According to the New York Times, lobster prices have nearly doubled in the past year, thanks to a "confluence of bad weather, extremely cold water, and a lack of reserve supply." Some current New England restaurant lobster prices: Anthony's Pier 4 (Boston): $112 for a 3.5-pound lobsterUnion Oyster House (Boston): $47.95 for a 2-pound lobsterWarren's Lobster House (Kittery, Maine): $28.95 for a 1-pounder According to the owner of Warren's, "We thought we might have to change our name to Warren's Chicken House or something."... More

Maine lobstermen are upset with Whole Foods, not because they stopped selling lobster in their stores last year because of animal rights concerns but because they're going to start selling them again in a soon-to-open Portland store. "Lobster groups were fine with the ban until the company announced that it will change its rules for Portland after finding a New Hampshire company with a more compassionate way to bring lobsters to retailers. "The suggestion is, they know how to do it better," said Kristen Millar, executive director of the Maine Lobster Promotion Council."... More

Having just come from a thoroughly disappointing meat at NY's latest attempt at a clam shack, Ditch Plains, I began to ruminate on how much I love fried clams. With Memorial Day, the official start of the fried clam eating season, just around the corner, here is my absolutely incomplete guide to eating fried clams in the NYC area, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, with a southern Maine spot thrown in for good measure. The descriptions of the clams themselves will be minimal. As I discovered a couple of years ago when I went on a ten clamshack eating adventure with Dave Pastnernack, the chef of Esca, fried clams are either really good (sweet, nutty, crisp and greaselessly fried with no breading... More