresh lobster meat every single morning,” Terry says. “It was a spectacular product.”

Whether it’s a Maine-style lobster roll from Duryea’s in Montauk (right) or a Connecticut-style roll from Varney’s (left and center) using cold-water lobsters is a must. (Photo credit: Doug Young)

For the next 30 years, the restaurant had the exclusive on lobster rolls across Long Island. “People would drive out and just come to us because we owned the words ‘lobster roll,’” he says. “That was until the 1980s, when I lost the rights to it because it was declared by the U.S. Trademark and Copyright Office a generic term.”

According to Terry, the tide change in the lobster roll business came when the Maine-based company Cozy Harbor Seafood, founded in 1980 by John Norton, experimented with a process to Cryovac lobster meat with a saltwater brine, using ultraviolet light to purify saltwater, and began to pack lobster meat in two-pound packages, making it available far beyond the Pine Tree State. Other innovators, like John Hathaway, found other methods to extend the shelf life of Maine lobster, adding to the delicacy’s accessibility.  

And then came the big push toward lobster rolls becoming a mainstream food item, showing up on trendy Manhattan menus. Notably, Pearl Oyster Bar owner Rebecca Charles put a Maine-style lobster roll on her West Village menu in the mid-90s. Customers began to clamor and local competitors took notice.

Inevitably, local supply began to dry up, as smaller fisheries couldn’t support the amount of lobster meat needed to keep up with demand. Almost simultaneously, lobster became popular in a farther-flung place: China. “For reasons I’ll never fully understand,” Terry says, “[the Chinese] decided that lobster was going to become their favorite delicacy” and began purchasing most of the main supply from fishermen that were operating through cooperatives.

Areas hit the hardest due to this new innovation included southern New England, particularly Buzzard’s Bay, between Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod, and the Long Island Sound, off the coast of Connecticut, where, according to a 2024 article in National Geographic written by Robin Catalano, “the harvest had decreased by 97% since 1998.”

To add insult to injury, since the water began getting warmer, lobsters were moving further north, over the Canadian line and well into Nova Scotia. Maine remains the largest supplier of lobsters for the United States while the Canadian Maritimes (New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia) are now a major supplier, particularly during the summer months when Maine lobsters molt. Which, in turn, is where the brunt of our lobster meat comes from today.

What makes a good roll

As far as the Hamptons is concerned, while most lobster rolls aren’t using lobsters from East End waters, the assurance of utilizing cold-water lobsters as opposed to warm-water ones is almost a given due to their superior quality. Generally, cold-water lobsters contain sweeter, firmer meat, particularly in the claws, and they tend to be larger. 

“It comes down to quality,” Anthony says. “It’s perfect as long as you buy good quality. Where we source from is proprietary. We only use cold-water lobsters, and we’re using the claw and the knuckle meat. Tail meat is too tough.”

Despite the rapid changes in terms of sourcing over the past 60 years or so, the lobster roll prevails as one of the East End’s signature dishes.

Shelter Island’s Salt (top left) and Pridwin (bottom right), plus Stuart’s (top right, bottom left) in Amagansett add minimal ingredients so the lobster remains the star of the seafood show. (Photo credit: Doug Young)

“Everyone is selling lobster rolls now,” Anthony says. “And we’ve stayed true to our recipe. What’s happened is chefs want to be creative and add their own touch, but the basic philosophy is that lobster is created perfectly and doesn’t need a lot of adulterating.”

Salt on Shelter Island serves both a hot and a cold lobster roll, with the former incorporating a tarragon-infused clarified butter. The Shinnecock Lobster House serves a half-dozen different iterations, both hot and cold, and some with Cajun and Mediterranean influences. Lily’s Seaside, the on-site eatery at Silly Lily’s fishing station in East Moriches, serves a tiny mountain of warm, butter-poached and Old Bay-seasoned lobster salad on its roll. 

Rather than use drawn or clarified butter, Bostwick’s on the Harbor chef and partner Damien O’Donnell opts to poach tail, claw and knuckle lobster meat in his house-made beurre blanc, giving it what he calls “a little more complexity and flavor from the reduction of the shallots, white wine and vinegar.”

Despite the nuanced preparations found across the Hamptons, the lobster roll remains a definitive classic, and for good reason.

“Lobster is a delicacy, and it’s a wonderful flavor,” Terry says. “Why would anyone want to take a wonderful dish and be too creative with it? Why mess that up?” 

Where to get lobster rolls in the Hamptons

MONTAUK

Duryea’s 65 Tuthill Road, 631-668-2410

Inlet Seafood 541 E. Lake Drive, 631-668-4272

Hooked 34 S. Etna Ave., 631-668-2111

Bennett Shellfish 2 S. Debusy Road, 631-903-5817

Salivar’s 470 W. Lake Drive, 631-668-6252

AMAGANSETT

LUNCH Lobster Roll 1980 Montauk Highway, 631-267-3740

Clam Bar 2025 Montauk Highway, 631-267-6348

Stuart’s Seafood Market 41 Oak Lane, 631-267-6700

Multi-Aquaculture Systems 429 Cranberry Hole Road, 631-267-3341

SPRINGS

Bostwick’s on the Harbor 39 Gann Road, 631-324-1150

WAINSCOTT

The Seafood Shop 356 Montauk Highway, 631-537-0633

EAST HAMPTON

Bostwick’s Chowder House 277 Pantigo Road, 631-324-1111

Bostwick’s Seafood Market 283 Pantigo Road, 631-324-2700

SAG HARBOR

The Dock House 1 Long Wharf, 631-725-7555

SHELTER ISLAND

The Pridwin 81 Shore Road, 631-749-0476

Salt 63 S. Menantic Road, 631-749-5535

Commander Cody’s Fish Shoppe 41 Smith St., 631-749-1851

SOUTHAMPTON

LUNCH Lobster Roll 32 Montauk Highway, 631-283-3460

Shinnecock Lobster Factory 42 Montauk Highway, 631-259-3334

HAMPTON BAYS

Canal Café 44 Newtown Road, 631-723-2155

WESTHAMPTON

Haskell’s Seafood Market and Café 77A Main St., 631-288-7287

QUOGUE

Dockers Waterside 94 Dune Road, 631-653-0653

UP ISLAND

Varney’s 2109 Montauk Highway, Brookhaven, 631-286-9569

Lily’s Seaside at Silly Lily 99 Adelaide Ave., East Moriches, 631-560-1122