The Boston lobster roll is fresh-picked Gulf of Maine lobster meat tossed warm with drawn butter or cold with mayonnaise, served in a buttered top-split bun. The defining New England summer plate in Boston since the 1920s.

The lobster roll is credited to Perry's restaurant in Milford, Connecticut, where Harry Perry sold a hot-buttered lobster sandwich to a regular trucker around 1929. The Maine version, cold lobster bound with mayonnaise on a buttered top-split bun, became the New England standard by the 1950s. Boston adopted both schools: Neptune Oyster on Salem Street built its reputation on a hot-buttered roll heavy with full-claw and tail meat. Pauli's on Salem rolls the city's biggest XL version. The split-top white-bread bun, butter-toasted on its flat sides, is the unifying physical detail; both warm and cold camps agree the bun must crackle on contact.

5 editor picks for Lobster roll in Boston, ranked by editorial score. All Boston signature dishes · Lobster roll across every city.