So this weekend is the 15th Annual Long Beach Lobster Festival and since I have never been to a lobster festival I decided I needed to find out what this whole lobster festival thing was all about. I read about the event in Westways magazine...umm yeah I read it...I know it's kind of for old people but I do find cool things in it and I of course love the restaurant reviews. However, when I went to the web page and A. saw the logo of the dancing lobster and B. read that they fly the lobsters in every night from Maine for the fest I decided I was in. http://www.originallobsterfestival.com/

I had this vision of a plane flying in from Maine and doing a lobster drop every night into the park. Ya know I giant "X" on the ground where the cage of lobsters is supposed to be parachuted in right into the park in the dark of the night. And I think that was my imagination probably running amuk but it was amazing to see that many lobster in one place.

I was talking to a guy who worked there and he said on Saturday alone they were planning on selling 3, 400 lobsters...that is a lot of friggin lobster. And it was so weird to see soooo many people walking around with plates with giant red lobsters on them.


The lobsters are all cooked at the park in giant "lobster pots." So it truly doesn't get much more fresh than this...unless you go to Maine of course. So you get in line for your lobster and we learned a valuable lesson because once you get your lobster there is a 2nd line labeled "crackers." And I looked at my plate and thought to myself I have a roll why do I need crackers too. So I am like eh I am going to go sit down when someone in our party gently reminded me that the "crackers" actually crack your lobster so you can eat it....oh that would be helpful. Good point! Trying to crack a lobster shell with my teeth would probably be less than succesful.

I also learned a little lobster fact. Did you know that Maine lobsters have claws, but California lobsters do not? Uncle Joe shared that fact with us yesterday while eating our lobsters and I actually verified that fact with google this morning as I did not want to spread random lies and he does have a tendency to get me since I tend to be pretty gullible.


The lobster was served with melted butter and I really just wanted to drink it but I thought that might be a little over the top. It was also served with coleslaw, a roll and watermelon. The festival was at a great park next to the ocean and it had live music, a horrible magician that was actually more irritating than entertaining and some random booths with random stuff. And I of course bought a lobster festival shirt because as most of you know my wardrobe is made up of random tshirts and sweatshirts that I have collected from destinations throughout the world. Seriously its not an adventure unless you come home with a tshirt or sweatshirt plus its a good way to remember where you have been. And I don't buy the cheesy tourist type I buy them from cool restaurants, wineries and now lobster festivals...yes the shirt does have the dancing lobster on it....love it!

This was my first time eating a whole lobster as I normally eat just the lobster tails and I normally don't see the entirety of what I am eating on my plate. So that was a bit of an adjustment however this was truly some of the most tender and flavorful lobster I have ever had. It truly made me a believer in Maine lobster because it definitely tastes different than our Pacific lobsters and it has a less chewy texture and a more buttery flavor...oh wait that might have been the fact that I doused my lobster in my cup of butter. No, really I did try a bite without the butter and it was buttery. It was fun eating it with your hands and I was impressed with how easily it came out of the shell...probably thanks to the "crackers." There were parts of the lobster that looked less than appetizing and I won't go into that in detail but we decided "we are only going to eat what we are comfortable with," and that seemed to work really well. Lobster Fest 2011 was a lot of fun with good food, fun with family and a beautiful day. It was a huge success!