Judith Umbria
I don't know about downhill but the summer is actually worst time for lobsters. Most have just molted in late spring and don't have the really hard shells. It is the irony of tourist season vs. lobster season. Yes, I too have paid more for the hard shelled lobsters during the May - August time frame. The best, sweetest tasting lobsters with the most meat are found in Sept - Early Nov. in New England. They have had all summer to feed and have started going into the deeper water for winter. We love going to Maine in Sept-Oct and feasting on the big bugs. Another factor the past three or four years is some type of disease that has affected the lobsters all up and down the eastcoast. It attacks the shells of the lobsters making them mottled and softer than usual. It has also made the catch much lower than normal so the lobstermen are having to take some lobsters they may have thrown back to let mature.
As for the pressure steamers, I can't speak to all restaurants. I just can speak for what I've seen in the back room at those huge driftwood sided tourist destinations on the Cape and Down East when I've gotten a peak at the behind the scenes. Most I've been in have pre-steamed their lobsters to almost done and then put them in large holding tanks. The exception being those places that let you pick your own.
Cheers, Mary
