Woman Eats 22 Pound Lobster On Her Birthday ($500 Entree) [View All]

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There were more than a few cries of amazement Tuesday evening as the servers and chef at Sullivan’s Steakhouse wheeled a 22-pound lobster — a soon-to-be $500 entrée — to the table in the center of the room.

Chelsea, as the estimated 110-year-old lobster had lovingly become known in its last few hours of life, got a star’s treatment at the restaurant, complete with an entry behind servers waving flashing sparklers while it sat atop a rolling cart decorated with a black tablecloth, cilantro, lemons and peppers.

“It’s the biggest I’ve ever seen,” Bill Harter, a Maryland native who is no stranger to lobsters, remarked to his tablemates as he turned his head to get a closer peek.

Chelsea had been plucked days earlier from the waters south of Kennebunkport, Maine, after a month-long lobster hunt commissioned by Reid McAllister, the head chef at Sullivan’s.

His goal was to find one of the biggest lobsters imaginable for the Price family, who are loyal patrons of his restaurant.

In September, while consuming a 6-pound lobster at Sullivan’s during her father’s birthday, Summer Price quipped to the waitress that she would like to have a 20-pound lobster for her 28th birthday, almost a month later.

The waitress, and the lobster’s namesake, Chelsea Ransom, jumped at the suggestion, and the chase was on -- after a down payment for the first 10 pounds.

McAllister’s initial few phone calls were met with laughs by the fishermen.

“It’s something you’ve got to find – an old fishermen’s hunt,” he said of the quest for a 20-pounder.

With Price’s birthday looming, the lobster was found and shipped, arriving at Sullivan’s the day of the celebration.

As the lobster sat on a dish in the kitchen, awaiting its ultimate fate, the restaurant’s staff snapped photographs with cell phones and cameras. General Manager Leo Verde shrugged off a question about whether such a rugged survivor deserved to be served.

“It’s a delicacy,” he said, comparing it to a novelty like a 50-pound pumpkin. “You don’t do this every day.”

Less than a hour later, Chelsea made its debut before the diners, wheeled to Price’s table.

Price, seated at the table of nine, kidded that the lobster grabbed the limelight on her birthday celebration.

Her initial response upon seeing the lobster wasn’t newspaper friendly and moments later she said she was still speechless.

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