Elderly Lobster Spared by Oceana Restaurant

These are tough times for the high-end dining industry, and the seafood restaurant Oceana could have made a cool $275 just for tossing a septuagenarian lobster into a pot of boiling water. Because lobsters' age can be determined by weight, the Oceana owners believe the 11 pound crustacean, nicknamed "Peter," is approximately 70 years old. This guy was old enough to bite a infantryman's foot at Omaha Beach; does that make him too old to eat?

Apparently so, because Oceana has taken Peter off the menu, after being "bombarded" with calls begging them to spare the senescent arthropod. It's unclear what's next for Peter, but executive chef Ben Pollinger seems a little frustrated, telling the Daily News, "People have had emotional reactions. What's the big deal, why are we being persecuted for this lobster?" And Oceana patron Beth McAuley wonders, "What does it matter if it's 1, 3 or 70 years old? If you're going to eat it, you're going to eat it."

But do you really want to? A-list chef Michael White (Marea, Convivio, Alto) Tells Bloomberg News, "I can only imagine that it tastes like (expletive) because it’s so old and tough. It depends on how you cook it, but it’s like eating a 70-year-old cockroach." In January, City Crab & Seafood Company released a 20 pound, 140-year- old lobster back into the ocean after PETA complained. So it's nice to see there's hope for lobsters imprisoned in the tank: Get fat and old fast.