Brandon Coyne, kitchen manager
at McGuirk's Ocean View
Restaurant, shows off the
restaurant's renowned lobster roll.

HAMPTON -- "We have a secret recipe and the secret is lobster!" said Bill McGuirk, owner and founder of McGuirk's Ocean View Restaurant.

Their lobster roll was recently voted the best in New England by NECN viewers. What sets them apart from their competitors is the seven ounces of lobster meat packed into a 6-inch baguette roll with a side of homemade French fries.

Tom McGuirk, manager and son of owner Bill, and Erin Dobson, daughter of the owner, both say they have been told for years that they offer the best lobster roll around. This year they finally received recognition.

McGuirk's received 38 percent of the vote. The other competitors included: The Lobster Pot in East Wareham, Mass., with 36 percent of the vote, Frate's Drive-in in Taunton, Mass., with 12 percent, North End Seafood Company in Somerset, Mass., with 7 percent, and Bob's Clam Hut in Kittery, Maine, with 5 percent of the vote.

McGuirk's colossal lobster roll has been, and continues to be, the most popular item on the menu. The sign outside the restaurant welcomes customers to try "the biggest and best lobster roll on the beach."

"Most lobster rolls are on hot dog rolls, but the baguette is what makes it so good," said David Medeiros of Swansea, Mass., who has been vacationing in Hampton Beach for seven years. "It's loaded with chunks meat."

Brandon Coyne, McGuirk's kitchen manager from Worcester Mass., said the secret is the amount of lobster on the freshly baked baguette. Lettuce lines the bottom of the roll and chunks of celery are mixed throughout the seven ounces of lobster meat held together by a small amount of mayonnaise.

They use packaged lobster from local lobster vendors. Serving the cold lobster salad on a hot roll is the perfect combination, said Tom McGuirk.

McGuirk's has been a family-run business for 21 years.

"We have three generations of McGuirks working here," said Dobson.

NECN featured a news clip on McGuirk's.

Today the lobster roll is priced at $19.99.

Brandon Coyne, kitchen manager at McGuirk's Ocean View
Restaurant, prepares a lobster roll.