Harpswell Seafood Take-Out Better Than Wildest Dreams
Erica’s Seafood at left, Lobster Shop beyond and gray building center the wharf where lobster are landed. The location is kid and dog friendly with walking access to the harbor. Fishermen's Voice photo
The seaside seafood “shack” is a New England tradition. Some of these small, family-owned seasonal operations have been part of local seascapes for generations. Seafood restaurants today, even when near the shore, may get seafood that has traveled hundreds of miles, changed hands several times and, by the time it is served, lost any credible claim to “fresh.”
Three years ago, Erica’s Seafood opened at the very end of the Harpswell peninsula and the very tip of Basin Point. Tom Butler and Andrea Hunter opened the Live Lobster Shop in 2009. In 2011 they opened Erica’s Seafood Takeout naming it after their 13-year-old daughter. Open seven days a week, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., rain or shine from Mother’s Day to Columbus Day, Andrea said business has been better than her wildest dreams. On August 8th they broke another record by serving 345 customers and going through three crates, or about 270 pounds, of lobster.
Erica’s serves the range of New England seafood - lobster, clams, scallops, haddock, crabmeat and clam chowder – along with hamburgers and chicken, fries and onion rings. It’s as close as most will get to being invited to dinner at a lobsterman friend’s house. The lobster is bought from six local lobstermen who bring their product over the wharf that Tom built 100 feet from the restaurant. Tom has been a lobsterman and continues to fish Maine scallops. The scallops served are those Tom fished.
Erica’s is about as local, sourced and fresh as it gets. The lobster you eat at Erica’s likely came out of the ocean that day. Scalloping is a winter fishery. Tom flash freezes the scallops he harvests and they are served over the summer season. Local residents place scallop orders in late October for the December fishery. Tom, like a lot of Maine scallopers, was shorted on permits when the regulations changed a few years ago. He still fishes with an offshore federal permit. The Maine scallop fishery has been recovering and Tom said last year was his best scallop year to date.
Tom oversees the fishing and the live lobster ends of the business. Andrea runs the Seafood Takeout from a small building next to the live Lobster Shop. The lobster rolls are cooked to perfection and heaped with fresh lobster – reason enough to check out this takeout. They no doubt in part explain the beyond-wildest-dreams success at Erica’s.
The prices? One customer was recently overheard happily responding to the reasonable prices for live lobster with, “Wow.”
From U.S. Route 1 at Bowdoin College, take Route 24 south to Route 123 south for 12 miles to a right on Ash Point Rd. (where there’s a red Erica’s sign). Take the next right on Basin Point Rd., 2 ½ miles to the stone pillars at the end of the tar road. Erica’s is on the left at the first commercial wharf.