Fairway also had an active coupon for $10 off a $50
purchase so when you factor that savings in on top of their equivalent sales price, it becomes the destination of choice. And Mark, 18 lobsters 
and champagne 
sounds like a fun time, nicely done!
We have ShopRite up here now. They had that special about a month ago. The shells were so hard, I had to break out the power tools. The meat was good though. We’ve found they have a better seafood dept than Hannaford and Price Chopper (which are the other local supermarkets).
Sounds delicious Mark!
I don’t think anyone can get used to cheap lobster! Was cheap in Colonial times however.
If you go to New England in the Summer, you can routinely buy lobster from $3.99 -$6.99 a pound. It reflects the reality of supply and demand. You just don’t get that in NYC. $6.99/lb during the summer sales on occasion at the Harlem Fairway on the low end, but typically $9.99, or higher. Even Chinatown has dropped much of their discounts. Ten years ago, one could routinely find lobsters say a $2-3 dollars a pound cheaper down there than at Fairway, or other uptown fish markets. That’s no longer the case.
Shells are hard now. The molt is coming, and soft shells soon- my favorites! I didn’t need power tools last batch, but did I ever get covered in lobster juice from splattering myself craking them open!
Am i the only one here who cares where the lobster is sourced from when buying retail? There is a HUGE difference between cold water lobster and warm water lobster. For example: most lobster in Whole Foods is from south america. and i dont mean South Africa which is extremely cold water and the greatest lobster in the world. But if Stews or Shop rite are getting these lobster from florida or the carribbean then i pass at any price.
When i was introduced to South African lobster a couple of years ago it totally changed my lobster game.
Stew’s has Maine lobsters. I’ve never seen spiny (Florida/Caribbean) sold live in NY stores. I know a lot of frozen lobster tails are warm water spiny (South African are spiny as well, but cold water).
Cape Cod in 2 weeks. Lobster on the brain. Question is how I get a 3L corton charlemagne through TSA?
Bring a couple of 750’s as “gifts” for the TSA staff…
It sounds like these are all “Maine” lobster, though some are from Canada. If the lobsters are hardshell, as Ken V describes, they are doubtlessly from Canada, though still, I guess “Maine lobster”, just different passport (and pass to us through different ports. 
). In Maine in summer, especially, way over 90% of the catch is “soft shell” ie, new shell or lobsters that have recently shed their old shells for ones that fit their growth (quite a process.).Though these are tasty and are, in Maine, what sells for ridiculous prices, they are not the same as hard shells. Though I prefer softshells, hardshells are more meat inside a lobster of a given size. (E.g., if they are side by side, and look the same size, the hardshell will have more meat and will be more expensive to buy everywhere, including at the dock. They do not get separated by pound categories until further up the chain: just hard and soft.
The “problem” is that softshells , like softshell blue crabs, are relatively fragile and cannot really be shipped without special precautions, so they aren’t. They are mostly processed, ie, have the tails and claws removed and cooked and frozen-- or not frozen. China gets lots of the catch, both live and processed.
Canada’s system of harvest is very different. They do so in zones and are only allowed, for the most part, to take hardshells. Maine has a minimum and maximum size, so any 3 lb lobster is not from Maine, but they can fish all year round for whatever they can catch in those parameters. (They usually don’t fish after Xmas till spring.)
Canada, they say up here, is dumping lots of lobsters into America now. Not sure why now. Another issue.
JC: active coupon available online?
The lobsters i Get from Shop-Rite NJ are Maine or Canada…varies. The same pattern every year…hard shells until mid-summer, and then we get the softer shells. And the pricing is usually about the same. Cheap.
Ahem, I happen to know a bit about this: I’m from ‘away’, as we say up here, but my wife is from here and grew up with all of this. I’ve only been here for 24 years, but she has taught me a little about these matters.
to Monsieur Niemtzow - Maine strictly regulates the lobster fishery. There are 1,100,000 lobster traps allowed in Maine waters. Egg-bearing lobsters that are trapped must be thrown back. There is a minimum size (not weight). Every lobster boat has calipers and anything close to minimum must be measured, thrown back if undersized. However I do not believe there is a maximum size or weight limit; if there is, it may apply only to traps within a certain distance from shore. I have purchased lobsters over 3 pounds in Maine (I did it on being beseeched by an old friend; would never do it to consume myself). Personally, I prefer hard shell lobsters, weighing about 1 1/4 pounds.
Yes, at this time of year most of the lobsters from Maine are soft shell… most, but not all. I think your estimate of “way over 90%” is quite high. I would say close to 90%. These are individualistic critters and don’t all molt at the same time.
For those interested, Stuart’s description is accurate but incomplete. When buying lobsters, please note that:
soft shells have less meat, sweeter meat, tenderer meat
hard shells have more meat, brinier meat, tougher meat
Finally, a rural legend that is apparently true:
In colonial times, cod fishers were the economic kings of Maine. Farmers, with a short, cold, irregular growing season and land that was far more rock than soil, were akin to peasants. Lobsters were literally worthless to the cod fishers, but they would keep them and give them to the farmers. The farmers, too proud to eat them, threw them on their fields as fertilizer.
Dan Kravitz
Now that you posted this, I did notice this, but wasn’t aware of this “rule”(?). For me, soft shells > hard ones.
Thanks, all, for the lobster knowledge here, especially on the local ones (live, spiny S African ones not easy to find in my NYC market). Helpful with my future buying.
As noted, I’m partial to the hard shells. In 2 days, I’ll be welcoming Saint Christopher before we go hiking, I’ve asked him for his and wife Marjorie’s preferences. They get to choose their lobsters, I’ll pick the other foods and the wines (I’ll break out the good stuff and post).
Reasons I prefer hard shells:
- I’m cheap.
- I don’t like sweet in general, I love briny things. I have about 1 cubic inch of something densely chocolate every morning with my espresso, no more refined sugar for the day.
- I globally prefer tough to tender. Steak might be the only exception, and there are exceptions to that.
Dan Kravitz
Ramon, you have to join Fairway’s email list to get the coupon. Seems to come about weekly, or so.
As for spiny lobsters, I don’t recall ever seeing them for sale live in NYC. Always the tails, either frozen, or previously frozen.
I also like hard shell better as I like the firmer texture and higher fat content.
Hey Dan, I always assumed that the apparent lesser meat in a soft shell was just related to a new, bigger shell post-molt, but that the amount of meat was really unchanged. True, you think?
Not Dan, but you do get a greater yield from hard shells. Typically, a hardshell will be in the 20%-30% yield range, whereas soft shells are more in the 15%-20% range.
I also prefer hard shells. Better texture to the meat, a little more complexity but a lot more work.