BOSTON Legal Sea Foods, based here, is navigating a course into more upmarket waters with the opening of a one-of-a-kind restaurant that will occupy the site of the former Jimmy’s Harborside in South Boston’s evolving Seaport District. —
The upscale-casual seafood specialist is targeting a 2010 opening for what is expected to become the 33-unit chain’s flagship operation. The as-yet unnamed concept would command a higher price point than the typical Legal Sea Foods’ outlet, offer equal menu billing to nonseafood items and feature as chef de cuisine Boston culinary veteran Moncef Meddeb, who opened the still-popular L’Espalier. —
The waterfront site previously had been occupied by Jimmy’s Harborside, which was owned and operated for more than 80 years by the Doulos family. As a part of the district’s extensive redevelopment effort, the building housing Jimmy’s was demolished in 2006, and the family eventually chose not to exercise their option to rebuild on the site. —
Legal Sea Foods chairman Roger Berkowitz said his company had been searching for an “iconic” location on the Boston waterfront that overlooks the harbor. —
“Getting this site is sort of a dream,” he said. “Nothing like this has been available for years. We’ve never had a restaurant on the water before.” —
Formerly a heavily industrialized area that drew few Bostonians or tourists seeking leisure activities, the Seaport District is undergoing an extensive urban renewal that calls for the construction of new hotels, condominiums and retail spaces. The gradually gentrifying neighborhood, which comprises about 1,000 acres located east of Boston’s downtown area, is anchored by the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. It also is home to the Seaport World Trade Center, the Institute of Contemporary Art—featuring a Wolfgang Puck Café—the new Westin Waterfront and Intercontinental hotels, and several office towers. —
In addition, the Renaissance Boston Waterfront is expected to debut this month, while in the spring chef Barbara Lynch plans to open a $7.5 million, 15,000-square-foot culinary facility housing a fine-dining restaurant, a casual operation, a bar, private dining rooms, and a retail chocolate shop and bakery. —
So far, though, the area has yet to take off as a dining destination, observed Mathew Schaffer, restaurant critic of The Boston Herald. —
“There are a couple of restaurants down there, but after happy hour people seem to clear out,” he said. “So far, it’s more an area where people come to work or go to conventions.” —
Schaffer, however, called Berkowitz “a smart restaurateur” who is “not afraid to take a risk.” —
“Putting a Legal Sea Foods [restaurant] where Jimmy’s used to be is a vote of confidence in building up the waterfront,” he said. “It’s a real reflection of Roger’s commitment to the city.” —
In fact, the area is not terra incognita to Legal Sea Foods, either. The new restaurant will be sited “virtually across the street” from Legal Sea Foods’ corporate offices and the second Legal’s Test Kitchen, the chain’s high-tech nonseafood spin-off. —
“There’s a lot of opportunity there,” said Richard Vellante, Legal’s executive chef and senior vice president of food operations. In addition to attracting a share of the burgeoning convention business, new hotels and increased tourism to the area, the company also expects to generate healthy private-party business. —
“The location on the waterfront should attract a lot of catering, weddings and corporate functions,” he said, noting that the facility will have 18-foot floor-to-ceiling windows looking out over the harbor. —
The new restaurant—which Berkowitz said “will have ‘Legal’ somewhere in the name”—will occupy a new two-story structure that encompasses more than 21,000 square feet of space. In addition to two 9,200-square-foot levels, the restaurant will include a 3,000-square-foot rooftop lounge. —
Legal will lease the space from owner Massachusetts Port Authority, or Massport, and Cresset Development LLC. Berkowitz declined to provide figures. —
In addition to being the chain’s first waterside location, the Seaport District restaurant also will veer away from Legal’s predominantly seafood menu, with as many as half the selections being meat-based. While the chain’s two LTK outlets offer a number of meat items, Vellante said the restaurant would mark a departure for Legal Sea Foods by offering steaks and chops on the menu. —
While he said menu details are sketchy this early in the developmental stage, plans calls for the menuing of certain “pedigreed meats,” like Certified Angus Beef, which Berkowitz’s uncle helped to introduce to the American marketplace years ago. —
Vellante and Meddeb also plan to develop some classic presentations for the menu. —
“We don’t want to reinvent the wheel,” Vellante said. “We just want to add some twists and make it more refined.” —
He added that the operation might feature some tableside service and a raw bar. —
The restaurant’s focus certainly will remain on its seafood, although the anticipated higher check average will enable the kitchen to offer some more expensive items, Berkowitz said. —
“It will allow us to bring in more specialty items and showcase some unique product,” he said. —
While he declined to identify the items, he said he would look for “product that is unusual or not widely available.” —
Berkowitz said it was too early to project the check average, although he acknowledged it would be higher than the chain’s current average, which the Zagat Survey puts at about $35 per person. He also declined to divulge projected sales, but said they would also be higher than the chain average. —
Berkowitz projected that Legal Sea Foods will generate between $210 million and $212 million in sales this year, compared to 2006 figures of about $200 million. —