Bumper Harvest Makes Lobster Less Rare In Restaurants

Lower cost leads restaurants to include more lobster in dishes.  Why more supply?:

It is rare dynamic in today's food world: Supply of lobster is plentiful and pushing down prices. This comes at a time when rising commodity costs are boosting the price of foods like beef and coffee. And much of the most popular seafood is being severely overfished. The supply of North Atlantic lobsters has steadily climbed for over a decade.
Supply is likely growing because of a combination of factors. Warming water in recent years may be boosting lobster population. Fishermen are following regulations that protect young and egg-bearing lobsters. And there has been a decline in recent decades of natural predators such as cod, which eat baby lobsters.
Lobster fishermen groups in the U.S. and Canada, the main areas where lobster is caught for the American market, say retail prices have fallen. In the past two years, the average price that Maine fishermen are paid for whole live lobster has been under $3 per pound, down from a high of $4.63 in 2005, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources.
Lobster prices can vary widely across the country. Many restaurants buy in bulk to lock in a good price.
"When you increase supply by 80% in five years," it is hard for prices to keep up when consumer spending is weak, says Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen's Association, which represent the state's fishermen.

When Golden Corral and Quizno's are serving lobster items, it's gone pretty lowbrow.  Wait'll we get McTails.  I've only eaten lobster twice.  Once in a lobster roll in Boston, and once as a whole boiled lobster at a company gathering.  It didn't do a whole lot for me.  I think I'd like any meat dipped in melted butter.  Hell, just give me a bacon cheeseburger instead.  But the lobster chips do sound pretty good.