CRUSTACEAN CELEBRATION: Lobsters and Maine make up some serious business. It's always lobster season -- yes, for sure, there are time differences when it comes to soft shell vs. spiny vs. hard shell -- meaning that getting a really delicious, mayo-laden, crusty-rolled lobster roll is not a difficult errand, regardless of the month. And will you always find lobster toys and lobster t-shirts and lobster postcards in the store, no matter what the calendar says? You bet you will.
BUT... places that are not Maine tend to follow a calendar a bit more closely when it comes to the famous crimson crustacean. Here in Southern California, very late summer is lobster festival time, with three big-clawed hooplas all falling right in a row. The Long Beach Lobster Festival, the Port of Los Angeles Lobster Festival in San Pedro, the Redondo Beach Lobster Festival typically fill out the middle weekends of September, meaning that you could be wearing a bib for most of the month, if you so choose. However, what if you want to start early with the alfresco, drippy, sunshiny, seafoody enjoyment? Newport Beach has you covered.
BACK BAY BASH: Saturday, Aug. 10 is the date for this go-around, which will again feature Maine Lobsters flown in for the occasion. Sides include red potatoes and corn-on-the-cob -- classic -- and money raised lends a hand to Make-A-Wish. General admission price is $55.
THE SEPTEMBER EVENTS: Still hankerin' -- yeah, easy-breezy alfresco dining makes on want to say "hankerin'" -- for more bib-wearing and melted butter? The Long Beach Lobster Festival rolls from Friday, Sept. 6 through Sunday, Sept. 8, Port of Los Angeles Lobster Festival gets going from Friday, Sept. 13 through Sunday, Sept. 15, and Redondo Beach Lobster Festival alights the weekend after, from Friday, Sept. 20 through Sunday, Sept. 22.
