#IceCream. (2 photos)
Lobster Ice Cream
Buttery lobster meets buttery vanilla in this classic Maine concoction.
PLACE OF ORIGIN: Bar Harbor, Maine
In an era of seemingly limitless ice cream flavors, Ben and Bill’s Chocolate Emporium is a forerunner. The seaside institution has been serving vanilla scoops churned with real lobster meat since 1988.
According to company lore, the proprietors invented the flavor either to prove to a patron that their ice cream was truly homemade, or in response to a customer quipping that the Maine parlor’s menu offered every flavor but lobster. Either way, the concept has proven its worth. Decades later, people still pass the cartoonish lobster statue at the emporium’s door on their way in to order the somewhat infamous flavor. The shop is located in Bar Harbor, an island town that is home to beautiful Acadia National Park. So during high season, parlor employees busily serve scoops to tourists who want to cap a day of hiking, whale watching, and lobster-roll eating with more New England fare.
Not everyone enjoys the combination, but plenty of patrons describe lobster and ice cream as pairing pretty well: The buttery vanilla matches the buttery lobster (which repudiates the belief that seafood and dairy should not mix). But if you order it and aren’t a fan, fear not: If you avoid the chunks of lobster, you’re just another person enjoying vanilla ice cream on a sunny day.
Need to Know
If you go with friends who are less culinarily adventurous, you can tell them Ben and Bill's Chocolate Emporium is known for a wide selection of flavors. There are also additional locations outside Bar Harbor.
Where to Try It:
Ben and Bill's Chocolate Emporium
66 Main St, Bar Harbor, Maine, 04609, United States
The original location.
Ben and Bill's Chocolate Emporium
20a Circuit Ave, Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, 02557, United States
This Martha's Vineyard location also serves the infamous treat.
BR 549 ☎
in reply to Stuart Richman • •Violante de Rojas
in reply to Stuart Richman • • •No.
Just freakin NO
...and I grew up on Lobster...prefer to have Lobster for my birthday...grew up on LI where the lobster is a hellovalot cheaper than it ever is in Southeastern Pa....but that sounds horrible.
Stripes The Tiger
in reply to Stuart Richman • • •BR 549 ☎
in reply to Stuart Richman • •how about a scoop of it on top of our asparagus mustard pie?
I have been to Maine as a tourist, and sampled the lobster roll at Red's in Wiscasset. it was luscious, and understandable how it used to cause miles-long traffic jams on the highway through there.
but, no.
Violante de Rojas
in reply to Stuart Richman • • •BR 549 ☎
in reply to Stuart Richman • •yeah, butter. on plain bread. lobster meat all picked out of the shell for you.
I could not eat the whole thing in one sitting, and took half of it back to the Tarbox Inn for a snack later. thanks in part to the cool climate, it was still good ten hours later..