It is a rare occasion that finds me home and without plans on a Saturday, however that was the case this past weekend. I was trying to motivate myself to be good and go to yoga, but not being terribly good at my convincing myself. I was however dressed and halfway out the door when my dad suggested that I should join them in a trip to the shore, and with that, all best intentions for a workout evaporated. Quick costume change later, and we were scooting down route two towards New London. I didn't realize that lunch plans were included in this daytrip, and found out that my dad had been doing some research into new locations in his ongoing quest for the perfect New England lobster roll. We pulled into the scenic downtown and found our way to a small street that passed through some old boarded up Dutch style warehouses before dead ending at a parking lot already jammed with cars. The above mural was one of the first discoveries, found in the parking lot, painted on the side of a small structure.
One thing that will follow me my whole lifetime from being taught at home, is a never ending curiosity about things. Naturally this meant googling Captain Scott to see if he really existed. Thus, a quick bit of history on the fella. According to the restaurant's website, Thomas A. Scott lived from 1830-1907. He moved to New London in 1871 to build the Race Rock Lighthouse with his company. He was featured on "Ripley's Believe it or Not", for an event befitting of a good captain. "In January of 1870, Captain Thomas Scott brought his tug alongside a sinking ferryboat carrying hundreds of passengers in New York's North River. Using his own body, Captain Scott plugged a hole at the waterline of the listing boat.
Scott's arm which protruded through the hole, was severely lacerated by the ice cakes, but all aboard the vessel were saved."
Ok, enough history...moving on. This place seems to always be busy! There was a line when we arrived, and it never ceased. New people just kept arriving to take the place of those served. The nice thing was that everything moved smoothly and despite the line and nobody seemed to wait more than 5-10 minutes for their order. My parents had one thing on their mind, and that was lobster rolls, so at this point, that is the only thing that I can review! But the rest of the menu looked worth investigating, with crab salad rolls, fried scallop rolls, or whole belly clams also catching our attention. Next time. We grabbed a picnic table in the sun (half of the outdoor dining is shaded for those more careful about their sun exposure than us), and watched the seagulls who were splitting their gaze between us and the incoming fishing boats. Atmosphere was pretty entertaining between that scene on our left, and the Amtrack line on our right. Then came the rolls.
The regular sized are on either side, and of course the middle one is a large, for my dad.
Buttered bread stuffed with large pieces of fresh lobster, accompanied only by a slice of lemon. So fresh, nothing else needed. There was some coleslaw served with it, but we didn't pay much attention to it, besides a cursory bite for taste. I am new to lobster, and seafood in general, having been a devout vegetarian for the majority of my life. With that disclaimer in place however, I was impressed and will say that I ate 80% of it before letting my dad finish it. Not bad for a first attempt! Around the side of the restaurant is where you can purchase live lobsters, or lobster meat by the pound to take home and cook at home. If that's not your thing, they also had Maine steamers, cod, flounder, Noank oysters, Atlantic Swordfish and littlenecks. Although we saved our appetites for visiting the Salem Creamery at the end of the day, if you want to indulge your sweet tooth immediately, there was also a tempting ice cream list to take note of!!!
Captain Scott's Lobster Dock, 80 Hamilton Street, New London, CT 06320
(860) 439-1741
Website: http://www.captscotts.com/
I am on a constant quest to find the best Indian food. This obsession began in childhood when my family and subsequently friends, frequented Kashmir Restaurant in the South End of Hartford. Since its recent closing, I have been searching, largely unsuccessfully, for something comparable to satisfy my curry cravings. In the past few weeks however, I have made three visits to Bollywood Grill in Glastonbury and have had very tasty experiences. I was too hungry on the dinner visit to take time to photograph my food, but we sampled the Lamb Samosas, Navrattan Korma and Lamb Briyani and accompanied it with an order of Raiti and Paratha bread. My only complaint about dinner was that the waiter confused the level of spiciness in our orders, and I got the spicy one, and my companion was left wishing for a bit more. Since I love spice, I wasn't that upset over this. It was still delicious.
The buffet is offered 7 days a week from 11:30-3:30. It is $8.95 during the week, and $10.95 on the weekends. The two dollars extra on the weekends means that you are given a glass of champagne along with your meal. The buffet is plentiful by all means. There were two types of soup to start off with. A traditional tomato, and sweet and sour soup. A basket of paratha bread was set up next to it, suggesting a logical paring.
The remainder of the buffet table was chock full of delicacies such as biryani, saag paneer, lamb, chicken or fish curries, and on the 2nd visit I discovered a wonderful squash dumpling that I couldn't get enough of. The chefs at Bollywood Grill strike me as not only masterfully creating classic dishes full of flavor and spice, but also playfully reinterpreting these dishes with new twists.
I struggled with getting through a second plate because I wanted to sample every dish that was laid out. So when I got to the end of the buffet where there were desserts, I wanted to explode. But I couldn't give up, because I had spotted a dessert among the traditional offerings that I really felt I needed to sample. It was a mango dessert which tasted like a mango lassi in a pudding/ ice cream consistency. I could have eaten several helpings of this alone! Overall, I will be going back to Bollywood Grill for a 4th, 5th, and many more visits in the very near future.
