David Burke’s Famous Angry Lobster Scramble

The inspiration for angry lobster originally came from lobster arrabiata and now, it's transformed into a seafood crostini of sorts at David Burke's latest restaurant, Tavern 62 in New York City’s Upper East Side. The lobster is cooked in its shell, raw into the fire. “That’s unlike what most Americans are used to,” Burke says. “When you boil lobster, you actually boil all the flavor away.” So, he sears the shellfish in red pepper flakes, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, and butter. Then he adds basil and tomato paste to the mix, lets it cooks for a few minutes more, and removes the lobster from the pan. The eggs are scrambled in the lobster drippings, but that’s not it’s only source of flavor.

The secret to Burke’s soft, creamy scrambled eggs? Lobster bisque and more butter. (As our senior food & drinks editor Kat Kinsman says, “Mo’ butter, mo’ better.” She is correct.) Lobster bisque is whipped into duck eggs from the restaurant’s farm, and butter is stirred into the soft curds after the eggs are done cooking.

The lobster scramble is served in an ostrich egg with basil mousse, and it all sits on a bed of peppercorns and bayleaf. (Back in the day, it sat on a bed of nails.) “I torch the black peppercorn and the bayleaf, so when it arrives at the table, your senses of smell open up,” Burke says. “It’s more about aroma and dramatic presentation as opposed to same-old, same-old salt.” Yup, your senses are put to work. When eating the angry lobster scramble, you’ll use your eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and if you pick the lobster meat up with your hands—which you should—you’ll also use touch.