Playing with lobster can be a chef's Maine course

Like most chefs in top restaurants, Evans takes the work out of eating lobster . Named one of the top 10 new chefs in the country by Food & Wine magazine in 2004, he applies a creativity that goes well beyond baked, stuffed, boiled, or steamed.

``We try to be innovative as often as possible and tend to stay away from traditional preparations," Evans said. Asian-influenced lobster sashimi , for example, is just a whisper beyond raw. ``We poach the lobster for 30 seconds to get the tail meat out, slice it, put it on a skewer and do a light brushing with Asian citrus and soy and sprinkle it with crystallized orange peel," he said. It's served in an iced, applewood-smoked preparation. ``Not only is it raw and cold smoked, it's done tableside," he said. ``It's extremely tender, and the taste is subtle."

Far richer are the classical preparations of Steve Corry, chef-owner with his wife, Michelle, of Portland's five fifty-five restaurant. ``When people think of lobster, they want some decadence," said Corry , whose lobster Benedict contains half the meat from a 1 1/2-pounder poached in butter. ``We're talking decadence here: pure hollandaise made with egg yolk and clarified butter slowly tempered together, lemon, a touch of our house-made hot sauce, served on a brioche, puff pastry, or house-made biscuits."

Corry obviously ignored the childhood admonishment not to play with his food. His take on a lobster roll, a New England classic, has verve with a Southwestern accent. He begins with a lobster guacamole, made from fresh California avocados, lemon juice, a little garlic, knuckle meat, and a touch of cayenne pepper. That rests upon sliced, toasted-and-buttered brioche rounds and is topped with tail meat that has been sliced in half, so it curls into its natural shape. Crowning it is a claw, set askew and garnished with lobster tentacles.