The Food Maven Diary
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Lobster Roll Alert
I used to have mixed feelings about the huge Fairway market here in Brooklyn, in (no matter whay you hear) still-desolate and still-dissolute Red Hook, in a vast nineteenth century dockside warehouse with a big parking lot and a right-on view of the Statue of Liberty. But I have changed my mind. I am a big fan of Fairway now and I look for an excuse to get in the car and drive over. One huge excuse is the bargain lobster roll, only $7.95. But more on that later.
My initial ambiguity was mostly about the high produce prices, even higher than in my already high-priced neighborhood. Ditto some key groceries. And the place is so sprawling, with so many product-packed aisles and cul de sacs, I got frustrated finding my way. I don't deal well with frustration.
A little attitude change turned the last drawback into a positive, however. I now choose to view the maze that is Fairway Brooklyn like a medina in North Africa, like the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, like the big outdoor market I go to in Battipaglia, near Salerno, which takes place on Thursday in the big parking lot that wraps around the local sports stadium.
So Fairway is confusing. It's an adventure.
There definitely are things I can buy at Fairway that I can't get elsewhere. They have a great cheese department. They have a great fish department, and meat department with a very charming and accommodating butcher. They carry genuine San Marzano tomatoes, more than one brand even. However, I have to say, I do know where to buy those cheaper. The whole bean coffee prices are unbeatable, though, and the quality is excellent.
And I love Fairway's fabulous house-brand olive oils. The one from Puglia is my favorite everyday cooking oil, and they have bottles from other regions, as well as blends. There's an olive oil tasting bar with pieces of bread for dipping. They are not all European, either. There's oil from California, the Middle East, and I think I saw Chilean oil as well. Go and choose what you like best. I'm not recommending anything. I'll only say I like the well-priced Pugliese oil for cooking. But olive oil preferences are personal, and Fairway puts its name on many higher priced, more special oils, too, oils for drizzling raw on vegetables or fish; condiment oils.
HERE'S THE PART ABOUT THE LOBSTER ROLL
What I will highly, highly, highly recommend, however, and the thing that really keeps me coming back to shop around lunchtime, is the lobster roll at the sandwich and pizza bar at the back of the store, just inside from a deck with picnic tables where you can enjoy lunch or a snack all year. Right now the deck is enclosed with clear plastic and heated. When the weather gets better, you'll be eating outdoors. At any time of the year, the Fairway deck has one of the best views in New York City, onto the upper harbor and the Statue of Liberty. Besides the lobster roll, there are other excellent sandwiches. Forget the pizza.
Unbelievably, the lobster roll is only $7.95, and it comes with fabulous potato chips. It is only a slightly lesser lobster roll than the famous one at Brooklyn Fish Camp on 5th Avenue in Park Slope, a spin-off of Mary's Fish Camp in Greenwich Village, which is itself a spin-off of Pearl Oyster Bar, one of my very favorite Manhattan restaurants. The Brooklyn Fish Camp lobster roll costs $20-something. Maybe $23 right now. I should know because I just ate one, but someone else paid the bill and the cost varies with the market.
Yes, the lobster in the Brooklyn Fish Camp roll is chunkier, and the mayonnaise has a slight edge, and the salad has no celery, anathema to some lobster roll aficionados, which the Fairway does. But Fish Camp's roll is not much more plentifully filled, and the lobster is not any sweeter or more tender than the very sweet and tender lobster at Fairway's. True, you get wonderful service at Brooklyn Fish Camp, and at Fairway you help yourself. Still, you can buy two or three Fairway lobster rolls for the price of one at Fish Camp and I don't need a proper restaurant to enjoy a lobster roll. The best I ever had - in Kennebunk, Maine, naturally - I ate standing up watching the gulls. In fact, one reason it may be so memorably good is BECAUSE I was standing up watching the gulls. And maybe the lobster roll at Fairway tastes so good because I eat it looking at the Statue of Liberty.
