In the mid-1970s, Chef Warren Leruth--who, since he died in 2004 has all but achieved sainthood among New Orleans chefs and gourmets--told me that he found a new kind of lobster. "It's not a langouste," he said, referring to the genus that includes tropical and spiny lobsters. "It's an homardus species, but it's hard to tell because they don't have the big claws that Maine homard lobsters do. They come from the cold water around South Africa, and from New Zealand, too. They just ship the tails. They freeze very well." (This was before a lot of seafood started flying around the world.) This clawless (headless too, you'd say if you saw a live one) would soon become a very expensive delicacy in steakhouses across the country. It was incomparably easier to deal with than live Maine lobsters in their space-consuming tanks. The restaurateurs raved about how good it was. It was, if Warren Leruth cooked it. (He was from the school of thought, now almost disbanded, that put cooking skill above pedigreed ingredients.) After having spent far too much money on these things (they're always among the most expensive items on any menu that includes these "cold-water tails," as they are usually called), I have come to the conclusion that they're not nearly as good as the big-clawed, fresh, live lobsters from Maine and Canada. Not terrible, but almost always overpriced. Look for them (to try or avoid) at a top-end chain steakhouse near you.
