At Cape May’s La La Lobster, every day is a seaside lobster feast.
Open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily during the summer season, La La Lobster serves lobster rolls and bowls and other shellfish delights on the Cape May promenade.
I love lobster, I love the sea, and the two together are simply sublime. But to find that in an arcade-and-shops strip down the Jersey Shore? Not in your funnel cake dreams.
But one summer a few years ago, there it was, steps away from the city beach in Cape May: La La Lobster.
Bona fide lobster rolls with a quarter pound of lobster on a toasted bun; lobster bisque; buttery, gooey lobster grilled cheese; lobster mac and cheese; lobster tacos; and my favorite, the lobster bowl. You can order extra lobster on the rolls and the bowls. You don’t need it. I always get it anyway. Just because.
There’s no inside seating. You place your order at the counter — to stay or go. If it’s to stay, grab one of the little tables under La La Lobster’s shady awning, and enjoy the ocean breeze while you await my idea of summer food heaven.
La La Lobster is a family-run operation, and like all things family, it’s got a story. Back during the pandemic, Nicole and Fred Rabena, two seasoned restaurant business professionals, were thinking about opening something of their own. Something small. Nothing seemed quite right. But then Fred remembered their son Cole talking about a lobster roll he’d had down the Shore.
The wheels were set in motion.
They found a location they liked in their town, Yardley. The Rabenas experimented with recipes; they made a lot of their neighbors very happy as taste-testers. They tried to come up with just the right name for their venture. But then their youngest, Bella, 19, nailed it: “La La Lobster.”
When the Rabenas opened their take-out eatery at 35 S. Main St. in October 2020, six weeks after coming up with the idea, they were just hoping for the best.
“The first day, we sold out of 350 pounds of lobster in three hours,” Nicole Rabena said. “People were lined up down the road, around the building. We’ve never looked back since.”
That spring, they opened up a Cape May shop, right on the promenade overlooking Beach Avenue. They later opened two more shops in Doylestown and Princeton.
Cole, now 21, runs the Cape May shop. This summer, his good friend, Andrew Vandiver, 20, is his partner.
“I love it,” said Cole Rabena. “We do have a lot of fun doing this. Everyone’s on vacation. Everyone’s in a good mood.”
The prospect of feasting on lobster may have something to do with that. You have your choice of four styles of lobster rolls or bowls: La Classic (lobster with warm butter, lemon, and a secret herb), La Salad (seasoned mayo, celery, red onion, and dill), La Spicy (with chipotle aioli), and La Hawaiian (with fresh mango.)
La La Lobster also serves shrimp. And for the lobster lovers who leave even me in the dust, there is the La La Monstah Roll. That’s a lobster roll made with a whole pound of lobster meat. For that, the Rabenas also throw in a T-shirt.
I’ve never seen anyone order one of those. But the summer is still young.
La La Lobster, 732 Beach Ave., Cape May, 609-854-4215, open daily seasonally from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.