Dock & Roll Diner Releases New Summer Menu, Represents Texas in 2014 Lobster Rumble

Dock & Roll Diner Releases New Summer Menu, 

Represents the Lone Star State in Tasting Table's 2014 Lobster Rumble

At Dock & Roll Diner, the city’s go-to food truck for ultra-fresh seafood, everything starts with the finest ingredients. So when chef-owner Lee Krassner recently began working with a new purveyor, he wanted to build on his already wildly popular offerings and added four new menu items just in time for summer.

The new menu items include the Maine Jonah Crab Roll (Maine Jonah crab leg meat lightly dressed in Dock & Roll’s secret house dressing with Romaine, lemon butter, and chive), the Maine Scallop Roll (seared Maine scallops with scallion and lemon butter), Sea Slaw (Ocean Approved fresh seaweed, shredded greens, red cabbage, and carrot with chive and secret house dressing), and the Lobster Peaux Boy (panko-crusted Maine lobster claws with Mardi-slaw—shredded greens, red cabbage, carrot, and grilled corn—and rémoulade à la New Orleans). “We wanted to showcase the quality of our new products,” said Krassner, who founded Dock & Roll nearly three years ago after working in restaurants in New York and San Francisco, including Todd English’s Olives, Commerce, and Public.

Krassner and his team recently traveled back east to participate in Tasting Table’s 2014 Lobster Rumble in New York. Tasting Table named Dock & Roll Diner one of the country’s best venues for lobster rolls and invited Krassner to compete against the other top picks. The sole entry from Texas, Dock & Roll served its signature dish, the Maine Event, a classic Maine-style lobster roll with Maine lobster claw and knuckle meat served chilled and lightly drizzled with the secret house dressing, lemon, butter, and chive. Krassner also served a variation of the Austin Roll with its award-winning habanero sauce, the Truth. Although Dock & Roll didn’t win, the Austin venture did do a fine job of representing the Lone Star State. “It was a wonderful experience getting to showcase what we do,” said Krassner. “The competition was stiff, but we certainly held our own. We feel we made Austin proud and are looking forward to heading to the West Coast for the LA Lobster Rumble on August 1.”

Not only did Krassner go up against restaurants he remembers frequenting in Maine and New York, including places such as Luke’s Lobster that contributed to the early beginnings of the lobster roll craze, but he also forged a relationship with Ready Seafood, a family-owned lobster wholesaler based in Portland, Maine. “Their product and the quality they take to ensure their customers receive the freshest, best Maine lobster is what really drew us in,” said Krassner. “They took us out on their lobster boat to show us exactly where their product comes from . . . proving they not only talk the talk but walk it too.” Business partner Daniel Dennis, who spends a majority of his time working directly with patrons, is also excited about the partnership with Ready Seafood and is looking forward to getting consumer feedback on the premium lobster and other offerings and meeting new customers.

Dock & Roll Diner features top-of-the-line seafood mixed with a little Texas flair and a lot of Austin weird.

Two permanent trailer locations are at 1503 S. 1st and 1905 S. Capitol of Texas Highway, and a new truck is on the streets and ready for catering and events. Dock & Roll hopes to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant by the end of the year. For hours and more information, go to dockandrolldiner.com.