Lobster ice cream to feature on Food Network

A popular local confection will be getting more national attention tonight.

The lobster ice cream from Ben and Bill’s Chocolate Emporium will be featured on the “Cream of the Crop” episode of “Roker on the Road,” airing at 9 p.m. on The Food Network.

The lobster ice cream, which has been covered by national newspapers and on the Paul Harvey radio show, was created more than a decade ago by Jeff Young as a signature food for the Bar Harbor business. It features grilled lobster meat in a vanilla ice cream. It’s the business’s most shipped item, and gets sent all over the United States.

“It tastes like a frozen Newburg or bisque,” said Bonnie Young, the store’s manager.

The Roker show’s producers heard about it and arranged a shoot by a film crew last fall. The popular “Today” show weatherman himself wasn’t present, Young said.

Also on the episode will be a Trinidadian restaurant serving up creamy native desserts and fruits, a Vermont man who is making water buffalo cheese and yogurt, and Roker learning about creamy cake decorating.

Ben and Bill’s Chocolate Emporium offers 70 flavors of ice cream as well as candy including fudges, chocolates and brittles. The business, which is open 10 months a year, is gearing up to reopen later this month.