On our first day in Asheville, we walked around the downtown area trying a handful of the city's numerous brewpubs, taking in some sights and getting a lay of the land. A place that we passed by a couple times caught our interest for food that evening, a nice looking restaurant by the name of The Lobster Trap. We had a lot of options for dining that first night, but we ended up going over to The Lobster Trap located on Patton Ave. (see map)
Amy Beard grew up in New England and ended up in Asheville around the turn of the 21st century. One of the things that she missed about her home was the fresh seafood that she could have on a daily basis. The only problem was that there wasn't any place in Asheville that had fresh seafood. She had gone back home to visit family and friends in the Portland, ME area and one day she found herself sitting on The Lucky Catch, a shrimp and lobster boat owned by her lifelong friend Tom Martin. She told "Captain Tom" that she really missed having fresh seafood - especially lobsters and oysters - while living in Asheville. Brain storming on the deck of the boat over a few beers, Amy Beard came up with a restaurant concept in Asheville with Captain Tom providing the fresh lobsters, shrimp and oyster and making arrangements to have the fresh seafood flown in on a daily basis to Asheville.
Beard went back to Asheville to find a spot for her restaurant. Nine months after she had her restaurant idea on the back of a boat, The Lobster Trap opened in March of 2005. Chef Mike McCarty came on board in 2008 and is the head chef and managing partner today. Captain Tom Martin still is catching lobsters for The Lobster Trap in Casco Bay off the Maine coast. And still an owner of The Lobster Trap, Amy Beard eventually got married to a childhood sweetheart from Maine, moved back there to open a bookstore, as well as to coordinate the procurement and shipping of lobsters, shrimp, oysters and seafood that is flown to Asheville six days a week.
(Pictured right - Mike McCarty, Captain Tom Martin and Amy Beard on the stern of the Lucky Catch. Martin now owns three boats and also has a charter service that allows passengers to go catch their own lobsters.)
It was a holiday weekend when we were in Asheville and the city was packed with people. We walked into The Lobster Trap around 8:15 with no reservation and we were told it would be a 30 to 45 minute wait. The bar area was packed with people waiting for a table to open or having oysters and beer. We ended up waiting outside for a few moments until some spots opened at the bar. We sort of hung at one end of the bar, sitting on the edge of a small stage that is used for live music from time to time.
On the wall opposite the bar area was a list of fresh oysters and some of the beers they had on tap. It turns out that one of the local brewpubs supplying beer to The Lobster Trap - Oyster House Brewing Company - is owned by a former employee at the restaurant. I ordered up an Oyster House Step Papa pale ale to enjoy while we waited for a table to open up. (I wanted to go to Oyster House Brewing Company for lunch one day, but it turned out that the place doesn't open up until 3 p.m. through the week. So, sadly, we never made it over. Next time we go to Asheville, however...)
Near the bar area was the vibrant and very busy open kitchen. A large salt-water tank with live lobsters was positioned along the front of the kitchen going back toward the restrooms. One of the hallmarks of The Lobster Trap is that they adhere to the strict requirements set in place by the Monterrey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch in terms of how the seafood is fished from the sea. Both restaurants and fishermen must follow guidelines in regard to sustainable and eco-friendly measures to keep the ocean intact and ensure a lasting environment for continued growth without overfishing certain areas. The Lobster Trap is one of just seven restaurants in the state of North Carolina who are members of the Seafood Watch program.
The restaurant, itself, was long and narrow with sort of an old-time, antique feeling to the place. It featured antique-style lighting hanging from a tin ceiling with a number of wooden booths along a narrow aisle. It was sort of loud in there, but it wasn't oppressive.
The 30 to 45 minute wait actually turned out to be over an hour wait. It was well past 9 p.m. when we were finally seated at a table toward the front of the restaurant. It was entirely too late for us to be eating, but we were having a good time passing the time with some good beers and a couple glasses of Pinot Grigio for my wife while we waited.
We were greeted by our server for the evening, Rob, and we immediately ordered up a dozen of the oysters on the half-shell sampler that they had flown in fresh from Massachusetts. They weren't cheap - $32 bucks compared to the $15 oysters Gulf-raised oysters that we could have had. But, hey! We were on vacation! The platter consisted of Sweet Petite Bay oysters, Island Creek farm-raised oysters, and the ever-popular Wellfleet oysters that are a staple at nearly any oyster bar found in New England. The oysters were all meaty and yummy. My wife thought that she needed some greens, so she got a Caesar's salad to go along with the oysters. It was a great start to the meal.
The menu at The Lobster Trap is very extensive with fresh seafood, pasta dishes, and a number of great sounding appetizers including lobster-stuffed mushrooms, scallops wrapped in maple bacon, and steamed clams, shrimp or mussels. Since it was so late, we really didn't want to eat a lot of rich seafood and we both saw that they had a seafood fettuccine alfredo on the menu - $22 bucks for fettuccine with a combination of shrimp and lobster meat.
My wife suggested we split the fettuccine which was fine with me given how late it was. But I saw something on the menu that I had to try - the lobster mac 'n cheese that was under the "sharable sides" header on the menu. When I asked Rob about the lobster mac 'n cheese, he said, "We have people come in and just order double sides of that for dinner." I've been underwhelmed with lobster mac 'n cheese at many places over the years that I've just quit ordering it. But something told me this would be a little different.
And it was. The lobster mac 'n cheese was to die for. It was creamy and cheesy with large chunks of lobster meat mixed - good lobster meat, not the rubbery stuff that I've had in other lobster mac 'n cheese from the past. It was very rich and "eyes-rolling-back-in-your-head" tasty.
It would have been tough for the seafood fettuccine alfredo to measure up to the lobster mac 'n cheese, but somehow it did. The creamy alfredo sauce was rich and flavorful, the fettuccine noodles tasted like they were made in house, and the chunks of lobster meat and the plump shrimp were all cooked perfectly. Some garlic bread came with the fettuccine and we were using it to sop up the creamy sauce after we finished the pasta and seafood in the bowl.
My wife and I have already said that we'd like to go back to Asheville and spend some more time there. One of the places that will be on our list to revisit will be The Lobster Trap. Other than the over an hour wait for a table, the wait was worth it. The Massachusetts oysters-on-the-half shell were meaty and tasty, the seafood fettuccine alfredo was excellent, and I cannot even tell you how great the lobster mac 'n cheese was. I can see why some people will order two sides of the lobster mac 'n cheese for a meal at The Lobster Trap - it was that good. The service was top-notch, the atmosphere was comfortable, and the food was, well, heavenly. It was a great first meal during our few days we spent in Asheville - and it may have been the best meal we had the whole time we were there.
Comments