Really Good Lobster Rolls in Kennebunkport

My folks are visiting from Virginia, always a treat. A visit from them requires at least one jaunt to Maine, so they can go home and brag about how "the kids took us to Maine for the day!" (We get a lot of halo effect out of an hour's drive. Okay--with the summer traffic, more like 90 minutes.)

We tried to take them to the Maine Diner in Wells this Sunday, but the lengthy wait was somewhat off-putting. So we pulled out our handy-dandy copy of the new guide New England's Favorite Seafood Shacks: Eating Up the Coast from Connecticut to Maine and headed for the Clam Shack in Kennebunkport. (NOTE: The address in the link I provided--Rt. 9 at the bridge in Kennebunkport--is correct. Seafood Shacks, although otherwise an excellent guide, gives the wrong location [Rt. 1]. You must follow the signs into the village of Kennebunkport to get there.)

I've avoided Kennebunkport for the last several years because I'm not a big fan of the Bushes. However, thanks to the reign of King W, I've come to see more and more what a great guy his dad is, so the moratorium has ended. Plus, I'm a whore for a good lobster roll, and the book highly recommends the ones at the Clam Shack. (Travel + Leisure also gives them one the ol' thumbs up.)
And indeed they're good ones--lots of freshly picked meat (they actually do it when you order instead of storing up a bunch in the early part of the day). And you get your choice of butter OR mayo (make mine butter, please!), all served on a tasty round bun. (A little unusual, yes, but good.)

Add to that the setting by the bridge (no indoor seating--it's either benches or leaning against the railings over the water) and you have SFNE personified. You can toss bits of lobster to the gulls or be like me and scarf down every morsel yourself.

My mom had a steamed lobster instead of the lobster roll--a delicious softshell with plenty of butter. Mom's a slow eater, so she kept offering me pieces (my payment for cracking it and digging out the meat). I didn't refuse, I have to admit.