Brooklyn Fish Camp

Had dinner there last night. Service was excellent, but got to wonder why less than a 1/4 lb of lobster roll was $33.00 and draft beer $6.00 a glass. Food wasn't anything to rave about.

The Fish Camp menu is sometimes like a sophisticated Long John Silver menu. I hate to say it, but you can get a more satisfying sea food meal at City Crab, Blue Water Grill, and even Red Lobster in Manhattan.

If you make lobster salad yourself, Fair Way in Red Hook often has great prices on live and steamed lobsters. During a sale, you can get a 1 pound lobster there for under $20.00.

It's called "market prices" check out this weeks frozen fish prices in NY

http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/st1/market_news/doc22.txt

Boston Lobster prices (but then you have to get it from Boston)

http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/st1/market_news/doc30.txt

I've eaten there with my wife for special occassions. We love it! (It has the best draft of Anchor Steam in the city, and if you like Anchor you know that's not faint praise, as it tends to get skunky pretty fast.)

But ... you definitely pay for it, and it's no value. A meal for two--not the lobster, btw--was at least $100, and this is with us only getting one beverage each.

They have excellent service, great food, and are too expensive all the same. But we find it worth it, if money is not an issue.

i don't get the fish camp at all...last time I was there, the lobster roll was $33, which is an absurd amount to spend on something that is so incredibly easy to make at home. I ordered the special shrimp tacos, which were pathetic in their lack of creativity, flavor or really good, fresh ingredients. And, at $15, it was even more sad,esp. since the plate had 2 flour tortillas, each with 3 medium shrimp, some pico de gallo and really not much else. It seems like a good happy hour place, and I like their beer and wine choices (and second the anchor steam comment), but really, for food, your dollar goes towards a lot better at a multitude of 'hood places.

Subject: Fish Camp

I ate there on Friday evening and was a bit disapppointed. Although the service was good my fried clams/oyster apetizer was awful - the clams/oysters were soggy!! The waitress kindly offered to replace the dish with another appetizer so I tried the salt encrusted shrimp which is prepared with the casing of the shrimp still on and you are supposed to eat it that way. Can't say that I enjoyed it. I also had the grilled sardines which were just okay. I'm not inclined to go back anytime soon.

Great service, mostly. But, just like Mary's Fish Camp, definitely not a high ranking Lobster Roll.

Fun? Indeed.

Octopus? Some of the best.

Worth the price? Depends on who you are.

And I must add, seasoned shrimp shells are amazingly tasty and wonderfully nutritious.

Regards,

TSC

Pearl > any fish camp
FTW!

Brooklyn Baby Daddy wrote:
But ... you definitely pay for it, and it's no value. A meal for two--not the lobster, btw--was at least $100, and this is with us only getting one beverage each.

They have excellent service, great food, and are too expensive all the same. But we find it worth it, if money is not an issue.

The ambiance at Fish Camp stinks. In Manhattan you can pay the same for a more diversified menu, sexy decor, and live jazz music.

http://www.brguestrestaurants.com/music_calendar/index.php

Subject: Re: Fish Camp

Diane wrote: I ate there on Friday evening and was a bit disapppointed. Although the service was good my fried clams/oyster apetizer was awful - the clams/oysters were soggy!! The waitress kindly offered to replace the dish with another appetizer so I tried the salt encrusted shrimp which is prepared with the casing of the shrimp still on and you are supposed to eat it that way. Can't say that I enjoyed it. I also had the grilled sardines which were just okay. I'm not inclined to go back anytime soon.

I would have been happier at Red Lobster!

lobster rolls? very tasty, but not enough that i HAVE to spend $30 on one in between visits to my in-laws in Connecticut, where i can get a good one for half of that.

the fact that the desserts are the only other thing they do does them in as well. i go, but not very often.

J0518 wrote: lobster rolls? very tasty, but not enough that i HAVE to spend $30 on one in between visits to my in-laws in Connecticut, where i can get a good one for half of that.

the fact that the desserts are the only other thing they do does them in as well. i go, but not very often.

Fairway's lobster roll is less than half that and it is pretty good. Here's some other reviews of it:

http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2008/07/fairways-9-nine-dollar-lobster-roll-red-hook-brooklyn-new-york-city-nyc.html

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/538292

stacey wrote: [quote=J0518]lobster rolls? very tasty, but not enough that i HAVE to spend $30 on one in between visits to my in-laws in Connecticut, where i can get a good one for half of that.

the fact that the desserts are the only other thing they do does them in as well. i go, but not very often.

Fairway's lobster roll is less than half that and it is pretty good. Here's some other reviews of it:

http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2008/07/fairways-9-nine-dollar-lobster-roll-red-hook-brooklyn-new-york-city-nyc.html

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/538292

i've had it. sorry, but it tastes like a Fairway lobster roll. not worth it, in my opinion.

i have the luxury of having in-laws in Connecticut, where the Glendale Drive In in Hamden makes a good one for $13. i can make do with that, unless i really need an NYC one. that's happening less and less, though.

i'm headed up to Maine next weekend, so hopefully i'll have lobster rolls coming out of my ears for the weekend.

We drove around Nova Scotia several years ago. The McDonald's fast food joints were offering lobster rolls for $5!

For lunch, Blue Water Grill serves a Maine Lobster Sandwich with avocado, tomato, arugula, applewood bacon, marinated cucumbers & zesty lime vinaigrette for $ 24.00 and offers the recipe =

Blue Water Grill - Chef Matt Hughes

BWG Lobster Sandwich

Serves 4

1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 small stalk celery, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced fresh chives
2 teaspoons minced flat-leaf parsley
Half teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 rounded tablespoon minced fresh basil leaves or 2 teaspoons minced dill (optional)
2 cups diced cooked lobster meat (meat from 4 one pound lobsters)
2 teaspoons unsalted butter, room temperature
4 Brioche Roll
1 English Cucumber Sliced and dressed with Lemon Juice
8 sliced Apple wood smoked Bacon (cooked)
1 Avocado
Baby Arugula
Tomato

In a large bowl, mix together the mayonnaise, celery, lemon juice, chives, parsley, salt, and pepper to taste. If using, add the basil or dill. Using a rubber spatula, gently mix the lobster with the dressing until just combined. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours. When ready to serve, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Melt 1 teaspoon of the butter. Add Brioche rolls and toast them on their flat sides, about 30 seconds per side. Repeat with the remaining butter and rolls. Build sandwich, Arugula first, cucumbers, tomato, avocado, lobster mixture and warmed bacon on top. Serve with potato chips.

http://www.menupages.com/restaurantdetails.asp?areaid=0&restaurantid=3098&neighborhoodid=16&cuisineid=0

I like fish camp a lot, $30 lobster roll is indeed too expensive (it's tiny piece too!) but $6 draft beer is found everywhere in slope. Even Sidecar on 15th and 5th have $6 draft (if I remember correctly). Overpriced, but what you can do.

I think you can find more reasonable and still good food in the menu there, just avoid lobster roll if you are on buget, I guess.

I like David Rosengarten's lobster roll recipe. I have it in his Dean & DeLuca Cookbook, but this recipe appears similar:
http://books.google.com/books?id=gFHAq0Mjn3cC&pg=PA256&lpg=PA256&dq=david+rosengarten+lobster+roll&source=web&ots=sb4Z_1OGcY&sig=IhIGx_vPcHLNng8mi8GKamfXPjo&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA255,M1
I don't use the dill, but I do use a little lemon.

It's hard to find the New England style hot dog roll around here though.

So where are some other places to get a good lobster roll in New York? I've only had one in Atlantic Highlands, NJ and it was delicious. I believe it was $18 including some kick ass fries, but I can't remember the name of the restaurant.

I tried Fairways lobster roll last weekend and I have to say I was very impressed. A bit mayonaissey for my taste (but then again, I have an aversion to mayo), but more on the "creamy" rather than gooey side. The pieces of lobster were large and the serving generous, made up of body, tail and claw meat, I'm guessing there was at least 1/3 lb of lobster per roll (my husband and I each had one). The lobster itself was on par with the best rolls I've had in Maine and Montauk, and the composition was overall very good.

With a side of tangy cole slaw and crispy potato chips it was the perfect summer lunch outside with a view of the harbor and Statue of Liberty. For $9 you can't beat it!

something to think about while your enjoying lobster and the view of "liberty" from Fairway....

"Did you ever wonder how lobster could be so wondrously cheap at those chainrestaurants next to the mall? Despite the old-fashioned lobster traps hanging on the wall, what you'r eating isnt actually Maine Lobster; it's spiny or rock lobster from the waters off Central America. Close to 100 percent of the divers who harvest those lobsters off the sea bottom show signs of neurological damage, according to a 1999 World Bank report, because they use ancient scuba equipment, without depth gauges or even an indicator to tell them how much air they have left, and because, as the lobsters have gotten scarcer thanks to the endless all-you-can-eat lobster buffets ack home, the divers have fished out the 40-foot depths. They're down at 120 feet, 130 feet.
-Bill McKibben "Deep Economy"

Rock lobsters, I believe, have no claws at all. So if you are served a lobster with claws, that is not a rock or spiny lobster, and you need not worry about the fellow who caught it.

Why does a seafood restaurant that charges luxury prices for its entrees have more photos of french fries than fish on their website?

http://www.brooklynfishcamp.com/pictures.html

Where’s the beef?

For $35-$45, I better see super-sized hunks of lobster meat in those rolls.

booklaw wrote: Rock lobsters, I believe, have no claws at all. So if you are served a lobster with claws, that is not a rock or spiny lobster, and you need not worry about the fellow who caught it.

booklaw wrote: Rock lobsters, I believe, have no claws at all. So if you are served a lobster with claws, that is not a rock or spiny lobster, and you need not worry about the fellow who caught it.

Who needs claws when the lobsters come in this size? That's a lot of rolls.

we just spent a week on the cape where i had at least one lobster roll each day, along with clam chowder. i now weigh 500 pounds.

i have heard, however, that the costco lobster salad is rockin'.

The knuckle is the best part anyway.

agreed.

i would eat them three times a day if possible. lobster rolls are up there with my favorite foods, but i would never pay $35 for one. EVER. that's insanity

just got back from Maine....4 lobster rolls in three days....none over $15, and two of them wiped the mat with anything in NYC....and those were in fairly tourist-overrun areas. i can't imagine what going to smaller joints would have meant.

i've got to have a BFC one again as a comparison but, after that, i'm absolutely done with $30 lobster rolls.

$30 is waaay too much to pay for a lobster roll! I would NEVER pay that much for 1 of those!