So I called my big sis and asked her out for dinner. Lobster? Heck yes! She was so there! (Hmm...well, we're sisters afterall.)
We were the first ones for the dinner seating, which begins at 5pm. Hell, you tell us there's lobster in the pot for us and you'd better get out of our way!
Stepping into The Clarment is like stepping back in time. It has such a grand old feel to it. Like you're going to look at the bar and see Frank sitting there talking to Sammy. You know what I mean. It is just "old time cool".
Our server was a pleasant young lady named Megan and she took good care of us. Dare I say we had pretty much already decided on what we were going to have? The Restaurant Week menu states:
(Two) 1 and one quarter lb Whole Maine Lobsters and one side dish
or
6oz Bistro Filet and a Seafood Cake with two side dishes
What I didn't realize was that it also includes a salad. What a nice surprise. A crisp mixed lettuce side salad with a ripe tomato wedge started off the meal. Bread service was a basket of warm crusty bread with butter that also hit the spot.
And then came the main attraction. Arm yourselves with melted butter! These crustaceans were gorgeous! I believe I heard Elaine whimper. But I seriously could not attend to her because I was swooning on my own side of the booth. Sister, you were on your own at that point.
Elaine informed me that she had never tackled a whole lobster before. She asked me what to do. I gave her what I thought to be pretty darned sound advice. "Separate the lobster at the joints and treat it like a giant crab leg." That's all she needed to hear. She was off and cracking! Each time she would retrieve an especially intact huge hunk, she'd sing out, "OOOhhh, look at this!" She was only on the other side of the booth from me. Like I couldn't see her cracking and retrieving and dipping and eating...and then moaning? I had to have it announced for me? (Uh, but then if memory serves me correctly, maybe I might have been doing the same thing to her?) Hmm...must be that sister thing again.
Then there were the sides. I'd hate to forget about them because they were very good. Elaine had a baked sweet potato and I had a regular baked potato. When I saw her potato come out I immediately wished I'd gotten the same. I just forget how good a baked sweet potato can be. And The Clarmont has a special butter for them. Megan told us it had brown sugar, citrus and pineapple in it. Elaine gave me a bite and it was really good. I need to remember this and try to recreate that butter. My baked potato was perfectly cooked and served with choice of butter and sour cream. Choice? I think I'll just have both, thank-you-very-much.
We plowed throught those lobsters like nobody's business. We had lobster gunk and butter up to our elbows. At one point when I cracked a claw, a lobster bit flew through the air, across the table and landed on Elaine's chest. No worries. She shot lobster juice at me a time or two and I didn't complain.
Now having finished this feast you would think we'd be begging for mercy. Not us! Oh gosh no. Elaine declared it was time to look at the dessert menu. Well, there is no dessert menu. Megan rattled off an amazing array of pies and such, but when she said "creme brulee" Elaine stopped her. Creme brulee it was. And deliciously decadant it was. Oh the creamy cool goodness with the snap of the caramelized sugar on top. Just perfect.
In fact, this whole dinner was perfect! Lobsters, potatoes (i.e.carbohydrates), creme brulee and an evening with just me and my sis! (And yes, just so you know, she is like half my size but she can pack away the food like no tomorrow...did I mention she is my idol?)
Just perfect!
The Clarmont Restaurant
684 South High Street
Downtown at the Corner of
Sycamore and High
in German Village
614-443-1125
Thom Coffman, Propietor
http://www.clarmontrestaurant.com/
thank you for this review!!! i thought this menu was too good to be true!!! now i'm even more excited to go tonight to get my own lobsters!!!
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