Legal Seafoods

This restaurant is near iconic in Boston, and is a “must visit” for Boston tourists and residents alike. Not only that, it has many locations throughout the city. Accordingly, I’m assuming every person who is reading this blog has eaten at Legal Seafood at least once, if not 10 times.

Thus, instead of giving a whole review on the restaurant, I will just comment on ways I like to enjoy Legal’s without spending a fortune.

Lunch
Lunch is a great time to go to Legal’s because the prices for a lot of the dishes are significantly lower. A favorite of ours is the tuna burger ($12.50). Tuna fish is ground up with spices and hot peppers into a flavorful spicy burger which is grilled. I also like to order the Alaskan Butterfish appetizer, which comes with a side of seaweed salad. The fish itself is buttery and sweet, and is prepared in an Asian fashion, not unlike Ming Tsai’s famous miso-fish dish at Blue Ginger. I like this one because the portion size is relatively small, the flavor is awesome, and the price isn’t too bad ($10.95). I also like the blackened raw tuna sashimi ($13.50), which is like eating sashimi that has been ever-so-lightly seared. It’s the closest thing I can get to sushi here.

I once ordered the “Mediterranean salmon” off of the lunch menu, which is grilled salmon with a falafel crust. It was OK, but I wasn’t terribly impressed. I’ve also heard that their fried clams are amazing, and the lobster roll is really good as well. As I’ve never had these, I can’t really personally comment on them.

Raw Bar
Another fun thing to try are their raw oysters. We’ve enjoyed getting an assortment to try. Their oysters are fresh and very good. One surprisingly good value is the “Treasures of the Reef” which costs $29.95. It includes an entire boiled lobster, about 8 cocktail shrimp, ~6-8 mussels, and 6-8 raw oysters (various different kinds). Considering that a lobster alone probably costs around $20, this is an excellent deal.

Classics
Of course, the clam chowder is excellent, and the fish is always good. The salads are actually pretty good as well, and the mixed drinks are yummy, even though not cheap. They have some interesting drinks made from champagne, yum!