Foodsday Tuesday: Crazy for Crustaceans

Last week, I mentioned that my dinner plans for the evening were at Bistro Romano – for the cheapest lobster in town. And as promised, here's the review.

Somewhere, there is a picture of me at a year old, sitting in a high chair, swathed in a bib, happily looking down at the bright red lobster my mother removed from the pot and put right down on my tray, no plate required.

That was the first and last time my mother ever cooked a whole lobster. (I think she actually made three that night.) Consequentially, it was, until last week, the first and last time I ever ate a whole lobster. Tails and claws, sure, but I honestly had no idea what to do when the brightly-colored crustacean hit my table.

Fortunately, Ross and my friend Jack (of ravioli fame) were happy to help the hapless girls at the table (Jack's fiancee was equally uncertain about how to go about enjoying her meal), provided that they could also laugh at us in the process. And I've gotta say: difficulty of getting the meat out of some of the nooks and crannies aside, I think I've been missing out in this life by not eating more whole lobsters. Lobster tails are delicious, sure, but something about the flavor is different when the tail's been cooked while still connected to the rest of the body. Plus, they're simply not as much fun or as challenging to eat. Lobster, already high in cholesterol before it's dipped into the rendered butter with which it's served, still manages to make you feel more or less guiltless when you eat it because hey, let's face it, it's kind of a workout.

Bistro Romano serves its lobster with linguini in a delicious tomato basil sauce, which I wish I'd had room to finish – but alas, I was bound, set, and determined to finish my lobster. (I failed and left some tail meat behind.) They also start you out with a garden salad which, admittedly, I didn't try, because we decided to forego it and pay extra to get their specialty Caesar salad. The staff at Bistro Romano is adeptly trained in preparing the salad table-side without being too obtrusive into your conversation. It's prepared in a classical way (complete with anchovies and coddled eggs) and, in the end, feels lighter than your standard Caesar salad. (Make no mistake about it, though: there are just as many calories in this one, if not, perhaps, more. The dressing's just mixed better.)

In the end, I have no real basis for comparing Bistro Romano's "Lobster Fest" with any other lobster in the city, other than price-wise. But it seems to me that if you've got champagne taste on a beer budget—err, lobster taste on a crab leg budget?—you don't need to look any further than Second and Lombard.

Image via Bistro Romano, but be warned: your lobster probably won't be quite that big. And it won't be served with the apple.