Long Island Restaurants

Legal Sea Foods

Updated 8/30/06: Wellfleet, blue-point and Prince Edward Island oysters are among the highlights at the raw bar at this Roosevelt Field branch. You'll also dive into littleneck and cherrystone clams, and a tower of assorted shellfish. There's also a Legal Sea Foods at the south side of Walt Whitman Mall, on Walt Whitman Road in Huntington Station.

The first Legal Sea Foods restaurant opened in Cambridge, Mass. in 1968, the year after Bridgehampton export Carl Yastrzemski hit for the triple crown and sent the Red Sox to the World Series.

So, it's about time for payback. Legal Seafoods is a start. It's one of Boston's most celebrated institutions. On Route 110, it's a handsome spot, with swirls of dark wood and brassy images suggesting the ocean and its inhabitants.

The best strategy here is to go off-peak, for the food and for the noise level. Fresh fish can be deftly cooked and very good. But you also could have no dish arrive warmer than room temperature. There's reason to lead off with sweet oysters, cherrystones, littlenecks and the like from the raw bar.

The house's revered chowders don't always induce a swoon. Instead, have the crabcake, fried calamari, fried smelts, or the shrimp cocktail.

The thick swordfish steak heads the grilled fish, along with Arctic char and East Coast halibut. Mild, moist baked scrod is all right, too. Even better: the basic fish-and-chips, made with cod.

At dessert, try the chocolate pudding cake. Or hope that the Bosox ship Nomar Garciaparra to Flushing.

Peter M. Gianotti

Hours

Assessment

Cuisine

Major Credit Cards Accepted

Price Range

Rating

Reservations

Special Features

Wheelchair Access