I visited again yesterday for lunch and had the clam platter--breading was perfect this time and fried just right. I thought the clams were very flavorful, although even with whole belly clams, you don't necessarily get a whole perfect belly each time--so some of the pieces had more "belly" than others, and, consequently, more flavor. That platter is enormous by the way--I ate way more than I should've and still had enough for a whole additional dinner tonight--and they were just as delicious after being crisped up in a pan for a few minutes.

@boudreaulicious: What kind of batter are they using for the fish and chips? Beer batter or some other dry batter?

deepdish wrote:@boudreaulicious: What kind of batter are they using for the fish and chips? Beer batter or some other dry batter?

It's a lighter batter but I've never asked them what it is.

I went to NESC for the first time yesterday and the cioppino was the star of the show. My wife and I devoured a medium bowl before our lobster rolls came. I absolutely loved the flavor and spiciness.

On the other hand, the lobster roll was good, but I was disappointed how cold it was. I wish I would have read this thread first before ordering.

I dined here a few weeks ago...but forgot to post.

Hands down, best fish n chips I've had since living on Vancouver island, BC.

Clam chowder was also great.

Lobster roll was fine, not my favorite (not their version, just in general). I did like that it was mostly meat, not drowned in dressing.

Grabbed 2 lobster tails to go that I wood-fire grilled later with butter and dill..

I'll be back, best seafood I've had in Chicago.


Sent from my iPh

So I discussed the lobster roll temperature issue with my mom (I'm originally from NJ and have had most of my lobster rolls from Connecticut), then did some internet research. Apparently, the lobster in the lobster roll is traditionally cold everywhere but Connecticut (where it is typically served warm). There are other variations (in terms of mayonnaise for instance) from Maine to Massachusetts, although I suspect as people have moved around more and with the internet opening up the sharing of information, you'll probably find that the "local" preparations are not as regionally standard as they once were (although local pride runs high out east, so you might get yourself beaten up serving warm lobster meat in a roll in Boston). Nonetheless, it sounds like what NESC is selling is the standard roll served in the Boston area (chilled lobster meat) where the owners are from.

Evil Ronnie wrote:Lobster roll was tasty. Nicely cooked meat, plenty of butter, but served on an ice cold roll with grill marks on the outside.

BR,

So they ship in the rolls from New England. Then the rolls are stored either frozen or refrigerated. On my one dining experience at NECC the chilled lobster on a chilled bun was unpleasant to me. I fully get the concept of sweet, cool lobster salad on a warm toasty bun, but they seem to have a glitch in execution. (Taking two seconds to put grill marks on a chilled bun isn't the same as buttering both sides and toasting on a griddle until warm and slightly crisp.)

Evil Ronnie wrote:

Evil Ronnie wrote:Lobster roll was tasty. Nicely cooked meat, plenty of butter, but served on an ice cold roll with grill marks on the outside.

BR,

So they ship in the rolls from New England. Then the rolls are stored either frozen or refrigerated. On my one dining experience at NECC the chilled lobster on a chilled bun was unpleasant to me. I fully get the concept of sweet, cool lobster salad on a warm toasty bun, but they seem to have a glitch in execution. (Taking two seconds to put grill marks on a chilled bun isn't the same as buttering both sides and toasting on a griddle until warm and slightly crisp.)

I had a similar issue with the bun itself, but I'm really only commenting on the chilled lobster.

Evil Ronnie wrote:

Evil Ronnie wrote:(Taking two seconds to put grill marks on a chilled bun isn't the same as buttering both sides and toasting on a griddle until warm and slightly crisp.)

I agree that a warm and slightly crisp bun would make it a much better experience.

BR wrote:

Evil Ronnie wrote:

Evil Ronnie wrote:Lobster roll was tasty. Nicely cooked meat, plenty of butter, but served on an ice cold roll with grill marks on the outside.

BR,

So they ship in the rolls from New England. Then the rolls are stored either frozen or refrigerated. On my one dining experience at NECC the chilled lobster on a chilled bun was unpleasant to me. I fully get the concept of sweet, cool lobster salad on a warm toasty bun, but they seem to have a glitch in execution. (Taking two seconds to put grill marks on a chilled bun isn't the same as buttering both sides and toasting on a griddle until warm and slightly crisp.)

I had a similar issue with the bun itself, but I'm really only commenting on the chilled lobster.

At a risk at sounding like a heretic (or a Midwestern rube) I think I would have preferred warmer lobster. In my very limited experience with lobster rolls this is the first time I've noticed how cold the lobster was. The coldness of the roll and lobster seemed to dull the taste of everything. Maybe if the roll would have been warmer I wouldn't have felt this way.

Anyway, I'll back for the cioppino and to explore other menu items.

They will warm the roll on the grill for you if you ask. At that, I'm sure they'd warm the lobster for you as well though I've never requested it and don't know if that might affect the texture at all (it's cooked perfectly as served so I'd be a bit worried about overcooking if they warmed it up...)

boudreaulicious wrote:They will warm the roll on the grill for you if you ask. At that, I'm sure they'd warm the lobster for you as well though I've never requested it and don't know if that might affect the texture at all (it's cooked perfectly as served so I'd be a bit worried about overcooking if they warmed it up...)

I'll have them only heat the roll if order the lobster roll again. My dilemma is there are so many other interesting items on the menu I'm doubt I'll order another.

Yep, these are my soul crushing 1st world problems.

PopcornMegaphone wrote:

boudreaulicious wrote:They will warm the roll on the grill for you if you ask. At that, I'm sure they'd warm the lobster for you as well though I've never requested it and don't know if that might affect the texture at all (it's cooked perfectly as served so I'd be a bit worried about overcooking if they warmed it up...)

I'll have them only heat the roll if order the lobster roll again. My dilemma is there are so many other interesting items on the menu I'm doubt I'll order another.

Yep, these are my soul crushing 1st world problems.

Don't miss the clams. They are wonderful!

I love NESC, but hadn't been in a few months. The last time I had fried clams that were just amazing - big, soft and juicy and really fresh. I made it back to NESC for lunch today with those clams in mind.

Unfortunately, what I was served were some tiny, fairly tasteless clams that were largely breading. Disappointed, I asked the guy behind the counter if there's a particular season or variety of clam I should be asking for if I want the juicy ones - or calling in advance to see if they have them. I told him frankly, I would never order ones like today's again. He was completely unapologetic. First, he told me they are the same variety, and they get different sizes in a batch - which didn't make sense to me as these were uniformly miniscule and my last visit's were uniformly wonderful. Then he admitted that sometimes they can't get fresh clams, so they resort to frozen ones - like today.

It's surprising to me that they had no trouble charging me the same $13 for the small basket of frozen clams that they did for the juicy ones, and I felt completely ripped off. I wouldn't ever get them again without asking to see the clams up front, and frankly, I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon as I was equally disappointed by both the food and the "tough luck you got frozen tasteless clams today" attitude.

Not amazeballs.

I visited NESC yesterday late afternoon with my wife, sister-in-law and her husband and my mother-in-law. I felt that the experience was mixed, which I found unusual.

Three people ordered the lobster roll and were completely satisfied with it. I didn't try it, but the quality of the lobster mix looked as good as ever. My mother-in-law, who loves lobster rolls, loved this one.

My wife and I ordered fried seafood dishes, she the Haddock fish and chips and me the Seafood Platter, which consists of haddock, scallops, oysters and shrimp. For both of us, the breading wasn't crisp and didn't adhere well to the fish when cutting into it. I would guess that the oil wasn't hot enough when preparing the fish, causing it to absorb too much oil. Not good.

I'll try the fish and chips next time I'm there and if it comes out the same way, will probably send it back in exchange for something grilled. It appears that the reliability is not with fried items at NESC.

A quick update on my post about this past weekend. I sent NESC an email telling them about the issue with the batter on the fish. I got a nice response today doing a mea culpa and offering me a gift card for my return visit. It was good customer service, so I wanted to post about that as well.

Was buying 10-15 sides of the Faroe Island salmon a wk from them when I was @ that place on Elston I should've never walked into. Never the less, they're good guys w/good product. Doesn't surprise me they're mensches as well.

I'm glad they were nice to you. Makes it more frustrating for me that they didn't care at all when I complained about the fried clams during my last visit.

NESC will have their liquor license soon and will not longer be BYOB

milz50 wrote:NESC will have their liquor license soon and will not longer be BYOB

Have they confirmed that they will no longer allow BYOB, or is that the assumption since they'll have a liquor license?

John Danza wrote:

milz50 wrote:NESC will have their liquor license soon and will not longer be BYOB

Have they confirmed that they will no longer allow BYOB, or is that the assumption since they'll have a liquor license?

They confirmed it.

--
edc

edc wrote:

John Danza wrote:

milz50 wrote:NESC will have their liquor license soon and will not longer be BYOB

Have they confirmed that they will no longer allow BYOB, or is that the assumption since they'll have a liquor license?

They confirmed it.

--
edc

Thanks much for the link. I hadn't seen that. That's too bad that they'll cut off BYOB. Time to find a replacement I guess.

I know I'm going to start an argument--but what the heck.

How is bringing one's own liquor to a place that serves liquor any different from bringing one's own food to a place that serves food?

I'm sure a NESC lobster roll would suffer more on a trip from Lakeview to Naperville than his wine would.

riddlemay wrote:I know I'm going to start an argument--but what the heck.

How is bringing one's own liquor to a place that serves liquor any different from bringing one's own food to a place that serves food?

Nope, no argument. It's a discussion topic that's come up before elsewhere.

The difference is that the restaurant specializes in the creation of the food, the dishes themselves. That's their core competency, assuming they are competent and do it well, like NESC does.

Wine on the other hand is a pass through, to some extent to ramp up revenues/profits. I'm a capitalist, so have no problem with profit. It's just that restaurants are typically lousy at offering decent wine, and they're universally extremely expensive when doing it. They usually mark up to 2.5-3 times retail, when they're actually paying far less than retail.

In the end, I would like to experience their core competency (the cuisine) with good wine that I can bring for myself. That's the heart of all BYOB.

John Danza wrote:

riddlemay wrote:I know I'm going to start an argument--but what the heck.

How is bringing one's own liquor to a place that serves liquor any different from bringing one's own food to a place that serves food?

Nope, no argument. It's a discussion topic that's come up before elsewhere.

The difference is that the restaurant specializes in the creation of the food, the dishes themselves. That's their core competency, assuming they are competent and do it well, like NESC does.

Wine on the other hand is a pass through, to some extent to ramp up revenues/profits. I'm a capitalist, so have no problem with profit. It's just that restaurants are typically lousy at offering decent wine, and they're universally extremely expensive when doing it. They usually mark up to 2.5-3 times retail, when they're actually paying far less than retail.

In the end, I would like to experience their core competency (the cuisine) with good wine that I can bring for myself. That's the heart of all BYOB.

Well said.

Now, let's please leave this interesting tangent and move on before this thread goes entirely off the rails and becomes about something other than NESC.

If either one of you would like to continue the discussion on a new thread, that'd be great. Feel free to start one up in Something to Drink or Other Culinary Chat. I searched but could not find a suitable thread to recommend for continuing the BYO conversation.

Thanks,

=R=
for the Moderators

Nope. I think we both expressed our point of view clearly.

riddlemay wrote:Nope. I think we both expressed our point of view clearly.

Agreed!

Lobster rolls may not be high on your food wish list after the past few days of snow, wind and cold, but the family and I had a great rememberance of summers in Maine when we stopped by for lunch today. Lobster Rolls, fish and chips, chowder, bisque and squid were all fantastic. We even found street parking right in front on Lincoln.

Chalk up another great lunch at New England Seafood Company. It had been a while since my last visit. With Boston Fish Company slightly more accessible from my house, I've been going there a lot, but GNR NESC is still holding up and shouldn't be forgotten in the mad dash to try the latest and greatest.

New England Seafood Company Clam Chowda


A swirl of Louisiana Hot Sauce rounds out this tasty bowl of clammy goodness.

New England Seafood Company Fish & Chips


Big meaty chunks of cod served with house made fries. On special today for $9.95.

New England Seafood Company Field of Clams


There is a restaurant on the Seattle waterfront named Ivar's Acres of Clams. Here's the New England Seafood Company version. Nice fat belly clams served with house made tarter sauce.

That was a damn fine lunch for a Friday afternoon.