A few years ago while visiting Boston, relatives offered to take me out for lobster. After all, it’s one of New England’s chief attractions in my opinion: plentiful, affordable “lobstah.” I put on a nice dress and we went to a place on the ocean in Plymouth. But then imagine my dismay when the only lobster they served was a whole crustacean encased in a virtually impenetrable shell — messy (my dress!) and way too much work. Try as I may, I never dug out enough meat from that creature.
This scenario will not be repeated at the new downtown Court Street Lobster Bar, where nary a bright-red shell is in sight. Instead, there are several ways to enjoy tender, buttery lobster meat — in a creamy bisque or as an ingredient in poutine; as part of the decadent lobster mac and cheese; or in one of two styles of lobster rolls. The prices may not be as affordable as those along the north Atlantic coast, but for Cincinnati, trust me: This is lobstah heaven.
The two styles of lobster roll available will be familiar to any New Englander, where fans of each are fervently convinced that theirs is the “right” style. The Lobster Bar menu lists them as “Maine Style” and “Connecticut Style,” although you definitely can find many examples of the latter along the coast of Maine.
So what’s the difference between the two rolls? The Maine roll is a chilled lobster salad with mayonnaise while the Connecticut roll has warm lobster meat drizzled with hot butter. I frankly can’t imagine why anyone would choose the cold version, but perhaps that’s because I married a Connecticut native. Well no, it’s probably because lobster with melted butter is the food of the gods.
We went to the Lobster Bar for the Connecticut lobster roll but had fun trying other food and drink, too. The place is in a significantly renovated and updated building on Court Street that had sat vacant for at least 10 years, and owner Dan Swormstedt spent a couple of years getting it up and running.
“I wanted an environment unlike anything else in the region, with a casual-chic, laid-back feel that’s cozy and inviting,” he says.
The interior includes a long bar, half of which is taken up by cooks working on food orders, and the other half has stools for patrons who want to drink and/or eat there. Along the facing wall are several booths which are roomy for two and a little cramped for parties of four. By the front windows sit several low tables suitable for parties of all sizes as well as anyone arriving in a wheelchair.
Court Street Lobster Bar’s menu is a model of conciseness, with four sections: Appetizers, Soups and Salads, Rolls and Sides. Clearly, the rolls are the star of the show, and a lot of thought and effort went into developing the bread to hold the seafood, chicken salad or veggies. Swormstedt commissioned Sixteen Bricks bakery to create a bun thick enough to keep its shape under a lot of melted butter and a heavy pile of shellfish, which tastes good toasted or not and has a chewy texture that makes it more than just a neutral vessel for the toppings. In this, Sixteen Bricks has succeeded spectacularly.
Tempting as it was to go straight for the rolls, we did try a couple of the starters. We skipped the lobster bisque ($9 cup; $14 bowl) and ordered a cup of charred corn chowder ($5 cup; $8 bowl). It was a thin but flavorful broth with bits of corn, leeks, red pepper and a hint of jalapeño. The Kittery Salad ($7), named after a town in Maine, was mostly greens and didn’t have enough of the other ingredients — snow peas, beets, grape tomatoes and Pecorino cheese — to make it very interesting. It also was too heavily dressed, even after I sent it back once.
With our apps, I tried one of the house cocktails, again named after a town in Maine: the Kennebunkport Morning ($13). It was a bourbon-based concoction with blood orange juice and other citrus flavors, tasty but a little pricey.
Enough fooling around — it was time for the main event. We knew we wanted the warm lobster roll instead of the chilled “Maine Style.” That night, they had two choices of warm lobster roll: the standard Connecticut ($19) with four ounces of meat, hot butter, pea tendrils and a bed of lettuce on the toasted bun; and the “roll of the month,” Lobster BLT ($19). We ordered one of each.
We liked the Connecticut roll better because the bacon in the BLT was actually bacon-flavored butter and I was expecting (and would have preferred) pieces of real bacon. But the overall yumminess factor was excellent in both sandwiches, thanks to high-quality lobster and the custom buns.
White wine off the list of six choices by the glass ($8-$10) made for a perfect accompaniment with the lobster. I had a Spanish verdejo and George went with the California chardonnay. There’s another six red wine choices by the glass as well as a dozen bottle-only selections ($50-$75), a couple of rosés and two sparklers.
If you’re craving something sweet, you might want to order a cocktail because dessert isn’t much of an option. They have a housemade Whoopie Pie ($2.50) and we tried one, but we thought the cream-filled chocolate cookie was too crumbly.
The restaurant has an arrangement with Queen City Exchange, the beer bar next door, where on Friday and Saturday nights after 9 p.m. the Lobster Bar offers a limited menu to the beer drinkers. The menu includes lobster grilled cheese and a few other items priced at $10 or less. They’ve also added Saturday brunch with special dishes that sound intriguing, such as lobster/gouda biscuits and a pain perdu (like French toast) with dolce de leche and caramelized bananas.
Court Street Lobster Bar
GO: 28 W. Court St., Downtown; CALL: 513-246-0184; INTERNET: courtstreetlobsterbar.com; HOURS: 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday-Wednesday; 10:30 a.m.-midnight Thursday-Saturday; brunch 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday.
This article appears in May 31 – Jun 7, 2017.