Lobster Pool Lobster Roll

With Tom Tedesco

Simplicity is the key to making a lobster roll, said the late Tom Tedesco. In this video he shows you to a shuck a lobster and serve up a delicious New England-style roll. The red-shingled Lobster Pool Restaurant in Rockport hems the bend in the road, as cheerful looking on this cloudy day as ever; baskets of chrysanthemums, hay bales and pumpkins decorate the front of the restaurant. Myalisa Waring tells me that this year she wasn't even going to decorate. And this year, with Tom's harshly sudden death in August, Myalisa is finding everything difficult. Still, a neighbor who knew Tom loved the fall decorations brought over the three hanging baskets of chrysanthemums. With that, like so many other moments buoyed by friends, Lisa found the energy to do more. A solid man with curly flaming red hair and mustache, Thomas J. Tedesco, by all accounts, loved family, fishing, and his restaurant, The Lobster Pool, which he bought 13 years ago after running concession stands on Cape Ann. Three years ago I was on a run, and came down into Folly Cove to see a white tent set up on the lawn beside that flagpole. There were pots of flowers around and the place looked even dressier than usual. A young woman who I recognized as an owner was fussing with the tent, and I stopped to ask her what was happening. "I'm getting married!," she shouted, her eyes as joyful and playful as the waves breaking just behind her. Myalisa Waring, who began working at The Lobster Pool thirteen years ago, and Tom Tedesco were getting married. I visited Myalisa this Monday in the tiny apartment above The Lobster Pool where the walls are lined with photos of her wedding and Myalisa repeated to me again and again how Tom had loved her children as dearly as his own, how the eldest four all worked in the restaurant, how much a family experience the restaurant was for all, how this was Tom's greatest strength, his genuine love for and dedication to all his family. In that apartment I saw Myalisa's photos of The Lobster Pool in winter, crusted in a foot of snow, sea smoke rising in a sparkling sun behind it. There was a whole section of wall dedicated just to photographs of Lobster Pool sunsets, those nightly summertime masterpieces that make a lobster dinner a celestial event. But, sadly, there was a section of wall dedicated to Tom's end. Tom always said, according to Myalisa, if he died he wanted to be cremated with a big party. So, only three years after that lovely wedding, The Lobster Pool was the site of the second family event. While crowds of family and friends filled the restaurant, Myalisa and the children, aboard local lobsterman Peter Prybot's blue fishing boat, scattered Tom's ashes into the Folly Cove waters. As Myalisa reports, "the sunset didn't stop that night." From Food For Thought by Heather Atwood. Contact Heather at heatheraa@aol.com. Her blog is at gloucestertimes.com/foodforthought.

Ingredients

Lobster, live
Roll
Iceberg lettuce
Mayonnaise to taste
Fresh Parsley
Fresh lemon juice

Instructions

1. Cook lobsters for 12 minutes in boiling water or steam. Let cool to handling temperature.
2. Shuck, clean and cut lobster meat into bite sized pieces.
3. Place lobster meat into a bowl, add mayonnaise, stir, and chill.
4. Grill hot dog roll.
5. Slice lettuce into desired form (leafs or pieces) and put into hot dog roll. Add lobster meat, garnish with parsley and lemon juice and serve.

Recipe courtesy of  the Lobster Pool Restaurant, 2010.

Simplicity is the key to making a lobster roll, said the late Tom Tedesco. In this video he shows you to a shuck a lobster and serve up a delicious New England-style roll.

The red-shingled Lobster Pool Restaurant in Rockport hems the bend in the road, as cheerful looking on this cloudy day as ever; baskets of chrysanthemums, hay bales and pumpkins decorate the front of the restaurant. Myalisa Waring tells me that this year she wasn't even going to decorate. And this year, with Tom's harshly sudden death in August, Myalisa is finding everything difficult. Still, a neighbor who knew Tom loved the fall decorations brought over the three hanging baskets of chrysanthemums. With that, like so many other moments buoyed by friends, Lisa found the energy to do more.

A solid man with curly flaming red hair and mustache, Thomas J. Tedesco, by all accounts, loved family, fishing, and his restaurant, The Lobster Pool, which he bought 13 years ago after running concession stands on Cape Ann.

Three years ago I was on a run, and came down into Folly Cove to see a white tent set up on the lawn beside that flagpole. There were pots of flowers around and the place looked even dressier than usual. A young woman who I recognized as an owner was fussing with the tent, and I stopped to ask her what was happening.
"I'm getting married!," she shouted, her eyes as joyful and playful as the waves breaking just behind her. Myalisa Waring, who began working at The Lobster Pool thirteen years ago, and Tom Tedesco were getting married.

I visited Myalisa this Monday in the tiny apartment above The Lobster Pool where the walls are lined with photos of her wedding and Myalisa repeated to me again and again how Tom had loved her children as dearly as his own, how the eldest four all worked in the restaurant, how much a family experience the restaurant was for all, how this was Tom's greatest strength, his genuine love for and dedication to all his family.

In that apartment I saw Myalisa's photos of The Lobster Pool in winter, crusted in a foot of snow, sea smoke rising in a sparkling sun behind it. There was a whole section of wall dedicated just to photographs of Lobster Pool sunsets, those nightly summertime masterpieces that make a lobster dinner a celestial event. But, sadly, there was a section of wall dedicated to Tom's end. Tom always said, according to Myalisa, if he died he wanted to be cremated with a big party.

So, only three years after that lovely wedding, The Lobster Pool was the site of the second family event. While crowds of family and friends filled the restaurant, Myalisa and the children, aboard local lobsterman Peter Prybot's blue fishing boat, scattered Tom's ashes into the Folly Cove waters. As Myalisa reports, "the sunset didn't stop that night."

From Food For Thought by Heather Atwood. Contact Heather at heatheraa@aol.com. Her blog is at gloucestertimes.com/foodforthought.