When I first heard the words “lobster doughnut,” I immediately thought: sugary seafood cruller. Luckily, this turns out not to be what chef Stefano Coppola is serving his customers at Morse Block Deli & Taps every Wednesday. His Lobster Doughie summer special is an elevated take on a lobster roll, and the unlikely combo makes for peak New England comfort food. Biting into it brought me back to vacations on the beach and memories of salt air and seagulls that are otherwise nowhere to be found in Barre.
It was the week after I’d had my wisdom teeth out, so my jaw was still recovering as I sat down to try the $28 Doughie. The lobster was surprisingly fresh and melted in my mouth. Also unexpected was how well the doughnut worked with the filling. Not too fishy, the lobster’s ocean notes blended seamlessly with the decadent bun, which had a bready fried-dough taste.
Butter and cheap bread bog down some lobster rolls, but the doughnut’s springy texture, paired with a light aioli, made for an airy feel without sacrificing richness. I was sad there were no chives on the sandwich that week — a temporary glitch, Coppola explained. Even so, the doughnut was an exciting initiation back into the world of chewable foods.
In front of the deli, a handwritten sidewalk sign advertises “Local & Housemade Everything.” According to Coppola, who also co-owns Barre’s Pearl Street Pizza, that local sourcing is the key to his reimagined summer classic. Quality matters for a sandwich with only three ingredients. “Every single one of those ingredients has to be top tier for it to really sing,” he said.
The Lobster Doughie stems from Coppola’s partnership with Nate Doyon and Nina Livellara of Woodbury’s Local Donut. The married couple share Coppola’s passion for eating local, and their sweet and savory doughnuts have been a weekly hit at the deli since 2022. One day, while Doyon was reminiscing about having lobster with Livellara on the Maine coast, he and Coppola started dreaming up their own take on a lobster roll.
They chose to replace the tasteless hot dog buns most restaurants use with something better — a spice-infused doughnut. “We do the Old Bay infusion on the bun, and when they come out of the oil, we rub them in Old Bay so they’re wicked delicious,” Livellara explained.
Then there was the question every lobster roll maker faces: butter or mayo? Coppola’s creativity, which earned him second place on the Food Network competition “Guy’s Grocery Games” in 2019, kicked in. Instead of choosing between the flavors, he captured the best of both by mixing milk solids from homemade butter into a custom aioli. This coats the Dole & Bailey lobster, which the deli buys fresh from Maine and (usually) tops with chopped chives.
I like to think of the lobster doughnut as the wacky northern relative of chicken and waffles: It sounds strange but makes sense on a plate. Although Coppola admits that some customers take a leap of faith when they order the Doughie, he hasn’t had a single one say they didn’t like it.
Livellara is no exception. “I absolutely love them,” she said. “[They’re] a summer tradition around here.”
Lobster Doughies, available Wednesdays through the end of August at Morse Block Deli & Taps, 260 N. Main St., Barre, 476-2131, morseblockdeli.com. Learn more about Local Donut at localdonutvt.com.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Coastal Comfort | In Barre, Morse Block Deli’s Lobster Doughie reimagines an oceanside classic”
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This article appears in Jul 17-23, 2024.
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