Veteran Seafood Stalwart Lefty’s Is a Lobster Lover’s Paradise

Editor’s Note: A couple of weeks ago I got a message from a reader who had read an article about Lexy’s in anticipation of dinner there the next night. Turns out the reader was not going to the swank new spot in Trinity Groves with a MoÁ«t vending machine. Rather, L-E-F-T-Y-‘S, the lobster house in Addison. Never having heard of Lefty’s, I asked for a report back. They loved it. And so we set out to check it out ourselves seeing as it’s been around for decades and we have nary an article about it. Here’s Nick Reynold’s dispatch: 

Way back in 1910, the Papageorge family opened its first restaurant in New York City. From there, they made their way to Ohio and ultimately landed in Dallas, where they had a restaurant on Harry Hines called The Golden Nugget. In 1995, the long, winding road led the Papageorge family to Lefty’s Lobster & Chowder House in Addison.

We paid Lefty’s a visit on a recent Sunday, arriving as soon as they opened their doors for the evening. Lefty’s is open only for dinner on the weekends and for both lunch and dinner Monday through Friday.

The menu here is obviously seafood-driven; however, they do offer a handful of chicken and steak dishes (chicken piccata, chicken parmesan, stuffed chicken breast, ribeye and filet mignon). But, as you can probably tell by the restaurant’s name, lobsters are the stars of the show at this quaint, long-running establishment: whole lobster, baked stuffed lobster, pan-fried lobster, broiled lobster tail, lobster bisque. If you’re craving lobster – you name it, they got it.

We were among the first to arrive, and only one other red checkered tablecloth-clad table was occupied. But it didn’t take long for patrons to start filling the room; many appeared to be regulars.

We opened with the Maine lobster bisque ($11.50), a thick, buttery-creamy bisque accentuated with seductive chunks of lobster. Some places skimp on the lobster. Lefty’s isn’t one of those places.

Next, we went with an old-fashioned crab cake ($11.95). It was a decently sized patty loaded with crab meat and came with house tartar and cocktail sauces, both of which complemented the crab cake well.

Mouth-watering crustaceans are everywhere here: steamed clams, mussels in marinara sauce, crawfish, fried jumbo shrimp and shrimp cocktail can all be had at Lefty’s. Seafood is also found in pasta dishes such as clams over pasta (clams and linguini in a lemon garlic white wine sauce), shrimp scampi, and Lefty’s pasta, which is jumbo shrimp, Andouille sausage and crawfish over linguini, bathed in a spicy Cajun cream sauce.

Salmon, snapper and trout are your fish choices, and we decided on the pistachio-crusted trout. It was cooked nicely, not dry, and the crumbled pistachios coating the fish added a crunch. The crawfish rémoulade served alongside it was super.

On our next visit, we’ll have to try the clam chowder. And who knows, maybe we will bump into Dallas Cowboys legend and NFL all-time leading rusher Emmitt Smith, who has been known to drop by Lefty’s on occasion.

Lefty’s Lobster & Chowder House, 4021 Belt Line Road, Addison. Monday – Thursday, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., 4 p.m. – 9 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., 4 p.m. -10 p.m.; Saturday, 4 p.m. – 10 p.m.; Sunday, 4 p.m. – 9 p.m.