In the stark light, a crowd has formed at Jordan’s Snack Bar on U.S. Route 1 in Ellsworth. A vanilla ice cream cone, perched atop the plain white building with blue trim, beckons motorists. A row of yellow light bulbs glows above the takeout windows.

Wait staff, wearing polar fleece pullovers and mufflers wound around their necks, busily take orders for crab rolls and other Down East fare. A crude cardboard sign, with “Opening March 3” scrawled on it, is nailed to a utility pole. Mainers of all ages, bundled up in parkas, snowmobile boots and other heavy garb, trudge to and from their vehicles in the packed parking lot buttressed by steep snow banks. Some elderly couples sip coffee, dip into Styrofoam takeout boxes and people-watch from immaculately kept sedans. One teen is sporting a T-shirt and basketball trunks in seeming defiance of the wintry weather.

Jordan’s early opening for the season – last year March 3 and this year March 8 – stirs something in the soul. It gives folks hope that warm weather isn’t too far off. After being hammered by storms all winter, locals hanker for simple pleasures like going for a crab roll – freshly picked crabmeat packed in a grilled hot dog roll – with fries and crisp, crunchy coleslaw on the side.

Avis Harmon of Ellsworth is a fan of Jordan’s. “When you are shopping you hear ‘Jordan’s is open’ or ‘I think it’s about time the Jordans came home,'” 77-year-old Avis Harmon related, referring to takeout owners James and Carol Jordan who spend part of the winter in Florida. “We wait for them each year and cry when they close.”

When it warms up in Maine, the rite of going to one’s favorite seafood joint is repeated from Kittery to Calais. While the Pine Tree State is famous for lobster, many Mainers will privately confess they prefer crab. They’ll tell you Maine crab – if it’s freshly harvested, impeccably picked and not drowned in mayo – is subtler and more delicate in flavor than its fellow bug-eyed, bottom-dwellers from away.

Nancy Harmon Jenkins, a well known food writer whose latest book is “Cucina de Sole: A Celebration of Southern Italian Cooking,” was born and raised in Camden, Maine.

“It’s got something lobster doesn’t have. It has a sweetness and it doesn’t get stuck in your teeth,” the 67-year-old food writer observed. “Most old-time Mainers like me don’t have very good teeth and crab is a lot easier than lobster.”

Jenkins likes her crab roll in a toasted hamburger bun lightly buttered inside and out.

“Not too much mayo, please,” she cautioned. “I tend to favor Hellman’s, but that’s an old family prejudice. I also like a small amount of crunch in the crab roll – not crunch from shells, but crunch from something like wee bits of celery or very sweet onions or even of sour pickles, but very small pieces and a very small amount.”

Of course, Jenkins adds, the crabmeat must be fresh and expertly picked. In Maine, Jonah and peekytoe (rock) crabs are both used for crab rolls. Ivory-colored, with smooth shells speckled with small red or purple dots, peekytoes have sharply pointed or “picked” legs that turn slightly inward. They are preferred because their brittle shells don’t split as easily when broken and leg meat can be extracted intact.

A byproduct of the lobster fishery, peekytoes are harvested close to shore mostly in spring and summer. These crabs are highly perishable and cannot be shipped live. The crustaceans are boiled and the crabmeat laboriously picked out by hand in a heavily regulated cottage industry.

“You have to handle them with kid gloves compared to lobster,” Carl Wilson, a biologist at the Maine Department of Marine Resources, explained.

In Maine, crab picking – prying crabmeat out of claws, legs and knuckles without any broken shell – is a skill and century-old tradition often passed down from mother to daughter. Each crab picker has his or her own tool – whether it’s a lobster pick or filed-down paring knife.

Little Deer Isle resident Sonia Bunt has picked crabs for 20 years. Thousands of peekytoes pass through her deft hands annually.

“I happened to marry a fisherman,” Bunt said, chuckling. “There’s a lady who works with me. We just talk and talk. Usually the radio is going.”

Sloppy picking can ruin a crab roll, I discovered earlier this month, in a 600 mile-plus road trip from Kittery Point to the tiny town of Penobscot on the Blue Hill peninsula. The crabmeat’s freshness, amount of mayo, and whether the bun was grilled and buttered were other critical factors in my incomplete, unscientific and highly subjective sampling of crab rolls at a dozen seafood takeout joints along the Maine coast. In my survey, the seafood shacks had to be seasonal with limited indoor seating. In my mind, that weeded out fancier, sit-down restaurants serving crab cakes.

Something about its name – sweet, straightforward and sounding from another era – sent me to the Bagaduce Lunch first. I navigated the roller coaster of cracked and patched rural roads leading down to the seafood shack perched high above the Bagaduce River in Penobscot. The sudden sight of the modest place, with picnic tables scattered on a grassy point of land, took my breath away.

Over half a century ago, Penobscot residents Sid and Bernice Snow opened the seasonal takeout to supplement their income. The business has remained in the family ever since and is run these days by the Snows’ granddaughter Judy Astbury and her husband, Mike. Their daughter Abby waits on customers, too.

Not much has changed, save for the installation of portable toilets, at the Bagaduce Lunch since it first opened in 1947. The seafood shack on that remote stretch of road had everything – superb crab roll, setting and friendly service – that I was searching for.

Robert Bowden, a 49-year-old hairstylist in Blue Hill, agrees. He’s been going to the Bagaduce Lunch since he was a toddler and has fond memories of playing there with his now deceased elder brother.

“It’s real special to me because there are not too many places I can recall us being together,” he said. “We would run out on the dock and throw clam shells in the water. It’s incredible to me it’s still the same.”

Letitia Baldwin can be reached at 990-8270 and lbaldwin@bangordailynews.net.

Bagaduce Lunch

19 Bridge Rd. (Route 176), Penobscot

207-326-4729

Large crab roll $8.25

The plain white building with red trim, with a sweeping view of the Bagaduce River and Reversing Falls, looks like a postcard from the 1950s. Picnic tables are scattered around the remains of a wharf where coastal schooners once fetched lumber and other goods bound for Boston and beyond. The crabmeat, immaculately picked and lightly mixed with Kraft mayonnaise, is served on a grilled hamburger bun. Try the cool, crisp and finely minced coleslaw. Wednesday 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Thursday-Tuesday 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

Country View Drive-In

4200 Snow’s Cove Rd (Route 15), Sedgwick

207-359-2214

Basic crab roll $8

Sunset is a magic time to get a bite at this takeout straddling blueberry barrens and lush-green fields. Decades ago, Sedgwick resident Nellie Smith started the takeout as a seasonal occupation while her husband Milton worked during the week unloading produce trucks in Boston. “Thank you for stopping. We appreciate your company,” reads a sign above the walk-up windows. Even the old red waste bins have “thank you” painted in white letters on them. Families can spread out at one of the round tables covered in oil cloths inside the outdoor dining pavilion. Sweet, finely picked crabmeat bursts out the grilled and well-buttered hot dog bun. Daily 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

Crosby’s Drive-In & Dairy Bar

30 State Route 46, Bucksport

469-3640

Basic crab roll $8.45

Crosby’s, a cocoa-brown building with mint-colored trim, is a stone’s throw from US Route 1. “Fats” Crosby, who peddled Down East fare at country fairs, started the classic drive-in when his trailer broke down here in the late 1930s. Crosby’s serves sweet-tasting crabmeat, barely dressed in generic brand restaurant mayonnaise, in a grilled and buttered hotdog roll. A crisp iceberg lettuce leaf tucked in the bottom of the bun adds a satisfying crunch. This bustling place boasts an outdoor dining room and pristine bathrooms. Daily 11 a.m.- 9 p.m.

Down East Lobster Co.

1192 Bar Harbor Rd. (Route 3), Trenton

207-667-8589

Basic crab roll $6.99

Lobsters and crabs, looking lively in a well-aerated tank with crystal-clear sea water, make a good first impression at this classic seafood takeout. Lobster claws, clam and scallop shells are tangled in old fishnets suspended from the ceiling. The pistachio-walled interior is spotless and the owners Ron Doane and Susan Waite admit they repaint the entire inside every year. Customers are given a numbered backgammon chip and are directed, around neatly piled spruce and white birch logs, to collect their order. The savory crab roll comes in a grilled hot dog bun. Lightly dressed in Cains mayonnaise and dusted with paprika, the finely picked crabmeat smells fresh and sweet. Monday-Friday 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday 10 a.m.-8 p.m.

Jordan’s Snack Bar

200 Down East Highway (U.S. Route 1), Ellsworth

207-667-2174

Basic crab roll $7.75.

This wildly popular takeout makes up for its highway setting with good food, excellent service and family-friendly attitude. There’s a playground and plenty of picnic tables. Folks can also carry food and drinks into a dining room with restrooms, jukebox and and a coin-operated airplane ride. A free “Cruise-in,” where people display vintage vehicles and dance to live country music, is held Wednesday nights. Crabmeat is prepared with Miracle Whip and served on a toasted hot dog bun. Daily 10:30 a.m.-9 p.m.

Red’s Eats

US Route 1 and Water Street, Wiscasset

207-882-6128

Basic crab roll $8.50

Red’s, a tiny establishment shaded by the last old elm tree in downtown Wiscasset, is inviting with its cheerful red-and-white-striped awning. The wait staff is friendly and service impeccable. But it’s a hard place to park, eat and navigate with small children. The mournful whistle of the train chugging through this coastal town is fun, but the roar of tractor trailers so close can be scary for toddlers. Started in 1938 by two sisters, “the Colby girls,” Red’s famed lobster roll is a thing to behold with ruby red-tinged lobster meat – more than a whole crustacean per serving – overflowing from the bun. The crab roll is made with Hellman’s Mayonnaise. Monday-Thursday 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Friday-Saturday 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m., and Sundays noon- 5 p.m.

Chauncy Creek Lobster Pier

Chauncy Creek Road, Kittery Point

207-439-1030

www.chauncycreek.com

Plain crab roll $7.95

Started by Herb Witham in 1940, Chauncy Creek Lobster Pier has remained in the same family ever since. The old fishing wharf, with its original hoist for raising and lowering bait barrels, makes a charming setting. Shiny, brightly-colored picnic tables are repainted annually with high-gloss boat paint. “My great grandfather gave it [the lobster pier] to my grandfather,” relates manager Zachary Spinney who got his first fishing boat when he was 5. “My grandfather gave it to my father Ron Spinney and hopefully he will pass it on to me.”

At Chauncy Creek, the airy, open-sided shed provides a shady, spacious spot to feast on steamed lobster and corn-on-the-cob at water’s edge. Some diners bring their own coolers complete with chilled white wine and glasses. The crab roll comes in a hamburger bun. Daily 11 a.m.-8 p.m.