Duryea's Lobster Deck

Occasion: Last Hamptons meal before heading back to the city

Location: Duryea's Lobster Deck on Tuthill Road in Montauk (duryealobsters.com)

Edibles: lobster rolls for me and Abby, with sides of coleslaw and potato salad; a burger (sacrilege!) for Jill; corn-on-the-cob and coleslaw for Elizabeth

Musings: It was perhaps not the most healthy or well-balanced of meals (mayonnaise being the base of all 3 items on my plate), but it was absolutely delicious and soul-deep satisfying. But for the limitations of budget and waistline, I'd have lobster rolls every day of my life.

I learned about this place from Montauk natives the day before. Completely beached-out after a few hours broiling under the midday sun, I left the girls happily basking at the beach and headed out in search of shade. I found it at a little health foods store with a backyard area and some umbrella'ed tables. When a nearby mother and daughter saw me struggling to unfurl an umbrella at an empty table, they offered me the third shaded chair at theirs instead. We got to chatting. They were very friendly and gave me all sorts of insider's travel tips, including Duryea's. (Sometime, I hope to make it out to the Montauk library, which they also recommended.)

Trying to find Duryea's involved some hijinks, as our first attempt landed us right back at our hotel. With a little help from BB GPS (good, Gadget!), we managed to correctly navigate the winding, poorly signed roads to make our way there. My Montauk tipsters had not led us astray - well, not figuratively, anyway. For the same price as the previous day's Lobster Roll meal, we got huge rolls filled with hefty chunks of lobster. The homemade coleslaw was also very yummy, so much so that I poached Jill's. I found the sesame bun to be a little stale, but it was only a minor detraction from my very major enjoyment. Sitting at a shady table out on the deck, surrounded by the bay, it was the perfect end to our beach weekend.

Thanks go out to Montauk Mom and her adorable red-headed, college-bound daughter (I didn't even get their names - yikes).