8 Best Lobster Delivery Services 2021 - Where to Buy High-Quality Lobster Online - TownandCountrymag.com

Art by Michael Stillwell

With temperatures rising and summer on the horizon, it's time to start thinking about your lobster order again. Do you prefer your lobsters steamed, boiled, or grilled? When you order a lobster roll, do you go Connecticut style (with hot and buttered lobster meat) or Maine style (served cold, and the lobster meat tossed with mayonnaise and celery)? While you can dine out at any number of chef-approved restaurants specializing in the delicacy (Le Bernardin's Eric Ripert recommends Duryea's in Montauk, for example), it's now just as easy to order in and have lobster shipped directly to you.

In some ways, we have the pandemic to thank for easier access to top-quality lobster at home. Luke's Lobster, which opened its first location in New York's East Village and now has 18 locations around the world, shut down all but its Portland, Maine restaurant in March 2021 and launched a direct-to-consumer e-commerce operation. "We buy directly from fishermen, so it was really the only way to continue doing that," says Marketing Director Meaghan Dillon. Like other Maine-based lobster delivery services, Luke's ships overnight, so customers as far away as California can get fresh lobster within 24 hours. Dillon says the company offers both live lobsters and frozen lobster meat. For the frozen products, it uses nitrogen freezing, a process that freezes lobster quickly without affecting texture or flavor.

So why not give it a try and taste-test some fresh lobster at home, no matter where you are? Take your pick from the best options below.

1 Brown Butter Lobster Roll Kit - 4 Pack

Eventide Oyster Co.

Eventide Oyster Co. is a James Beard Award-winning restaurant with locations in Boston and Portland, Maine, but you can have one of its specialties, a Brown Butter Lobster Roll, no matter where you're located. This kit comes with 12 ounces of lobster meat, six ounces of brown butter vinaigrette, four steamed bao buns, and chives as a garnish.

MORE: The Best Mail-Order Beef and Butcher Shops Across America

2 Beal's Famous Lobster Roll Kit - 4 Rolls

Beal's Lobster Pier

Ask someone from Maine for their favorite lobster spot, and chances are Beal's Lobster Pier will come up. The wholesale fish and lobster business began operating in Southwest Harbor, Maine in 1932, and it added a restaurant in 1969. This kit comes with one pound of lobster meat, four brioche buns, Beal's Buttah and Mayo, and two small bags of potato chips. Fresh crab meat can be added for an additional fee.

3 Fresh TKC Lobster Meat

McLoons Lobster Shack

If all you need is lobster meat without the extra fixings, McLoons Lobster Shack ships quantities between two and four pounds from its home base in South Thomaston, on Maine's Spruce Head Island. TKC refers to tail, knuckle, and claw—the sources of the meat. McLoons' lobsters are steamed and cooked through on the day they're caught, then iced immediately. After that, they're hand-picked, cleaned, packed, and shipped.  

4 Live 1.5 lb Lobster - 4 Pack

Beal's Lobster Pier

In addition to lobster roll kits, Maine favorite Beal's ships both live and cooked lobsters through Goldbelly. This package comes with four live Maine lobsters—perfect for making quite an impression at the dinner party you're hosting on the other side of the country. 

5 Lobster Rolls & Blueberry Pie

This Luke's Lobster kit combines two delicious summer offerings: lobster rolls and blueberry pie. The seven-inch pie is made with Wyman's wild Maine blueberries and comes from beloved Portland bakery Two Fat Cats. The pound of lobster knuckle and claw meat is flash-frozen to ensure it's fresh when it arrives. 

6 Oprah & Gayle's Maine Lobster Favorites - 2 Pot Pies & 2 Pizzas

The Kennebunk Inn

If Oprah and Gayle King endorse something, you know it's worth trying. The dynamic duo gave this set of two lobster white truffle pizzas and two lobster pot pies their seal of approval. The kit comes from the Kennebunk Inn in Maine, whose chefs/owners met as students at the Culinary Institute of America. They have since appeared on "Best Thing I Ever Ate," "Chopped," "Rewrapped," and "Beat Bobby Flay" on the Food Network and on the Travel Channel's "Food Paradise." 

7 Lobster Roll Kit for 4

Pike Place Chowder

For a West Coast option, order from Pike Place Chowder in Seattle. Since it opened in Pike Place Market in 2003, the restaurant has served more than three million bowls of chowder. Its New England Clam Chowder was voted Yelp's most popular dish in America for 2018, based on 155 million reviews. This kit comes with one pound of lobster meat, one lemon, oyster crackers, brioche buns, butter, and one quart of either New England Clam Chowder or Seafood Bisque (made with salmon and Oregon bay shrimp). 

8 Famous Lobster Mac & Cheese For 6

Hancock Gourmet Lobster Co.

Weighing in at two and a half pounds, this lobster mac & cheese is big enough to feed a crowd, either as a side dish or as a main course. Maine lobster chunks are coated in a creamy mascarpone-cheddar sauce and topped with a crunchy mix of panko bread crumbs, herbed butter, lemon zest, and parmesan cheese.

Sam Dangremond Contributing Digital Editor Sam Dangremond is a Contributing Digital Editor at Town & Country, where he covers men's style, cocktails, travel, and the social scene.

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