Chef Andrew is a recognized authority on Lobster Rolls. He’s expertly served them by the 100s over the years. Besides the familiar Maine-style there is also the equally delicious Connecticut-style roll. Choose your personal favorite. Let the discussions begin…Chef Andrew has the inspirational overview as well as tips for getting the most meat out of the lobster...
SoCal Restaurant Show
Ask the Chef with Co-Host Chef Andrew Gruel of Calico Fish House
Hi, I'm Carla Hall of ABC's The Chew. You're listening to The SoCal Restaurant Show on AM830KLAA. Who do you hear? And welcome back. Sadly, it is the concluding segment of the Labor Day weekend holiday version of The SoCal Restaurant Show. But the better news is, is we're going to be right back here with him next Saturday morning from 10 AM until 12 noon, right here on AM830KLAA. I'm Andy Harris, the Executive Producer and Co-host to the show. And at this point in the show, I am pleased to bring back my co-host, Chef Andrew Gruell, of the Calico Fish House on Pacific Coast Highway in the Sunset Beach area of Huntington Beach, and boy, what a weekend he is going to be having. Good morning, Chef Andrew. Hey, good morning, it's going to be a great weekend. Have you had your weedy, Chef? Oh, double ball. You're definitely ready to go. I mean, it's just got to be absolutely crazy this holiday weekend in all of Huntington Beach, but particularly in your area, because you know, you're only a couple blocks away from the beach. How do you keep them out of your parking lot, Chef, that don't belong? Well, unfortunately, that is a major we deal with. Nobody wants to listen to the signs. We have tow trucks that come through. I'm not that much of a jerk that I would tow a family who parks their car there. But you know what, people don't care. It's unfortunate. I have to go out there and stand in the parking spot and tell people to leave, and then they get angry and they throw things at me. The locals here in Huntington are great. When people come from out of town, they take care of lots about the business. Chef Andrew, I feel for you because again, knowing how close you are to the beach, and you know, I just know that that's a problem. And then I'm sure, you know, you hear from people that, you know, I'm never going to patronize your restaurant again, not that they ever had before, but you know, that's always kind of the welcome, the salutation that you get. On a more fun note, definitely summer is the season for lobster and lobster rolls. Before we talk about the specifics of lobster rolls, this is something that you've shared with our audience in pieces over the years. But, you know, people are pretty familiar with the meat in the lobster tail, but there are many other wonderful parts of the lobster that you and Lauren like to talk about. So, if we could, before we get into the rolls, if you could just give us a little primer about what they might be missing in other parts of Mr. lobster after, you know, he or she has been properly steamed. Well, let's also even take a further step back and talk about the difference in lobsters, because you've got the New England lobster, which is your traditional main lobster in the species. It's called the lingo and lobster. That's the only lobster with claws and knuckles, right? All other lobsters, rock lobsters, spiny lobsters, cold water, warm water, those are all really lobsters without any claws, those are just the tail. So, you're only eating the tail meat and then the body, right? So, once again, to differentiate, you've got your claws and your arms and your knuckles and your, you know, arm meat, if you will, coming from the main or the New England lobster, and then all other lobsters, rock lobsters, it's just the tail. So, that's a point of differentiation, which our lobster rolls are only made with the claw and knuckle, because on the main lobster, in my estimation, the tail meat is a little bit chewy, and those people in SoCal don't love that chewy tail meat. We say to tell me for other preparations, however, when we get the local spiny lobster, which is coming up in season, we will then use that in lobster rolls, because that's incredibly tender. But beyond just the meat of the tail, the claws, the knuckles, and even the legs, there's a little bit of meat in all the lobster legs, those little under legs. You can take a, after you steam those, you can pull them out, and you take a little rolling pin, or even like a pen, I've done it with a pen, and you just squeeze the leg meat out of those legs, almost like you're squeezing that little bit of toothpaste out of a tube. It's that simple. But inside the lobster, as well, in the body of the lobster, there's meat, but there's also roe, and there's tamale, which is, you know, kind of the innards of the lobster, a ton of flavor in there. I mean, you really can eat anything in the lobster. It's edible. So it's not as if you can't eat it, it's just a matter of how you like to eat it, and I like to stuff it and let the stuffing mix in with those interior flavors, and then that's the best way to consume it. Chef Andrew sounds good to me. Now, let's make the transition into lobster rolls, because a lot of our listening audience is really only familiar with, you know, what you would loosely characterize as the main lobster roll. And you might kind of give the verbal description of that before we talk about those folks that are advocates of the Connecticut style, and people tend to be passionate about which style they like. And, you know, boy, that can get into some heated arguments. So kind of define, if you will first, you know, what the main style lobster roll is. Yep, well, there's two different types of lobster rolls, traditionally on the East Coast. Connecticut style and main style. The main style lobster rolls are split top butter roll packed with cold lobster tossed in cold mayonnaise, typically seasoned with paprika or a touch of celery salt. The Connecticut style lobster roll is a hot lobster roll. The meat is tossed in hot butter, is warmed and tossed in hot butter, and it's just purely butter, maybe a dash of lemon on there. So you got drawn butter, hot lobster, hot roll for Connecticut, you got roll, cold lobster, cold mayonnaise for me. Now, in terms of, in your experience, I know that, you know, you are going to be impartial about this, because you have to be like Switzerland. But out here in Southern California, you know, what seems to be the preference, or is it mainly that, you know, people remember and kind of are used to the main version, or am I barking up the wrong tree there? Well, I would say by and large, and so Cal people want the Connecticut style. Now, what we do is we do hot roll, hot lobster, a dash of mayonnaise, we use of lemon juice, a dash of drawn butter. So we kind of combine the two a little bit, but we're maybe leaning a little bit more south towards Connecticut, although we'll do the cold main lobster rolls. We do not get many special requests for cold with mayo. So I think that, I think, you know, the Connecticut style would take the cake, especially amongst the California audience. In terms of the taste profile of lobster, Chef Andrew, wouldn't you normally get more flavor in the hot version than the cold version? And in the cold version, aren't you really kind of conflicting with the flavor of the mayo, because the mayo has a strong flavor? Yeah, and it also depends on like whether the roll was toasted or not. When you do the cold version in a hot toasted roll in the summertime, that's a nice kind of contrast of temperatures, which changes flavors and you get the buttery toast on the roll. But generally you are correct, however, hot food is always going to taste more accentuated and cold food is going to be muted. So the hot with butter would obviously taste more would taste stronger. Well, Chef Andrew, just the combination, however it is, of, you know, fresh lobster with butter, drawn butter, melted butter. Hey, that is a match. Yeah, 100%. Chef Andrew, on that note, we will wish you well this long holiday weekend. I know it is definitely going to be busy. And hopefully you'll get to spend more time in the kitchen than out in the parking lot, you know, hurting the scaff laws. But, you know, it's great to have parking. That's for sure. 100%. Have a great weekend. Thank you, Chef Andrew. We will pick up the conversation with you next week, I promise. And I think what we're going to be talking about is one of your favorite vegetables, which is asparagus. Food fans, that's our show. A tip of the tote to my co-host, Chef Andrew Grull. My thanks to Chuck here at Angel Stadium and Technical Excellence. Kudos also to Adam Bell on social media. Next week, we're right back here with a fresh show. We're going to be previewing the new Manhattan Beach Food and Wine Festival. We're proudly presented each and every week by Melissa's World Variety Produce. Dr. In the dugout with Alan Byer MD takes the field next. Have a great holiday weekend and good eating. (upbeat music) ♪ You don't even have to do too much ♪