Food trucks come and go in San Francisco on a regular basis making it difficult to get out there an try everyone of them, though I do try. I'm always on the lookout for new ones to the area and sometimes they pop up with lots of fanfare, such is the case with the Lobsta Truck. Hailing originally from down Southern California way I'd seen several online food news outlets highlight its arrival to town and it was because of this that I grabbed my friend Elena and we made the arduous cross town journey to the Friday night Off the Grid at Fort Mason to give this hot new truck a try. We got there right when the event was starting but the Lobsta wasn't quite ready yet so we wandered around till they started serving. During that time a line had formed at the truck, it seems we weren't the only ones who wanted to give them a try.
Leave it to this foodie obsessed town to jump on the bandwagon of something new, or in this case the food truck. The menu on this days was limited--crab roll, lobster roll, lobster bisque or clam chowder. We were here for one thing so when we finally got to the window we ordered the lobster roll and just for giggles paid the up charge for extra meat.
The basic roll is $14 and extra meat is an additional $6--so yes folks you are looking at a $20 sandwich--welcome to San Francisco. If this was extra meat, it made me wonder what the regular looked like. Plus you have a choice of condiments of butter, mayo or both. We ordered both but somehow only got the butter, but I will say there was plenty of it, mostly on the warm and toasted bun. The bun was a split top roll very similar to a hot dog bun, which is probably was. Now I've railed against the $9 sandwich so why were we dropping the dough for something twice as much? Well, simple reason, we wanted to try it. I don't know that I had any real expectations for this to just blow my tastebud socks off, I mean in the end, it's just lobster. Which can be labor intensive and expensive in itself. Though I think it's easier to shell than crab and you get a whole lot more meat, though the crab roll was $1 cheaper.
Be that as it may, was it any good? In basic terms it was exactly as advertised--large chunks of lobster meat soaked in butter and served in a soft toasted bun--and yes I did like it, but we both thought it could have used a little of the seasoned mayo we requested but did not get. So while I'm down with the basic tastiness of it all, the whole time I was eating it I just kept thinking--why is this $20? and I can't believe we paid $20 for a sandwich--WITH NO SIDES!! To say it might have marred my total enjoyment of the sweet tender lobster and luscious butter is a minor understatement. As hard as I tried to put that fact out of my mind I just kept seeing Andrew Jacksons fluttering through my head. Bummer. I mean I like lobster and know it's value. When I was a kid it was the thing I always used to ask to eat on my birthday. I know weird, and I can't really remember why it was such a fascination for me, but I do remember all the lobster tails over the years--lots of yumminess and butter--ah memories.
For the most part it's a good sandwich and is exactly what is advertised. If you like lobster and butter and don't mind the price then this is the truck you need to find. For me I'm not sure I could justify the cost again. In the end it was a lot like skydiving for me--I'm glad I did it--but I don't need to try it again. Though in the case of the sandwich, if someone else is buying, then I'm all over it. But still a big no on the skydiving.
