Legal Sea Foods – ✧✧✧✧

hungrytommy

May 2

Legals Sea Foods is where our chowder quest must begin. Legal's is synonymous with chowder, and theirs has been served at every presidential inauguration since Reagan. This clam chowder sets the bar that all other chowders are judged against.

Cup - $8.50 or Bowl - $10.50

Clams

Legal Sea Foods chowder is loaded with clams. Every single bite from the first to the last has a clam in it. Clam is the dominant flavor in their chowder and is a lot of the reason it is so good.

Cream and Consistency

Legal's chowder is perfectly creamy. It's rich and filling. Although it isn't overly thick, it has body and sticks to your spoon and the bottom of your bowl. Make sure you have a dinner roll to get it all.

Potatoes

The potatoes are small, but retain their texture. They pick up the flavor from the clams and cream. Like the clams, there is a generous amount of them.

Garnish

The chowder is served with a small pack of oyster crackers with the Legal Sea Foods logo on it.

Everything Else

There isn't much more to Legal's chowder. It is dominated by clams, cream, and potatoes, and that's a good thing.

Not Chowder

There is a lot to choose from at Legal's from fresh or fried seafood to lobster to hearty mains. In recent years, they added sushi to their menu. But chowder is still the best thing to order.

The Verdict

There is no doubt that this is an amazing chowder, perfect in its simplicity, known for its consistency. If you were traveling to Boston and only going to have one chowder, this is the one you should have. That doesn't necessarily mean it is the best chowder in New England, but it is the gold standard. From here the quest begins to find a better chowder. Is that is possible? Let's find out.