Pearl Oyster Bar

Why, yes, Pearl Oyster Bar is in New York, but so was I recently for one of my all-time favorite meals, the Pearl Oyster Bar lobster roll. The swimmingly fresh lobster is cooked to a tenderness that even the lobster must be happy about. Supposedly the “dressing” is mostly mayo, but if it is, there’s just the right amount with just the right amount of other accents-a squinch of lemon, a passing of a caper jar’s shadow.

Of course for food to be perfectly pleasurable, carbs must be involved. The roll is not brioche or anything tainted by snoot, but is an honest, buttery, tasty roll evenly toasted to tan. And those fries; they’re thin-crisp crunches and scintillatingly salty. It’s all so good you can almost not blink when Mario Batali is at the next table holding court.