Legal Sea Foods on 7th St NW - it may be a chain but we had GREAT crab soup and crabcake. Guess I better add Washington DC since it got moved from that board.

[c oliver]

(Moderators, I hope you will leave this on the DC board as that's its relevance, not chains.)

As is typical on lots of regional boards, chains even higher end ones don't seem to get a lot of love. So when Veggo recommended this on my thread about places to eat, neither he nor I were surprised that it didn't get rousing cheers. But Veg is one of my Chow-buds and he's never led me astray so I went and hoped for the best. And best is what we got! Just an A+ IMneverHO :)

They had a couple of white wine flights and we got the Crisp Dry Shellfish Whites ($7.95) which included generous pours of Chateau de la Ragotiere Muscadet, Verdemar Albarino and Wairau Sauvignon Blanc. We liked all three with perhaps a slight edge to the muscadet tasted described as "spray of sea air, green apple, light spritz."

We shared the cream of crab soup ($6.95) which was better than anything like it I've ever had. She assured me that it was fresh Maryland crab and I believe it. The bowl is brought out with the lump crabmeat sitting in the center of the bowl and the soup is poured from an earthenware pitcher over the crab. The crab was snow white and a pinch sans liquid was perfect. And the soup? There is certainly some kind of health law that would address this. I think the "stock" was basically cream boiled with the shells. It had a really nice crab flavor and was rich as, well, cream. I must try to copy this, using Dungeness which is just starting its season in CA. Glad there was bread for wiping up the absolute last bits cause I would have used my finger (if not my tongue). Then the crab cake ($14.95) which we also shared. This cake is the way a good one ought to be, where you can't tell what's holding it together cause all you can see is crab meat. Again, it was perfect.

We sat at the bar which filled up while we were there and it appeared that the adjacent dining room was full also. And it seemed to be locals.

You have such an incredible bounty of great food in DC so I know there's a tendency not to go to "chains" of any type. But I really do recommend Legal Seafoods. Ya gotta try that soup :)

[Steve Green]

I ate at that particular Legal a couple of years back (that's the one next to Chinatown, right?), and in fact had the same items you did, minus the wine. That soup _was_ excellent. I have found the food at Legal's various locations to be of consistently high quality.

[pamf]

Just adding on to the recommendation. I have been to the location at Tyson's Corner, VA (it's in an upscale mall, DC suburbs) and to the locations in Boston's Logan airport. Everything has always been great, you can easily forget that you are in a mall or at the airport.

[Fibber McGee]

Legal is such a small chain, though. Are there more than a dozen locations?
The clam chowder and lobster bisque are available at stores in small plastic tubs. Is it as good as onsite? Of course not. Does it blow the water out of any other pre-fab and store bought seafood-based soups? I'd say so.

[menton1]

They have 30 locations. But it's still a chain, something formulaic about it, can't be avoided.
It certainly beats Bonefish or (ugh) Red Lobster.
Besides, in DC, don't you have a terrific owner-operated place called Grillfish?

[c oliver]

So you've actually eaten there? May be formulaic but a better formula than anything I've ever had from a chain. Had Veggo not clued me into it (thanks again, Veg) and I had just walked past and decided to try it out, I'd have been enormously pleased.

[givemecarbs]

Glad this thread surfaced again. I was looking for it when I finally did my "research". Went to the KOP pa location with two friends and had a very enjoyable meal. I got the baked stuffed shrimp, my one friend got the rainbow trout and my other friend had the cajun style catfish. Everything was terrific, the stand out was the side of kale that came with the catfish. Yummy and very unexpected. Service was casual, friendly and efficient just like I prefer it at such a place. Oh and the hot rolls weren't too shabby either.

[Servorg]

I ate at the LSF location on Kendall Square in Cambridge two or three times when I used to travel to Boston on business and always enjoyed it. Pricey, but high quality and friendly, efficient service.

[Veggo]

Refreshing that there is a "chain" worth seeking out when on the road, rather than avoiding.

[c oliver]

A little followup. Bob and I went out to breakfast the other morning. Instead of our usual $2.95 special at one of the casinos, we went to a pretty high end place and he had crab cakes. Later he said that they were quite good but NOT as good as Legal Sea Foods. Just a little fyi.
(I still wish this had remained on the DC board as that's the audience I was trying to address, esp. since I'd been a little warned off LSF on that board. Oh well, rules are rules.)

[givemecarbs]

c. oliver I wrote a post sympathizing with you wanting the post to stay local but it has mysteriously vanished. I wonder if the Legal Sea Foods near me in King of Prussia Pa is as good. Guess I'm going to have to do some research.

[c oliver]

Well, Veggo sang its praises. We're going back to DC in a couple of months and we WILL be returning. That's pretty high praise in a city with as much good food as DC.

[Veggo]

I'm pleased that it was a good experience for you both. During my Boston years, Legal was my go-to for guaranteed freshest seafood, and I'm happy to find them in some of my other travels, and they live that mantra wherever they put a peg in the ground. IMO, they are the Peter Lugar of fish. Sure, it is hectic and perhaps uncomfortable at the busiest hours. But I would rather endure that, than sit alone somewhere, with a fish on a plate, wondering when it left the sea.

[c oliver]

I tell ya, Veg, I'd have never guessed or defined it as a "chain." The entire service was completely personal. There we sat in Wash., DC, and you'd never have know that it wasnt a local place. I'll definitely go back.