Legal Harborside

          Legal Seafoods is a Boston based restaurant group, that's been around for ages and somewhat of a local icon. I recently visited one of their newest concepts, Legal Harborside which has several different floors each with a different menu and concept. I ate on the second floor, which is more of a fine dining concept and the most high end menu available at any Legal Seafood concept.

          I've eaten at the more casual Legal locations many times over the years, but it was only before this most recent visit that I thought to do some digging and find out if they had any kind of stance on the issue of sustainability. I was impressed to learn that they are committed not only to serving seafood that is sourced in a sustainable manner, but also to raising awareness around the topic and eliminating a lot of the misinformation that's out there.

You can read the whole policy on their website, but here are some of the highlights:

• We need to find solutions that are sustainable not only for fish, but also for the fishing industry.

• We endorse moratoriums and quotas on over-fished species.
• 
We only serve fish and shellfish that are within National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) guidelines and, as such, are considered sustainable species by the federal government.

• We look at every species of fish and make an ethical decision on whether or not it should be served.  For example, we do not sell Chilean sea bass because most of the world’s catch is illegal.
• 
We think the debate on seafood sourcing - wild versus farm-raised - is necessary and aquaculture that utilizes the highest levels of sanitation, environmental safeguards and is antibiotic-free should be supported.  

My Experience at Dinner

          The fiance and I walked in on a Friday night around 7:30, hoping to get a seat at the bar. We managed to score a high top table in the bar area, which was even better! The view was amazing!

          We started with some of the oysters offered that day including Wellfleet and Island Creek. I enjoyed both, and the Island Creeks were some of the biggest I've ever had!

           Next was the smoked trout pate with rye toast, pickled grapes, radish, and trout roe. The trout had a great smoky flavor, which was an interesting contrast with the sweet grapes. The saltiness of the roe and crunchy toast rounded out the textures and flavors, making this a really interesting and flavorful dish.

          For my main course, I had the Cape Cod diver scallops with confit pork belly, sweet potato, mustard greens, peach mostarda. Both the scallops and pork belly were cooked perfectly and the portion was huge!

          I tried a bite of the fiance's fluke with grilled summer squashes, smoked tomato mussel nage, crab stuffed zucchini blossom. The fish was also cooked perfectly, but my favorite was the crab stuffed zucchini blossom.

          Overall the meal was excellent; everything was cooked perfectly and the portions were very generous. Though the prices were in the same ballpark as several other high end seafood restaurants in Boston, the portion sizes definitely made Legal Harborside a better value.