Photos: Maine's The Clam Shack Wins Lobster Roll Rumble

By James Mulcahy

Yesterday, some of the country's top lobster roll purveyors gathered in NYC for a battle royale, crustacean style. The annual Lobster Roll Rumble, sponsored by Tasting Table, featured many-soaked bites from eateries like The John Dory, The Mermaid Inn (both NYC), Island Creek Oyster Bar (Boston), The Thames Street Oyster House (Baltimore) and Waterbar (San Francisco) against each other to see who's take on the classic dish was the best.

The event begged the question - how many lobster rolls can one eat in a few hours? The answer in our case was about 12 before wanting to explode, but it seemed that plenty of the attendees managed to make their way through all 20 options (the encouragement offered by a bunch of tipsy dudes in lobster costumes surely helped eaters down those last bites). The winner of the event was The Clam Shack of Kennebunkport, ME, who bragged to us that their lobster was harvested at 6 AM that very day. New York chef April Bloomfield took the critic's choice prize for her roll, which (in classic Bloomfield style) was absolutely drenched in butter.

Roll through the slideshow above for a glimpse of all the action. Feel free to use adjectives like "claw-tastic" and "lobster-ific" as you browse.