Seattle has become world-class expensive — we know this. But the sticker shock from the city’s priciest food (and drink) is real. In this series, Seattle Times food critic Bethany Jean Clement taste-tests some of the spendiest items around town — including, so far, a $28 hamburger , a $55 pie and more — to evaluate whether they’re worth the price of ingestion.

THE ITEM: The Double-the-Lobster lobster roll at Bar Harbor in South Lake Union. THE PRICE: $40. CONSIDER THE LOBSTER ROLL: A lobster roll is by nature a New England thing, for that is where the lobsters are — in Maine, mainly, where back in the day the Atlantic was so rife with these crustaceans that they were the opposite of a luxury.

So many lobsters! Lobstermen and -women, in particular, probably got sick of eating this largesse. Many a chowder was made. And why not serve it as a sandwich, unpretentiously, on a bun similar to a hot-dog one? Different preparations have their highly partisan fans.

There’s the lobster roll served warm with the meat drizzled in melted butter, generally called Connecticut-style; Maine-style has come to mean either meat mixed with just mayo, or that plus celery and/or chives. Beyond this, you’re venturing into some controversial territory of innovation; there’s talk of places back East serving them flavored with wasabi, chipotle and curry, which must drive lobster-roll sticklers mad. More For the purist, the style of bun is not open to debate: It shall be a top-split, fl.