FOOD

Hot spots for summer favorites

Gail Ciampa
gciampa@providencejournal.com
The lobster roll from the Bon Bon Appetit food truck, along Route 2 in Exeter, is $14 and every roll is made to order. The Providence Journal/Steve Szydlowski

Fast food offers convenience and bargain prices.

But what about taste?

Burger King’s new grilled hot dogs taste like salty rubber tires. I had them twice, at different restaurants, at different times of day, and couldn’t have been more disappointed. I even ordered one with chili and it only made it worse. The saltiness was out of sight. The $2 price tag is no deal.

McDonald’s Lobster Roll, on the other hand, is rather good. It offers lots of meat in a nice, fresh torpedo-style roll lined with lettuce The meat tossed in mayonnaise may not be for all, but it's not overpowering. For $8.99, you can’t go wrong.

They come in at 290 calories and are only available in stores here and in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and the Albany, New York, area.

Still, in Rhode Island, there are so many places you can enjoy a hot dog and lobster roll, you don’t need to look for the Golden Arches or any other national chain.

Some of the places can be quite unexpected. 

You’ll find both a fresh lobster roll and delicious hot dog driving along Route 2 in Exeter at the Bon Bon Appetit food truck at 622 South County Trail.

The dogs here are $2 ($2.50 with sauerkraut or for a chili dog) and come in a grilled and buttered roll.

The lobster roll is $14 and it is made your way, either with butter or mayonnaise, with tomato or celery, or not, and lettuce if you like. Every roll is made to order.

Bonnie Caldwell is the proprietor and cook, and she mans the window, too.

She buys cooked lobster from Narragansett Bay Lobsters, a Narragansett company. She doesn’t make up the salad until it's ordered, for two reasons: She doesn’t want the lobster meat to get soggy, and she offers the salad preferred by the diner.

“Some guys bring me crème fraîche for their rolls,” she said.

This is her second year running the truck, but her first year on Route 2. Last year, she set up at the North Kingstown Town Beach. Business was OK, she said, but nothing like she has this year.

“I had a great view but not enough business,” she said.

On the Thursday afternoon I stopped in, she said she had sold 10 lobster rolls in the past hour.

Caldwell admits that diners were leery of her at first, not accustomed to buying their lobster and other seafood and sandwiches on the side of the road.

“Now I have 85-year-old women who are regulars,” she said.

Customers can take their food to go or sit at one of her picnic tables.

She will close down on Halloween and reopen on May 1.

Details: Bon Bon Appetit, 622 South County Trail, Exeter, (401) 439-4683, on Facebook. Open daily — except for Tuesdays — 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Want more alternatives to the national chains? 

— On most Friday’s, just check ahead, you can visit Stanley’s Hamburgers, 535 Dexter St., Central Falls, for a $14.99 lobster roll with French fries and a perfect $2.25 hot dog.

Spike's Junkyard Dogs offers all beef long dogs in a torpedo roll with a variety of toppings. Prices start at $3.25 for a plain dog. They are tender and juicy. The yellow mustard is wonderful and spicy. Find them in Warwick at 1623 Warwick Ave., (401) 732-5858; Cranston at 640 Reservoir Ave., (401) 781-7556; and Providence at 485 Branch Ave. (401) 861-MUTT.

CORRECTION: Caldwell doesn't cook the lobsters, as erroneously stated in an earlier version of this post. She buys cooked, shredded lobster from her vendor, Narragansett Bay Lobsters. 

gciampa@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7266

On Twitter: @gailciampa