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Liv’s Shack in Saybrook Opens for the Lobster Roll Season

The COVID-19 crisis has altered schedules and closed businesses across the nation, but some things are immutable: Lobster roll season is here. Despite the pandemic, Liv’s Shack at Harbor One Marina in Old Saybrook opened on May 1, offering take-out food ordered in advance via its website or over the phone.

The menu is the same as last year, according to Liv’s Oyster Bar Chief Operating Officer Robert Marcarelli. And the $18 price for the traditional Connecticut-style lobster roll has also remained.

Liv’s Shack opened in Saybrook in 2014, after Liv’s Oyster Bar made appearances at farmers markets and the Durham Fair. Fairgoers would constantly ask whether the lobster roll was “mayo or no mayo” and that led to employees’ T-shirts reading “No Mayo.”

But the truth is, Marcarelli said, that Liv’s will make the mayo kind (arguably a lobster salad roll) upon request.

Liv’s Shack has regulars who regard its lobster roll as the best around and who come several times a week throughout the season, according to Marcarelli. The roll consists of lobster meat sautéed in butter, lemon, and spices and loaded onto a toasted New England roll.

“The majority of our sales are lobster rolls,” said Marcarelli. “That’s kind of gotten a cult following.”

This season, customers who have ordered in advance call Liv’s when they arrive. An employee will bring orders out to a table in front and call out customers’ names for pick up.

“We won’t have any of our outdoor seating available at this time until it’s deemed safe,” Marcarelli said.

Last year, Liv’s Shack opened a second location at Pilots Point Marina in Westbrook. Earlier this year, construction began to expand the Westbrook Liv’s into a full-service restaurant, complete with a bar and outdoor seating on the deck, but the project was interrupted by the pandemic and has completely come to a standstill.

Whether the Westbrook Liv’s Shack will be able to offer take-out this season is still to be determined, said Marcarelli.

Operating a full-service restaurant, Liv’s Oyster Bar, as well as two take-out-only oyster shacks has had symbiotic effects. Thanks to the experience of operating Liv’s Shack, the team was able to apply that know-how to transforming Liv’s Oyster Bar into take-out only once the pandemic struck.

Now that Liv’s Oyster Bar has been offering curbside pickup, its owners knew how best to offer contactless pick up at Liv’s Shack.

“By continuing to do takeout at Liv’s [Oyster Bar] through this and not closing, we’ve kind of fine-tuned that system,” said Marcarelli. “So we feel confident that we can do that now at the shack, as well.”

But it’s not easy.

“Every day the environment changes that we’re in and it’s almost like every hour it changes,” he said. “You kind of put together a plan today, but you’re throwing it in the trash tomorrow.

“We’re really focused on how we can continue to offer the level of food that we have at both restaurants and also ensuring the safety of our customers and our staff,” he continued.

“Harbor One has always been a location for people that have their boats at the marina,” he said. “But also the Old Saybrook residents to come and get a lobster roll and then go for a walk on the causeway and enjoy the outdoors.”

Liv’s Shack, at 26 Bridge Street, Old Saybrook, is open Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 7 p.m. Orders may be placed via web at www.livsshack.com or by phone at 860-391-8353.