Long Island chef Mike Landesberg marked a major milestone Thursday when he sold his 1 millionth lobster roll at Jackson Hall in East Islip. The Jackson Hall lobster roll milestone capped a run that turned the restaurant into a destination for regulars, first-time visitors and diners trying to guess the exact moment the landmark order would be placed.
Landesberg celebrated by handing out more than $2,000 in prizes to the lucky customer and the people who came closest to predicting the sale. He said diners had been tracking the count for days, with some asking hosts whether they would be the millionth customer and others trying to nudge servers for inside information. Landesberg said he had been selling about 5,000 to 6,000 rolls a day since taking over as executive chef in 2021, and he began promoting the looming milestone weeks in advance on his social media pages.
The chef said the buildup became part of the fun. He kept a running tab on sales and realized this summer would bring the big number, then turned his online following into a live countdown. That attention helped fuel what he described as a steady stream of customers watching for the one-millionth order, while he offered a $200 gift card online to the person who most accurately predicted the day, time and type of roll ordered.
Landesberg was already familiar to television viewers before the lobster roll race took off. He had appeared on Gordon Ramsay’s “Kitchen Nightmares” at a previous restaurant, and his lobster rolls later drew their own wave of attention online, including a signature version tied to the island and topped with Cajun honey butter and jalapeños. His profile grew again after he used his platform to speak about male breast cancer awareness.
In 2022, Landesberg said he beat male breast cancer and became an advocate for fundraising on behalf of men and women facing the disease. That work brought him back to national television with a guest appearance on “Good Morning America.” He said looking back on where he was five years ago made the restaurant’s current success especially meaningful, describing the milestone as a reward at the end of a long stretch of work.
