Steve Corry has lobster on the brain when planning his annual staff party and it’s no wonder. The Food and Wine 2007 Hot Chef and Five Fifty-Five co-owner with wife Michelle, Corry is a master at marrying rustic with chic. Gleaming copper tables and crisp white table cloths abut a modest, hectic open kitchen. A dark bar room makes natural way to a minimalist, creamy dining room complete with a narrow catwalk for seating among wooden beams. A complex beef carpaccio appetizer is playfully referred to as steak and cheese and, along with the rest of the mostly local and completely divine menu, plays to the desire to create an experience at once elegant and informal. It’s in this vein that Corry prepares his annual staff lobsterbake—cooking a refined item, lobster, in a casual beach setting. CITY asked Corry to break down the affair in five easy steps, and he insisted that we help gather the rocks and seaweed.

—ALEXANDRA COLLINS

CHEF CORRY’s LOBSTERBAKE TIPS:

1. Dig enormous pit and build comparable fire—both pit and fire should be big!

2. Grab beers and peruse beach for large rocks and wet seaweed. Let fire settle into coals. Throw rocks on the coals and seaweed on rocks.

3. Crate live lobsters in wooden traps and throw over pit. Cover traps with more wet seaweed.

4. Drink more beer.

5. After 10 to 15 minutes, get lowest paid staff member, or guy who has had the most beers, to pull the lobsters from the pit. Serve with lemon and butter (and whatever else you can throw on the grill—if you brought one—steak, chicken, potatoes, and clams).