Area celebrity chef brings lobster rolls to Lincoln Kitchen

“It's going to be delicious,” Macrowitz says, “and people follow me and they know I come from the Captain's House. It's all about love… I put a lot of that into my food.”

The aforementioned popular Miller Beach seafood joint fell victim to the pandemic and closed, but McRovits isn't slowing down.

A Gary native, McLovits has owned seven restaurants and numerous food-related businesses in both Northwestern and South Carolina, he's also a cooking teacher and told me that his grandfather, who once worked for Al Capone, was Gary's first pizza maker.

McLovits, who sells rolls at the Lobster Shack concession stand, comes at a time when Lincoln Kitchen is undergoing a softer rebranding effort.

Lincoln Kitchen was originally conceived as a ghost kitchen and business incubator, but added seating earlier this year and eventually aims to become a food court, if not a food hall, said owner Eric Belinday.

“When we first started, we thought it would just be delivery and takeaway,” Bellinday said. “We realized our customers wanted to spend more time here.

Bellinday says the seating area originally came about by happy accident: They found some booths at the back of the space, then on a whim put a few in the main foyer, and the seats just kept filling up.

Customers are expected to fill up fast as MacRovits unveils a full menu of inventive lobster rolls.

When I visited last week, it was McLovits' fourth day at the bar, and she started off with classic New England cocktails, then added variations on the many cocktails she makes at Captain's House.

These include the Sedona Desert Lobster Roll (not a place known for its fresh seafood) and the French “poudre” roll with brie, Dijon mustard and chopped pickles.

MacLovits told me that although the lobster itself takes a circuitous route from New England to northwest Australia, first to Georgia before heading back north again, it is a real lobster, and that she breaks it apart by hand.

Each roll comes with a brioche bun, lettuce, tomato, lemon, and butter, and I get to watch as Maclovitz carefully toasts each bun, cuts up some greens, and drizzles melted butter onto each sandwich himself. That was a real treat for me.

Though I'm skeptical of ghost kitchens, I was actually very impressed with the layout and the quality of the food I sampled: The ordering front resembles an upscale food court, with several different facades, gourmet sauces to-go, baked goods like bagels, and a large touch screen where you can order from Lincoln Kitchen's in-house brand.

Many of the Lincoln Kitchen outlets are brick-and-mortar locations, including Hammond Super Subs and Chesterton's Namaste, whose owner, Jeevan Singh, opens a daily outlet at Lincoln Kitchen, Bellinday told me.

This is a far cry from the image I usually have of ghost kitchens: secret warehouses you can't find on a map, or a corner establishment masquerading as a local mom-and-pop shop inside a Denny's.

It's true that ghost kitchens, as Lincoln Kitchen has done, are a cost-effective space for restaurant startups to access high-quality equipment and facilitate delivery services.

At its worst, it has led to a lack of oversight that led YouTuber Mr.Beast to sued his own brand, Mr.Beast Burger, last year after a series of meals made in ghost kitchens became notoriously poor quality.

In fact, Lincoln Kitchen has a deal with Mr. Beast Burger, Bellenday said, adding that there are probably a few boxes of Mr. Beast stored away in the back of the warehouse.

Bellenday said that at first, Mr. Beast Burger's people were very strict about the recipe, cooking methods and brand management, but then they disappeared, he said.

Lincoln Kitchen is now working on something bigger, better and less brutal.

“We want this to be like an upscale food court,” Berendey said. “We want people to sit here and linger. If they're here a long time, that means we're doing well.”

In fact, while ghost kitchens were initially hailed as the future of restaurants post-pandemic, Macrowitz predicts almost the exact opposite.

Whatever the business model, she believes, it has to offer some kind of attraction that makes it a place people can't escape to.

“Whether it's a food court or a fast-food restaurant, it needs to be positioned as a destination,” Macrowitz says. “People want to experience something new, something they've never tried before.”