National Lobster Week

Google can't shed any light on its origins, but apparently National Lobster Day...or Week...starts this Sunday, June 13! Some restaurants around Boston will be featuring special lobster dishes, including The Regal Beagle and Church. (Also, be sure to check out MySecretBoston.com's useful list of places to eat lobster. Apparently you can go off-menu and order lobster gelato at Da Vinci Ristorante.)

Executive Chef Laura Henry-Zoubir (from Church and The Regal Beagle) has created a couple brunch dishes:

At Church, which is located near Fenway, you can get a Maine lobster omelet with tomato, roasted mushrooms, and truffle oil (served with breakfast potatoes and toast). I was invited to stop by and try this tomorrow, so I'll report back with a photo and a review tomorrow evening. (There are also lobster sliders on the regular dinner menu. Yum!)

At The Regal Beagle in Brookline, you can get Lobster Eggs Benedict with Lemon-Chive Hollandaise (served with roasted potatoes). I declined to try this one since I'm not a fan of hollandaise, but Rina Peselman of Dramshop Hospitality, which represents both restaurants, sent over a photo to make you salivate:

I haven't been to The Regal Beagle yet, but I've had one dish at Church, and it was great: meatball sliders with provolone. They came with a side of fried bowtie pasta - very unique! It reminded me of elementary school when I'd sleep over my friend Ashley's house, and we'd sneak down to the pantry for a midnight snack. I'm sure we ate normal treats as well, but for some reason, we enjoyed chowing down on uncooked dried pasta. We were weird kids.

Anyway, since I'm encouraging you to go out and eat lobster, and I'm also uncomfortable with the fact that I just basically threw a press release at you, I should also point out this article in today's Globe regarding the decline of Atlantic lobster populations. Biologists are recommending a ban on lobster-catching all the way from south of the Cape to Virginia for the next five years. The Southern New England lobster population has been dying off due to diseases caught in the warming waters, a possible effect of climate change.

New England actually draws from three populations of lobsters, though, and the affected one is the smallest. We get more from the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank; those would not be affected by the ban.

If you are interested in the ban - or other options for letting the population recover, such as shortening the fishing season - the public is invited to attend the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's American Lobster Management Board meeting on July 22 in Warwick, Rhode Island. Click here for more information [PDF].

Update 6/12/10
Just tried the lobster omelette ($16) along with The Angel Gabriel, one of the bloody mary options. (Disclosure: My drink was free. Cocktails are generally $8-$10 at Church.) The Angel Gabriel is made with house-made bacon and bay leaf-infused vodka and garnished with a bacon-wrapped tomato and a stick of celery.

Potent! I took a few sips and then decided to wait for the food.

The omelette had 8-10 reasonably sized chunks of lobster, which seems pretty fair for the price. It tasted good, but I was distracted by the homefries - those were really good.

Lobster omelet with ricotta, chives, roasted mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes.

I really like Church - the trendy/medieval sort of atmosphere (complete with gargoyles) is unique, and the menu is creative. If you happen to feel like indulging in a fancy omelet tomorrow, this one's worth a try. And Church is worth a try any other day as well. The music venue part of it is fantastic - Joel's band has played there a couple times, the food is innovative, and the well-crafted drinks are strong and intriguing.