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It was a Wednesday night at 6:30. I was walking up Fifth Avenue on my way to The Lobster Company located Downtown on the corner of Fourth Avenue and E Street. I was looking in the windows of all the restaurants, taking a little head count (it’s just something we restaurant people do) - three or four tables here, half-full there, not much was going on. I turned the corner to E Street, walked into The Lobster Co. and it was packed. I mean packed! What the heck was going on here?
Our hostess and co-owner Debra Taylor greeted us with a big warm smile and took us to our table. Taylor and her partner, Ian Danielski, have two very successful restaurants in Palm Springs: Café 285 and The Lobster Co., both on North Palm Canyon Drive. They had been looking for a San Diego location for a couple years and are thrilled to be in the Gaslamp Quarter.
Hanging from the high ceilings are colorful fish and white lights that look like bubbles. The walls are blue and green with air-brushed floor-to-ceiling murals of Atlantis. Tele-visions run scuba diving videos. No doubt about it, this is a theme restaurant.
The live East Coast lobster is flown in daily, but the menu also offers combinations that feature South American tails. Read carefully.
We started with an order of "Fried Calamari" ($5.95), which the menu declares will be "cooked to a tender golden brown." It was. The calamari were jacketed in a panko breading and served with a traditional cocktail sauce. We also enjoyed the "Lobster Cocktail" ($9.95). It’s a whole tomato ornately hollowed and then filled with chunks of chilled lobster. It was served with a lemon wedge and, again, the cocktail sauce. Two soups are offered: "Lobster Bisque" ($4.95), which was excellent, and a "New England Clam Chowder" ($3.95).
I ordered the "Crab Cakes" ($14.95) for my entrée. They were served with an "Avocado Salsa" (guacamole), sautéed carrots, rice, a pretty little slaw and corn on the cob. The crab cakes could have had a bit less cake and more crab, but they were big and had good flavor. Each of the accompaniments were great-tasting and perfectly cooked. Even the corn on the cob. I was expecting the gratuitous water-logged garnish that’s typically thrown on a plate for color, but my corn (even out of season) was sweet, tender and worth getting butter all over my chin. Shrimp is presented different ways: "Scampi," "Cajun Style" and "Bar-b-que" are all $16.95. You also can have your choice of shrimp teamed with a tender six-ounce filet mignon for $19.95.
Lobster is served about every way possible and is paired with a filet mignon (which I tried) for $29.95. The filet was a perfect medium-rare and had a nice cabernet sauce. The live "Maine Lobster" is available in large, 2 pounds ($49.95); medium, 1 1/2 pounds ($32.95); and regular, 1 1/4 pounds ($24.95). It is served with drawn butter, slaw, rice and corn. The Lobster Co. also offers pasta and has a large variety of fish entrées. I tried the "Fish and Chips" ($11.95) and liked it very much.
To finish, I had my choice of many beautiful house-made desserts. I chose the "Crème Brulée." Velvety, custardy, its just-crackled crust and a nice citrus flavor rank it among the best I’ve had.
The Lobster Co. is jam-packed, because for what they do, they do it perfectly. It’s an unpretentious restaurant. They don’t spend a lot of time back there swirling sauces with squeeze bottles of crème fraiche. It’s just good, fresh food, well cooked and served in an uncomplicated manner. Chef Christian Vignes and his staff hit their mark. This is not food for gourmands, it is food for Everymanand there are a lot more of us than there are of them.
The Lobster Co., 420 E St., 233-3377 (dinner only), Monday-Saturday, 4-10 p.m.
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