The majority of our trip to Acadia National Park was a hiking trip, and we had most of our meals either on the trail, or prepared in the campsite (despite camping, we ate pretty well, see my review of Fitpacking for the typical fare), halfway through our trip, we had planned an outing to one of the traditional Lobster spots around Acadia, because, well, lobster. Most people’s visit to Acadia involves at least one meal of at least moderate overindulgence in lobster, and why should we argue with tradition?
What we would argue about is where to go for lobster. Much like the famous New Haven pizza loyalties, visitors to Acadia all have their favorite lobster “pounds” (Lobster joints where they keep a central tank of lobsters and cook them to order). At the top of most lists are the same two favorites, both on the less-tourist southwest end of the island: Thurston’s Lobster Pound (Bernard), and Beal’s Lobster Pier (Southwest Harbor). We were getting towards the prime dinner hour, so we let basic logistics be the tie-breaker this trip: we were already in Southwest Harbor, so we decided to go to Beal’s.
Arriving at Beal’s just as it was starting to get busy, we got there in time for just a short wait. Like most good lobster pounds, Beal’s is a pretty simplistic affair: walking in, you’re immediately in front of the large lobster tank, with the lobsters already sorted by weight ranges. While Beal’s has a more elaborate menu than most of the other lobster pounds except Thurstons; they lobster rolls (for those that don’t want to tackle the whole lobster), steamed clams, mussels, haddock sandwiches, and a reasonable selection of burgers and non-seafood sandwiches. But the vast majority of folks coming into Beals are ordering the same basic thing: a steamed lobster (on this visit $20.99/lb for the smaller ones, $22.99/lb for the larger ones), often upgrading it to a “Meal” (starting at $6.99 for corn, coleslaw, and cornbread).
Myself, I was definitely ready for a lobster dinner, quickly decided that a 2.25 lb lobster (shown here) was just about right (that size lobster usually yields about 8 oz of actual meat by the time you are done shelling the bug). Add in the basic “First Mate” meal (corn, coleslaw, and cornbread), and the lobster goes immediately into the boiling pot as I select my beverage and head outside.
Most of Beal’s seating is in the large outdoor patio, and on a nice day like our visit, that’s definitely the place to sit; just grab one of the picnic tables looking over the harbor.
While I was waiting, the bar brought out my drink. Pretty much every drinking establishment around Bar Harbor offers up some sort of specialty drink featuring blueberries, and at Beal’s, it’s a blueberry margarita. For a nice, sunny day, it’s actually a great beverage to enjoy while waiting for your lobster to arrive.
And when the lobster arrived? The lobster itself is pretty much perfection. Fresh lobster, cooked to just the perfect texture and sweetness. Beals is rather good at delivering the lobster with just the right amount of pre-cracking along the spine and the claws so that it’s really easy to get at the claw meat, and provides small forks for extracting the tail meat, so it’s easy to eat without being too overly fussy with cracking tools, but not overly prepped. The other “First mate” sides were reasonably good (admittedly, it was early in the season so you can’t have great expectations on the corn), but it rounded out the lobster nicely into a full meal.
While it’s a bit of an excessive meal, it’s certainly easy enough to see why the various lobster pounds in the area stay busy, and we really enjoyed our dinner at Beal’s. Next time I’ll have to try one of the other lobster pounds in comparison.
