Legal Seafood
(355 Main St, Cambridge, MA 02142)
Day two of living a Bostonian
life and now that I’ve gotten most of my chowder craving satiated, it was time
to get taste of what fresh Atlantic seafood was all about. After taking a tour of Harvard (Haavaad as it
seemed like everyone was saying), perusing through the Museum of Natural
History and Touring MIT, I was a bit famished.
During a trip of this nature, ones where I spend multiple days just site
seeing, I like to have at least one “nice” meal and I felt like it was about
that time to partake in my one for lunch.
Enter Legal Seafood (http://www.legalseafoods.com/restaurants/cambridge-kendall-square). Though I generally don’t like to visit chain
restaurants during my trips (except for “exotic” chains not easily accessible
in Texas, i.e. White Castle in New York), I figured a local chain would still
be within my parameters. I also need to apologize in advance for the length of this blog, the contents were too rich to only do it the injustice of a short write-up.
Upon entering this establishment, you find yourself inundated with deep, rich, perfectly stained and polished wooded décor with matching nautical themed accents. The dining room was filled so I sat in the bar section, which was fine by me…the bar has television to watch. As I waited for my server, I watched entrées exiting the kitchen with what I could only describe as food porn. So as I sat on my soft cushioned bench seat I started taking a gander at the menu trying to match these dishes with their descriptions.
Remember how I said I mostly got over my clam chowder craving, this is where I squashed it. I had ordered my appetizer, but the server had come back and to inform me that they had just ran out, of the Fried Soft Shelled Crab: "Blue Cheese Stuffed Roma Tomato, Basil Oil, Roasted Garlic, Pea Tendrils." Apparently the one that I witnessed leaving the kitchen just a few minutes back was the last order that they had. I was a little disheartened, but I ended up ordering the Signature Crab Cake and a cup of their New England Clam Chowder in its stead.
The
Clam Chowder was first to be served and I have to admit it was good, without a
doubt heads above the other two chowders from the previous day.
As you can see from the picture, the chowder was incredibly
thick and was able to support the weight of an entire package of oyster
crackers without descending to the bottom of the cup. The potatoes were soft yet had a nice tooth
feel when I biting into them. As for the
clams themselves, there weren’t many, but the few that were present, weren’t
too rubbery and had a nice saltiness to them.
The chowder was phenomenal; The claims were noticeably fresh, the
vegetables I could tell were properly seasoned and well prepared prior to being
finished off in the chowder. It was the best cup of Clam Chowder that I’ve ever
had, bar none.
My appetizer came next,
the Legal’s Signature Crab Cake: “jumbo lump crab, mustard sauce, seasonal salad.” You know when you read, “Crab Cake” at
almost any seafood restaurant, your mind inadvertently thinks something that
has some crab, but is mostly seasoned bread crumb filler with at best a decent
sauce. I was very pleasantly surprised
to receive this..................................................
This masterful prepared dish was everything that I didn’t
know that I wanted in a crab cake. The
crab meat was copious in quantity and superb in quality, seasoned ever so lightly with
sea salt, pepper and had buttery tones to accentuate the sweetness of the crab. And best of all, no filler! The mustard cut through some of the fishiness that comes with all seafood. The salad contained arugula, baby spinach and, unexpectedly, Thai basil and was topped with steamed green peas, a thinly sliced pickled sweet radish and pan fried onion pieces. If this didn't cost $16.95, I think I would have probably ordered another.
So for my entree I choose the Char Grilled Rainbow Trout with grilled asparagus and crispy risotto cake as my two sides.
I want to start with the most underwhelming item of the entire meal, the grilled asparagus. I had assumed that since the side salad (that accompanied the crab cake) had a few added ingredients that made a somewhat boring salad palatable, that the asparagus would have had something ... anything ... to make them stand out over something that someone without a culinary degree could prepare. I don't consider unseasoned grilled asparagus with shaved Parmesan is anything that a culinary professional at a Zagat rated restaurant should ever be content on serving. The vegetable lacked salt AND pepper and probably needed a splash of lemon juice and maybe a brush of some bacon drippings while on the grill, but instead I was served something almost as bland as asparagus flavored water.
Now for everything else, the Crispy Risotto Cake served with corn, cucumber, and tomato jam. The only real criticism that I can make about this side dish was that they probably needed to take it out of the fryer about 45 seconds to a minute and a half sooner. The outer "shell" was tougher than it needed to be. Trust me, I've been frying foods and eating fried foods long enough to tell when somethings been frying just a bit too long. Fortunately, the "tomato jam" (I consider it more of a tomato cream sauce due to the presence of free liquid) gave each bite the moisture that the outer crust lacked.
The filling was moist and full of flavor. (Just as an aside, I have to say that making a crispy cake is a great way of using left over risotto from a previous service). I could taste Parmesan cheese along with butter, garlic, salt, pepper and possibly bits of shallot in the filling. The tomato jam, not only added moisture, it added a bit of acid to a the cake that balanced out the sweetness of the corn. Overall this was a very balanced dish, but for my taste, I wish there would have been a spicy component, bits of jalapeno added in with the corn, or maybe some red pepper flakes added to the risotto while being prepared. Eh, now I'm being picky. The thing was great.
I've never had Rainbow trout, so I'm at a loss of any real base line to compare the flavor. I know (from Wikipedia) that Rainbow trout is part of the salmon family, but since its a white fish and salmon obviously a white, comparing the two would be like apples and oranges. The only other regular white fish that I eat is sea bass (only when I've saved up enough money...so not very often) and so again, not exactly a great comparison. So as my anatomy professor always said..."Let's get started. The trout was chard well and the grill marks were ...well... restaurant quality. I didn't need to use the lemon that was provided because unlike most fish that I've had, there didn't seem to have that fishiness about it that most can't mask. The meat was supper flaky, still moist and it slipped off the attached skin effortlessly. The meat tasted slightly sweet and only seemed like it was prepared with just salt and pepper, the later used very sparingly. The skin, it too was crispy, well seasoned and added a bit of fat to a very lean tasting fish.
In a perfect world, I would have enough residual income (I have non now) that would allow me to frequent this establishment more often. As it stands, I'm probably going to come back to Boston sometime next year (to see everything that I wasn't able this time around) and I will definitely make it a note to bask within its walls again. So that's it for now, my lay-over for my next flight is just about done, so until next time folks, I bid y'all Happy Eating.
- Henry
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