Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Decidedly not-fancy lobster rolls

Like getting Baja fish tacos off a food truck in Maine

Fried-cod sandwich and a low-key lobster roll
Fried-cod sandwich and a low-key lobster roll
Place

Alaskan Seafood Connection

3355 Adams Avenue, San Diego

Shopping for beer makes me hungry. Actually, it makes me thirsty, the kind of thirst that precipitates going home to try a few of the beers that I just purchased. That in turn makes me hungry, because I know better than to drink on an empty stomach.

So I got hungry on the way out of a bottle run at Bine & Vine the other day and wanted to find something nearby I could take home fast. A notice outside counter-restaurant Burnside announced it had closed, and I’m still not sure how I feel about the followers of Chinmoy running veggie spot Jyoti Bihanga. So I stepped inside Corner Liquor, where I found Alaskan Seafood Connection back in business.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Seafood counter inside a liquor store

I’d heard about this casual seafood counter a couple of years back but failed to make it in before it closed for a year or so while the proprietor moved back east. Both he and the shop returned this summer, serving seafood dishes at the sort of low prices you only find in places with low overhead.

This guy keeps it simple, updating the menu on marker boards and construction paper. I found a good-sized cod sandwich going for $5.50. There were also oysters (raw or fried), clam chowder, a salmon burger, and fish and chips — none more than nine bucks. True to the shop’s name, there’s also Alaskan halibut and salmon, but the kicker for me came from the opposite coast: a Maine lobster roll for $13.50.

Regional specialties like this may be found in low-brow shops on the East Coast. I’m sure you can find a lot of not-fancy lobster rolls all around New England. But out here they tend to be an event dish, made with great attention to detail, so its fineness will justify the market price levied on lobster shuttled from the northeastern seaboard. With lobster fetching record prices this year, this often tops 17 to 20 dollars.

So under 14 bucks is pretty good for this lobster roll, and it shows. This is a decidedly not-fancy sandwich. Just mayo-laden lobster salad on a roll. If it didn’t taste like lobster it wouldn’t be worth it. But we live in San Diego, so Maine lobster always tastes expensive.

In a sense, Alaskan Seafood Connection brings Normal Heights the lobster roll equivalent of finding Baja style fish tacos off a food truck in Maine. It’s not elaborate, and it’s not trying to be anything but what it is. But it’s a tasty find when you’ve got a bunch of fresh IPAs to soak up.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Eating dinner while little kids mock-mosh at Golden Island

“The tot absorbs the punk rock shot with the skill of experience”
Next Article

Now what can they do with Encinitas unstable cliffs?

Make the cliffs fall, put up more warnings, fine beachgoers?
Fried-cod sandwich and a low-key lobster roll
Fried-cod sandwich and a low-key lobster roll
Place

Alaskan Seafood Connection

3355 Adams Avenue, San Diego

Shopping for beer makes me hungry. Actually, it makes me thirsty, the kind of thirst that precipitates going home to try a few of the beers that I just purchased. That in turn makes me hungry, because I know better than to drink on an empty stomach.

So I got hungry on the way out of a bottle run at Bine & Vine the other day and wanted to find something nearby I could take home fast. A notice outside counter-restaurant Burnside announced it had closed, and I’m still not sure how I feel about the followers of Chinmoy running veggie spot Jyoti Bihanga. So I stepped inside Corner Liquor, where I found Alaskan Seafood Connection back in business.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Seafood counter inside a liquor store

I’d heard about this casual seafood counter a couple of years back but failed to make it in before it closed for a year or so while the proprietor moved back east. Both he and the shop returned this summer, serving seafood dishes at the sort of low prices you only find in places with low overhead.

This guy keeps it simple, updating the menu on marker boards and construction paper. I found a good-sized cod sandwich going for $5.50. There were also oysters (raw or fried), clam chowder, a salmon burger, and fish and chips — none more than nine bucks. True to the shop’s name, there’s also Alaskan halibut and salmon, but the kicker for me came from the opposite coast: a Maine lobster roll for $13.50.

Regional specialties like this may be found in low-brow shops on the East Coast. I’m sure you can find a lot of not-fancy lobster rolls all around New England. But out here they tend to be an event dish, made with great attention to detail, so its fineness will justify the market price levied on lobster shuttled from the northeastern seaboard. With lobster fetching record prices this year, this often tops 17 to 20 dollars.

So under 14 bucks is pretty good for this lobster roll, and it shows. This is a decidedly not-fancy sandwich. Just mayo-laden lobster salad on a roll. If it didn’t taste like lobster it wouldn’t be worth it. But we live in San Diego, so Maine lobster always tastes expensive.

In a sense, Alaskan Seafood Connection brings Normal Heights the lobster roll equivalent of finding Baja style fish tacos off a food truck in Maine. It’s not elaborate, and it’s not trying to be anything but what it is. But it’s a tasty find when you’ve got a bunch of fresh IPAs to soak up.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Southern California Asks: 'What Is Vinivia?' Meet the New Creator-First Livestreaming App

Next Article

In-n-Out alters iconic symbol to reflect “modern-day California”

Keep Palm and Carry On?
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader