After its extensive coverage of New Haven-style apizza, the New York Times is weighing in on another iconic Connecticut food: the lobster roll.

An Aug. 10 story titled "In the Fierce Lobster Roll Rivalry, There Are Only Winners" examines the difference between the two styles — hot and buttery here, versus cold, mayonnaise-dressed lobster salad in Maine — and looks at how the dish's growing popularity has inspired further creativity in restaurants from New York all the way to Los Angeles.

While the Times declares everyone a winner, an informal CT Insider reader poll from 2022 poll, which has more than 100 votes, found Connecticut-style to be a clear winner here.

The Connecticut style of the dish was likely invented at Perry's in Milford in the 1920s, the piece states, and it quotes someone whose family has been serving Connecticut-style lobster rolls since 1947.

Chelsea Leonard, the third-generation owner of Connecticut seafood shack Abbott's in the Rough in Noank, told the Times that she welcomes the lobster roll's wider appeal.

"People kept requesting a warm one so we added it," Brian Glennon, the chef at Jordan's Lobster Farms in Island Park, New York, told the Times. "We started with 15 to 20 a day, and now we're selling more than 70 each day."

According to the piece, Maine version's origins lie in lobster salad recipes from the 1800s, combined with the 1904 World's Fair popularization of hand-held foods and Maine's roadside tourism efforts in the mid-20th century.

The story states that lobster rolls, as a whole, have become more popular in recent years, with some restaurants now offering both styles. CT Insider previously reported that many of the state's own lobster roll institutions serve both hot and cold lobster rolls. Others, like Lobster Landing in Clinton, serve only Connecticut style.

Others restaurants in Connecticut create their own, creative takes on the lobster roll. The Times notes a Los Angeles restaurant that serves a Southeast Asian-inspired lobster roll.

One restaurant cited by the Times even has a "hybrid" style: Restaurant chain Luke's Lobster serves a split, toasted bun with mayonnaise spread on the bread. It's piled with cold lobster meat and drizzled with warm, melted lemon butter, according to its menu.

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