Hot Doggin in Maine: Nunan's Lobster Hut

Our third stop on our Hot Doggin' in Maine mini tour was a restaurant that is on my top 5 favorite restaurants list: Nunan's Lobster Hut in Cape Porpoise, Maine.

Nunan's is a rustic little shack, built on stilts out over a salt marsh. The Nunan family has been selling lobster since 1953 and has seen 4 generations work in the family biz.

I ambushed Terri Nunan, wife of one of the third generation Nunan's, who runs the front of the house-er-shack. It is rumored that Terri walks over ten miles per night in the restaurant. She was gracious enough to give me a "behind the scenes look" at the operation. It's a true family business. They own three boats to catch the lobsters and everyone is involved in some way, whether it's catching them, cooking them, or working in the restaurant. The first fifth generation Nunan is a few months old- CONGRATS!

She let me in the kitchen and gave a nice interview for Hot Dog Stories.

In case you're wondering why I would be visiting a lobster shack for Hot Dog Stories, Nunan's qualifies: they serve Kayem franks. Of course you'd have to be out of your friggin mind to order a hot dog at this place!

The inside of the place is funky and very lobster shackish.

There are all sorts of photos of old Kennebunkport, lobsters, boats, lobster memorabilia, even mounted lobsters. 

The requisite lobster nets and buoys hang from the rafters.

Lindsey, our server, was terrific and a real good sport. Mrs. HDM and I are easy customers at Nunan's: we know the drill and we know exactly what we want.

The first thing they bring you at Nunan's is a roll, a bag of chips and two or three pickle slices. We always ask for extra pickles.

Mrs. HDM gets a kick out of the "extra pickles" schtick.

We always split a tray of steamers to start. The clams were sweet and tender. No grit at all.

Next up is lobster. These suckers always get me worked up!

We each got the twin lobster special of the night. The lobsters come pre-cracked for easy dining.

Every once in a while, you get one that needs to go back in the pot! (just kidding-it's actually the annual "goofy lobster picture")

We tore into these babies-there's no lobster meat left when we're finished!

After dinner we washed up in one of two dining room hand sinks- lobster in the rough is a tad messy.

To complete a perfect meal, it takes a perfect dessert and Nunan's Home Made Blueberry pie fits the bill. The pies are baked daily and I have yet to find better blueberry pie ANYWHERE (sorry mom).

Look at that bite of pie. Yummmy!

Lobster tastes better in Maine and it tastes even better at Nunan's.

TWO THUMBS WAAAAAAAY UP!

Put this place on your dining bucket list.

If you're in the Kennebunk area- heck even if you're not- GO EAT AT NUNAN's.

Make  sure you tell Terri "the Hotdogman sent me."

Check out the video of our visit to Nunan's on Hot Dog Stories.

Maine againe

Not much is going on with the Hotdogman this summer due to my numerous health issues. Mrs. HDM and I did manage to sneak away for a weekend in Maine to partake in two of our favorite pass times: eating lobster and drinking beer!

We always eat at Nunan's Lobster Hut because they serve the best lobster on the planet! They even have a website now, so check them out. We usually eat every last bit of lobster-nothing goes to waste!



This year I put my lobster back together.



As for the beer, we sank a few and this picture tells the story!

Maine Lobster at Nunan's Lobster Hut

Any weekend in Kennebunkport would not be complete without a visit (or two) to Nunan's Lobster Hut. I have eaten lobster all over New England and the world and I just haven't found a better place for lobster. Their motto is "we catch em, we cook em, we crack em, you eat em."

Nunan's is located on route 9 in Cape Porpoise-about 4 miles from downtown Kennebunkport. It's a SHACK-literally- with very spare wood tables and benches. They even have a couple of washing stations to clean up all the lobster mess when you're done eating.


They've been at it since 1953 and they have kept it simple; why mess with success? Here's a shot of the interior with one of our favorite servers toting trays of lobster carcasses back to the kitchen. (I promised her she'd be on the internet).


Our server for this evening's feast thought we were a bit crazy, but she joined in the fun too.


While waiting to eat, you can look at the many lobster related items hanging on the walls. One of my favorites is the multi-clawed, mutant lobster.


All meals at Nunan's are served with potato chips and pickles. Don't ask me why, that's just what they do. We always ask for extra pickles. I like to add a Geary's Ale to the mix as well.


We always start out with a big pile of steamed clams.


Followed by a couple of orders of twin lobsters.


When we eat lobster, WE EAT LOBSTER! Every bit of meat is picked from the body. Nothing but shells left here!


A nice piece of homemade blueberry pie a la mode (to share) rounds out the evening meal.


We ate at Nunan's on the second night of our first trip to Kennebunkport 9 years ago. We have not had dinner anywhere else since. Why mess with a good thing?

I asked matriarch Teri Nunan why they don't have a website. People are constantly taking pictures in the place. There are pictures of folks with their lobsters all over the walls. I'll bet if they put up a site, they'd have folks emailing pictures for posting every day.


Teri, who claims she never smiles, has the domain reserved. The Nunan clan is just too busy cranking out the lobsters to get a site together. Hey Teri, if you need some help, I don't work winters!

All kidding aside, Nunan's has the best lobster on the planet. PERIOD.

Its the Maine Thing

OOPS! I meant to post this LAST WEEK! I had it saved in my "saved posts" folder an forgot about it! Here goes:

Last weekend (uhm two weekends ago) we took our annual trip to the Kennebunks. It was fairly routine and uneventful. Lobster at Nunan's Lobster Hut on Friday and Saturday night followed each night by copious amounts of alcohol at Federal Jack's.

Nunan's is a classic Maine establishment. Here's a couple of shots. One is the exterior, the other an interior shot of the ceiling. My camera batteries crapped out so these are the only photo's of the weekend.



Friday's lobster fest was capped off with many glasses of Shipyard Ale, the brew made on the premises of Federal Jacks. The Sox were on the tube and the wedding parties were out in force. We had two wedding groups staing at our B & B. We got a bit too hammered and the bartender (who we know) shut us off! Luckily the wedding groups fed us a steady supply of shots until closing time!

The next day it was too windy to go sailing or whale watching so we browsed around town, went for a bike ride and took the obligatory stroll on the beach. Saturday night was a repeat of Friday. The only difference is we joked with the bartender about our antics the night before and how I'd called him a douchebag when he shut us off!

For the rest of the night it was us: "Hey, douchebag! Can we get two more over here?" and the Bartender: "Here ya go, douchebag!" I guess 8 years of good tipping keeps things on the lighter side. Around 11PM the wedding crowds piled in. Since we had our usual spot (we'd hovered to get them) at the head of the U shaped bar, we were plied with a steady supply of shots by various wedding revelers in exchange for allowing them "access" to the bar. Drunk people in fancy clothes look twice as silly as regular drunks!

The closest thing to hilarity occurred when a wedding reveler was denied access to the bar due to lack of proper ID. The father of the groom, in full tuxedo and half in the wrapper, took offense to this and got in a drunken shouting match with the bouncers. They let him in, but the bartenders ignored him, which made him fume even more. He eventually left after the bouncers told him the police might be interested in speaking with him outside.

Sunday was sleep late, off to Ogunquit to mooch lunch off my aunt and stroll the beach followed by the slow crawl home on the Maine Turnpike. I can't wait until next year!

Insane Weekend in Maine

This weekend we're off to our annual weekend to Kennebunkport, Maine. Once a summer the wife and I ditch the kids and book up to the Kennebunks where we stay in a bed and breakfast, hit the beach, eat lobster, browse the shops and do a bit of drinking in the local bars.

Actually, we do a lot of drinking in the local BAR: Federal Jack's. You see every other place closes at 11PM except Jack's which closes at 1AM (ish). This means anyone in town out to have a bit of fun at night will end up there. We usually arrive around 9-9:30 after feasting on Lobsters at Nunan's Lobster Hut in Cape Porpoise-a 5 minute drive from Kennebunkport. Their motto is "We catch 'em, We cook 'em. We crack 'em, You EAT 'EM!" We've been doing this trip for 9 years and the only place we eat dinner while we're up there is this place. BEST.LOBSTER.JOINT.ON.THE.PLANET!

So we usually get to Federal Jack's as they are wrapping up their last dinner seatings and the crowd is in transition. Once the diners clear out, the dining room becomes a dance floor. The Sox are usually on the tube and my wife and I hover for good seats at the bar. We are professional hoverers when we are in bars with limited seating. The key is to scan the crowd for folks who look like they'll be wrapping things up and proceed to hover in that area unobtrusively. My wife and I use a divide and conquer approach and we usually snag a good seat before we finish our first beer.

Last summer we snagged seats right on the corner where the main bar area meets the dance floor and the exit. Great seats for a night of hilarity and people watching.

There was a wedding party that came in and I asked a distinguished looking gentleman in a tux if he was the father of the bride. He said "No, I'm the father of the groom." He pointed at a guy in jeans and a tee shirt. "He's the father of the bride."

I said to the father of the bride, "What's the matter, pal, not enough money left for a suit?"

There was also a guy who was trying to pick up every gal in the place, including my wife (and other guys' wives). He was eventually run out of the bar by the bouncers who feared the guy would get his butt kicked! Plus he was pretty drunk.

Then there was the gal whose mission was to kiss every other gal in the place. She was HAMMERED and her boyfriend was mortified. She found many willing gals to kiss her, but my wife managed to squirm away. It was an image that won't leave my mind soon! The boyfriend eventually wrangled her extremely drunk butt out of the place and she flashed her boobs to the crowd on the balcony as they drove away. I'll bet they had a fun rest of the evening.

Since this trip was pre-blog and a year ago, I don't remember all the details clearly (the beer probably contributes to this too), but this year I hope to have a more detailed account of the insanity that we seem to create when we're in a bar!

So we are off tomorrow and return Sunday.

Until then.....