Alive & Kicking Lobsters

Cambridge Hotels – This lobster shack, hidden on a residential street off Western Ave., is the type of place you only discover through word of mouth. But this joint, located behind owner Louis Mastrangelo’s home, has been selling the city’s best lobster sandwiches and live lobsters cooked-to-order for over 20 years. The no-frills sandwich ($12.95), served in aluminum foil with a small bag of chips, is delicious. Healthy chunks of fresh lobster with a touch of mayonnaise, salt and pepper are stuffed between slices of buttered and toasted scali bread from an East Cambridge bakery. (It’s not a lobster roll Mastrangelo insists because he says using a hot dog bun would be sacrilege.) You order the food in the garage, where there’s a huge lobster tank on the left wall. Then you grab a soda pop and head over to wooden picnic tables adorned with boat buoys and other kitschy seaside items. Eating here feels like a clambake at a friend’s home, or being at a rustic seafood shack on the coast of Maine. You can also take your food to go and have your own picnic on the banks of the Charles River two blocks away. They also sell live lobsters (and instructions how to properly cook them at home) and other fresh fish. For a seafood adventure without leaving Cambridge, Alive & Kicking Lobsters is the perfect choice.
Alive & Kicking Lobsters, 269 Putnam Ave., Cambridge, 617-876-0451.