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Everybody’s feeling the pinch.
Lobster prices are a shell of a lot higher thanks to this year’s miserable winter — and that’s likely bad news for lovers of the summertime seafood rolls in posh hangouts such as the Hamptons.
“I’m hearing it’s going to go up, up, up,” said Paul DeAngelis, a partner with the famous Lobster Roll in Amagansett near Montauk, of the price of the coveted crustaceans — which he predicted could bring about 5-ounce lobster rolls nearing $50 a pop this summer.
“You might see lobster rolls out in the Hamptons this year at $45 to $48 each — that might be for a 5- to 6-ounce roll,” said DeAngelis, whose 6-ounce lobster roll in his year-round location in Southampton is now going for $39.
The price isn’t for shellfish reasons, as DeAngelis is paying about $38 per pound for his high-grade product.
“I’m hearing it may go over $40.”
The costs are skyrocketing up-island without typical Hampt-inflation as well.
Chef Mike Landesberg of Jackson Hall in East Islip said, “Lobsters are running between $20 to $23 per pound” — or roughly double what they have been.
“It’s out of control,” he told The Post.
“In the 30 years I’ve been doing this, this is probably about the highest [price] right now,” he said.
The sticker-shock seafood price is so extreme because even the lobsters got sick of the cold weather, according to George Malafis, vice president of Coral Seafood Inc.
“They head out between 20 and 40 miles offshore, they dive deep down, and they burrow down into the sand,” he said of the crustaceans during chills.
Normally, during warmer times, lobsters are only a mere 1 to 3 miles offshore.
The deep freeze that the Northeast recently endured for weeks on land was even worse at sea — especially in frozen-over lobster hotbed areas such as Nova Scotia and New England.
“Back in February, with that crazy cold weather that we had, it made it even harder for the boats to get out. … There was a high demand, and they just weren’t catching them,” Malafis said.
“A lot of guys didn’t go out because it was just too dangerous,” he said.
He compared prices between this year and 2025 like jumping from $3 at the gas pump to nearly $6.
The perfect pricing storm may not subside just because temps have moderately risen, according to Malafis, adding that the weather at sea during March and April will be crucial.
“If it’s windy, that creates the chop and very harsh conditions for the guys,” he said.
“And if it stays cold — if the water temperatures don’t heat up, the lobsters are going to stay out further.”
Montauk-based lobster fisherman Anthony Sosinki said the magic water temperature to hit is 54 degrees — but East End bodies of water are currently around 35 degrees.
“From my own experience, it generally goes up a half a degree a day,” Sosinki said.
His boat, the Anna Mary, won’t really go fishing until at least the start of April. Sosinki warned that prices are here to stay likely through at least Memorial Day Weekend or even longer in tourist season.
“The demand won’t match the supply,” he said. “I think the price is going to be high on all seafood across the board.”
Landesberg said some restaurants may embellish their lobster dishes and rolls this summer to cope with the scarcity of product.
“You may see people putting in lettuce, more celery. You may see people using leg, meat, other cheek, other parts or even cutting down,” he said.
“I do know one restaurant that already told me that they’re cutting down the amount of lobsters they’re going to be putting in their lobster rolls.”
Landesberg warned that imitation lobster or crab meat might even make an ugly appearance on plates.
“If you start to see it chopped up like tuna fish salad, there’s a good chance that they’re putting some other things in there to kind of offset the costs,” he said.
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