There may be a different opportunity cost in driving 45 minutes for a meal from Queenstown vs. driving 45 minutes from Baltimore.

Excellent point. EL

"I made sure I informed the staff of your "bashing" article critical of their restaurant."

Dang!, What a Beiotch.
I didn't find your review "Bashing" in any way.
I too question $32. Crab cakes and a $25 lobster salad sandwich.
I thought that the review sounded alot better than 2 stars for food, but I'm NOT questioning that! ;-)

So young and yet so wise. :-) EL

I had an actual life this weekend, so I didn't see the Sun in any form but I am quite sure that in the 30 years - since back when you posted your picture, EL - that I've been reading your column, you've never "bashed" a restaurant.

I'd keep Hell Point in mind as a stop in for the next time I'm in Annapolis. (Which, admittedly is nowhere near as often as it used to be.)

Maybe I better clear this up. My review never ran with a photo of me. When I was editor of the Sun Magazine and not reviewing many years ago there was a tiny photo of me with my editor's note each week, but no could recognize me from it now, thank goodness (Farah Fawcett hair). Thanks for being such a faithful reader; very few people remember that. EL

I hardly saw how your article was bashing in anyway, shape, or form.

Although I don't have the time of funding to visit all the spots you go, I tend to find them fair and balanced, but not in a Fox News way.

If you're a restaurateur and get your feelings hurt by a review, you better be making only children's food.

My get-away place is Portland Maine - just returned last week. Lobster is selling for less than $5/lb - went to a lobster supper to benefit the lobstermen (and women) because of the low prices. Two lobster dinners - $24 - including veggies, dessert.

So how does a restaurant get away with a lobster roll (not even real pullman bread!) and food service fries (you don't believe they hand cut them do you?) for $25. Somebody is making out big time - and my hunch is the restaurant.

Bashing? I don't see that in your review.

I was, however, surprised by the use of the overplayed phrase: "kick it up a notch."

I doubt that cliche would have made it past McIntyre in the good old days. :-) (I think that may be the first emoticon I've used in ten years.)

BAM!

Many of us had Farrah Fawcett hair. I had Dorothy Hamil hair briefly, too.

I wanted Mr. T hair, but Mom vetoed that.

This would be a great opportunity to discuss the number of the DC restaurant crew who decides to venture east. I think that when thats happens the owners see a downtown DC price scale and do not realize they are now in Maryland and we tend to have more for less mentality. I am a big fan of Kinkeads in DC. I have been to Hell Point and can say this, it is very close to Kinkeads. Hell Point is based on the downtown DC crowd so the prices is going to be based on that mindset. I enjoyed the service and the food and will return there again.

It's never too late Lissa.

EdG, I didn't get your point about the lobster roll not being made with "real pullman bread". Judging from the photo accompanying EL's review, it looks like Hell Point used a New England split-top hot dog bun for the lobster roll, which is the traditional correct way to go.

As for cost, well, lobster roll is generally a "market price" item, but it's bound to be pricier the further you get from Maine. Last year, according to a Google search, Legal Sea Foods in Atlanta charged $22.95 for its lobster roll, so the Hell Point price may be in line with what others this far south are likely to charge.

The last time I was in Annapolis (four Saturdays ago) we tried to go to Hell Point around 9 P.M. or so for a late dinner. It was also cold and rainy. After we hunted the restaurant down (it's not the easiest place in the world to find), we were told that the restaurant's dinner service was over, and that the only option was to have a drink at the bar. The whole place appeared empty.

Now, while I understand that I'm not in New York or LA, I do think that ending dinner service before 9 or so is a bit odd. We migrated, however, and found a great meal on the main drag, at a place that stayed open after the early bird special.

hmpstd - I didn't think it looked like a true roll we get in Maine - not a modified hot dog roll but what looks like a double thickness sliced loaf bread that is half the height. I know there is great controversey over bread and how a lobster roll is made. Some places in Maine don't use mayo - just butter and loster on the roll.

As for market price, I used to believe that but no more - the wholesale price of lobster is way down - even in Maryland. The controversial Linda Bean (grand-daughter of LL) is making a big issue about this very thing - people are getting ripped off by the retailer. She is opening several lobster eateries along the east coast - I think Annapolis is one location. Hell Point just doesn't have competition for this product now but may soon wake up to fresh Maine lobster at a more reasonable price.
And Hell Point is feeding on snootiness - I never met anyone who lived in AA County who didn't live in Severna Park or Annapolis - no one admits to Glen Burnie or perish the thought, Galesville. And Gibson Island is another country!

EdG, according to the Boston Globe, Linda Bean charged $16 this past July at her Freeport, Maine shack for a lobster roll with precisely 4 ounces of lobster meat. That sounds like a ripoff to me. Even Legal Sea Foods is far more generous than that (not to mention Red's Eats in Wiscasset, which charged $15 in October). Ms. Bean seems to be more intent on cornering the lobster market than in aiding the watermen of Maine.

As for the bun, I think you and I are talking about the same thing, but for the life of me (and I grew up in Boston), I've never heard of a New England hot dog bun being called a Pullman bun, or even being called a modified bun. Not only does the New England bun have a split top, but its sides are crust-free, to allow toasting on the outside (whereas a local bun will get toasted on the inside if at all).

I live near Milford Pa (near where NJ, NY, and PA meet) and lobster is on sale at my local supermarket (ShopRite) for $5.99 a pound. I was told today that the price will probably be lower by the weekend.