Imagine an entire lobster shucked, buttered and wrapped in a roll. That’s the lobster roll at Red’s Eats, a seafood shack along U.S. 1 in Wiscasset, Maine that we visited Tuesday while en route to the PopTech conference in Camden.
I am hardly a lobster roll connoisseur, but even I could tell that the one at Red’s is perfection. No mayo on that roll, which is simply meat.
That I even know this stems from some good fortune. Red’s is open every day from April through Columbus Day. A series of sunny days along the coast this fall persuaded the owners to keep the joint open until Tuesday.
In a typical season Red’s runs through about 10 tons of lobster, according to the owners, who told us that on summer days people queue for up to two hours. The traffic tie-ups that ensue have prompted the town to consider spending $100 million to build a bypass. Some locals have called for moving Red’s.
Businesspeople take note. A sign on the Red’s rear door tells its secret: “And to all of you, our customers, we owe our success.”
Still, Red’s has its skeptics. Sprague’s Lobster, a shack that sits about an eighth of a mile north of Red’s is “a better bet for everything than Red’s,” writes Christina Tree of the Boston Globe in “Maine: An Explorer’s Guide.” I’m unable to assess Tree’s take. Sprague’s already had closed for the season by the time we drove by.
As suits a finale, Red’s was down to its last claws. The owners had sold out of clams, fries and nearly everything else. Happily for me they still had enough homemade Oreo ice cream for a giant scoop