Sixty-Something: My Favorite East End Lobster Dinner Restaurants

I can still remember as a young boy of five or six when my mom brought home live lobsters to cook and the lobsters escaped from the bag and scrambled out of the kitchen. Now sixty years later I cannot even begin to calculate the many restaurants I have had a lobster dinner at. I have sampled lobster in restaurants all over the world but for some reason I seem to enjoy a lobster dinner served on the East End of Long Island the most.

Back in the 1980’s my brothers and I would fish with dad in Montauk and afterwards head over to Gosman’s for a lobster dinner. At Gosman’s they would offer the lobsters baked, broiled, boiled or stuffed. The photo above is of me enjoying a Gosman’s Lobster last July 2018! There is a certain magic to watching the fishing boats come into the Montauk jetty at night while dining at Gosman’s.

I am a boiled lobster dude, but I must admit for the few years I wrote for the Montauk Pioneer (2004-2009), after I turned in my articles on Monday morning, I would have a stuffed lobster at Cyril’s for lunch on the Napeague Stretch between Amagansett Village and Montauk. Their lobster dinner came with the lobster stuffed with crabmeat, breadcrumbs and one shrimp, a side section of corn on the cob and a baked potato. Shamash, Cyril’s longtime cook who was born in Curacao, but lives in Anguilla, used to sit and watch me enjoy the lobster. At the end of the season every year he would gift me my last one.

Years back, the American Hotel had a renowned “orange lobster,” however when the chef who made it left, so did the traditional dish. The Hunting Inn-The Palm of East Hampton has oversized lobster dinners nightly. They are priced according to lobster size and can be expensive.

A favorite lobster dinner of mine is served at The Clam and Chowder House at Salivar’s Dock in Montauk. I try to have at least one per year there, but it can be very busy. I miss living in Montauk because I could dine at this place during the week when it was not quite as busy as weekends. It is a real scene, but I never mind because the seafood is that good.

Speaking of the way things used to be, you have to mention the old Duryea’s Dock lobster dinner that was very affordable. The new owners have really gussied up the place but the cost is also at a higher level than the days of when the Duryea family owned and operated it. I suppose it’s a matter of taste, and what you are willing to spend. Some friends love the new place, others not so much.

I am very happy that Bostwick’s is returning to Three Mile Harbor. Their new place is named, Bostwicks on the Harbor, and the grand opening is over the June 22, 2019 weekend. Years back, I enjoyed watching the sun set from my table while eating their renowned lobster dinner! So I am thrilled I will be able to do that again! Every night when I sail in, I love seeing the Harbor Marina facility where Bostwicks is returning after a decade hiatus.

I need to tell this story, one evening last year I was asked to recommend to friends the best place to have a lobster dinner in Montauk. So I texted renowned Montauk lobster fisherman Anthony Sosinski and asked, “Where is the best place in Montauk to have a lobster dinner?” His reply was pure gold, he texted back, “MY HOUSE!”

However, if you are thinking of going out for a lobster dinner, any of the places I have mentioned are great.