Today, we are reviewing Cousins Maine Lobster’s Connecticut Lobster Roll. Cousins is primarily a food truck business that was founded by two cousins, Jim Tselikis and Sabin Lomac in 2012. Both Tselekis and Lomac grew up in Maine. After moving to Los Angeles, the two cousins saw the potential of LA’s growing food truck industry and decided to enter it – serving the foods from where they grew up in Maine.

Today,  Cousins operates food trucks in 46 different cities across the U.S. In addition, they have added five franchise stores and also have a mail-order food business – both serving up the foods from Maine.

The Construction

There are two types of lobster rolls offered by Cousins. The Connecticut Lobster Roll is served warm on a toasted bun with butter and lemon. There is only one size to order.

• Lobster (Default)
• New England Roll (Cut at Top, Toasted – Default)
• Butter (Default)
• Lemon (Default)
• Sandwiches Eaten: One
• Location: Indian Trail, NC (Truck Location)
• Length: 5 1/2 inches
• Weight: 6 ounces
• Price: $22.00

The other type of lobster roll offered by Cousins is the Maine Lobster Roll. This is served cold with a touch of mayonnaise on a New England roll.

The Experience

The Connecticut Lobster Roll is simple. It really doesn’t have condiments, so this is basically a three component score

• Lobster: 6 points
• Bread: 2 points
• Intangibles: 2 points

Lobster

The lobster meat used on Cousins Lobster Rolls is claw and knuckle meat. This is known to be the more tender part of the lobster. This absolutely comes through with what is delivered by the Cousins Connecticut Lobster Roll. The lobster didn’t have any of that “gummy” texture to it.

Because the Connecticut Roll is served warm, the lobster meat is heated up before the sandwich is assembled. The lobster meat has drawn butter and lemon mixed in as a part of the heating process of the meat. Both the butter and lemon not overdone and I still get the sweetness of the lobster meat and that subtle natural sea salt quality. In the end this results in a a flavorful meat, where the lobster meat shines.

Score: 5.00 out of 6.00 points

Bread

Cousins uses a split top New England roll. This roll is flat on the sides and cut on the top. The roll is toasted on each of the flat sides.

I’d assess this as an average bun, but the toasting took it up a notch.  This wasn’t lightly toasted or burnt – it has a golden brown consistency that seem to just draw out a little more flavor from the bread.

Score: 1.25 out of 2.00 points

Intangibles

The lobster meat in terms of having the lemon and butter mixed works excellent. As mentioned, you still get this as a lobster-forward sandwich. In addition, the toasted bun does its job well. When you bring the meat and the roll together – it also works. Not once was I wanting any additional condiment on this sandwich.

There is a nice amount of lobster meat on this sandwich. As mentioned above it weighs six ounces and measures five and an half inches. This is a small sandwich by most standards. I wish Cousins had a foot-long option (with a longer bun) for this Connecticut roll. Still for what this was, things worked well together here.

Score: 1.50 out of 2.00 points

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

While some might scoff at the idea of lobster being served on a food truck, the Cousins Connecticut Lobster Roll was an excellent sandwich. As mentioned above, the flavors really came together nicely. This is not an inexpensive sandwich – it comes in at $22.00 for a single lobster roll. While it has a lot of lobster meet, if you are looking for a full meal, you probably are going to want two – or get an additional menu item that is offered.  While pricey, you are getting an above average high quality offering here. This is a mainstay offering from Cousins for me – and I look forward to having it again.

Summary

Lobster	5.00
Bread	1.25
Intangibles	1.50
Total	7.75

Score: 7.75 (out of 10 points)
Value: Above Average

Photo Credits: Cigar Coop