Umami Flavor Delights at C-Ray Lobster

The kids got to experience their first “red” hot dog of the trip, which they devoured immediately so I have to assume that it was phenomenal.

Maine’s famous “Red Snapper” hot dog

Red hot dogs, or “Red Snappers“, are unique to New England and specifically Maine. For over 150 years, these hot dogs, dyed with red dye #40, have been made by W.A. Bean & Sons the old fashioned way – with a natural lamb casing over a blend of beef and pork. The natural casing “snaps” when bitten into it.

We picked up a slice of blueberry pie which we ate along side with the Russian cream from Drydock and a slice of pie from Thurston’s for breakfast the next morning at Seawall picnic area just after sunrise (mmm, coffee and pie – breakfast of champions). And though the pie was delicious in its own right, it was our least favorite of the three blueberry desserts … erh, breakfast dishes.

Old Soaker blueberry soda, C-Ray’s blueberry pie, and Fog Melon hard seltzer

I’m also sorry to say that while it came in the prettiest rainbow unicorn can I’ve ever seen, the Fog Melon Hard Seltzer by local Fogtown Brewing (which I had heard so much hype about) was awful. It had mostly no flavor whatsoever other than the taste of the brewing yeast. Maybe that’s what “fog melons” are supposed to taste like? I don’t know, but now that I was 0 for 2 on local craft brews, I was learning that perhaps distilling is not a strong skill here in coastal Maine.

In contrast to my disappointing hard seltzer, the Old Soaker Blueberry soda from Bar Harbor’s own Atlantic Brewing Company was so great that the kids fought over it. There are two brands of Maine blueberry soda here on the island. Old Soaker was sweeter whereas Maine Root is more tart blueberry.

The Roll

C-Ray’s lobster roll had a deep umami flavor to the seasoned sauce that Drydock’s did not. It was delicious and made the sauce stand out as very memorable against the other 12 locations we sampled.

However, allium allergen sufferers beware, I’m guessing that the flavor came from the chives sprinkled on top and perhaps some garlic or onion powder because shortly after finishing this deliciousness, I began wheezing due to my allium sensitivities.

I know most of the world loves a little (or a lot) of allium flavors in their foods, so I never fault a restaurant for my own sensitivity (unless they use so much that it completely masks the natural or other flavors of the dish, which this did not).

The sauce itself was very light. So light in fact that several pieces of lobster meat were completely “naked”, and I preferred how Drydock Cafe had tossed each and every piece in their sauce. It gave a consistency to every bite that C-Ray was missing.

Whereas at Drydock, the added lemon squeeze detracted from the overall taste of the dish, here the lemon squeeze was needed to amplify the flavor of the naked pieces of lobster meat.

The roll was perfectly toasted. It was crispy yet not dry on the outside as Drydock’s was. This was a bit surprising because I didn’t taste any butter on the inside of this roll to keep it moist. It was just an extremely fresh piece of bread.

While ultimately we labeled Drydock as the number one roll, by the end of the week, we decided that C-Ray had tied with Charlotte’s for an extremely close second. I look forward to returning to C-Ray to relax and soak in the ambiance on a day with sunny, clear skies.