Stillwater Bar & Grill | Chef Alex Ramirez

Open Face Lobster Sandwich

You might look at it and think, “It’s no lobster roll.” You might mumble, “It’s not even a sandwich.”

Indeed, what they serve at Stillwater Bar & Grill is an open-faced presentation – a mound of dressed lobster piled on half a garlic roll, with a few tomato slices to suggest a salad. And it owes more to a deft hand in the kitchen than to seafood shack tradition.

There is nothing in the ordinary words “lobster roll” and “sandwich” to describe what chef Alex Ramirez and his team put together. The meat’s celebrated rich, almost sweet savor is laced by saltwater and a rugged minerality, as if the bracing waves crashing on Maine’s coast carried all the way to Pebble Beach. The briney pinch of capers inspires something earthy from timid strands of parsnip while at the same time reining a zesty dash of citrus as it shears the plush lobster and dressing.

“It’s a simple dish, actually – just mayonnaise, fresh lemon and love,” explains Ramirez.

Simple, perhaps. Yet they give the dish inflections that make it something special. So you would be right. This is no lobster roll. And that’s a good thing.

STILLWATER BAR & GRILL, 1700 17 Mile Drive, Pebble Beach. 625-8524, pebblebeach.com