LEGASEA
12/17/2018
• 485 Seventh Avenue
• New York, NY 10018
• (212)268/1888 •
Pike, who is psychologically prohibited from socializing without his wife's express permission (yes, I know you read this and I absolutely am teasing you) was free to grab dinner. Huzzah! When he suggested Legasea, near Penn Station, I didn't hesitate to say yes. It had been a while since having seafood at a seafood restaurant, and I needed a reminder on why I go so infrequently. Legasea gave me that reminder.
Upstairs, the dining room is nice and large, and like any seafood restaurant in a certain price point, could be converted into a steakhouse with little more than a menu swap. We were given a cozy seat next to some businessmen having a business dinner who made me feel poor, and interspersed with our bullshit session, proceeded to peruse Legasea's offerings. Nothing on the menu really stood out from what one would expect from an upscale seafood restaurant. Grilled fish, raw bar, a lobster tail or two; expensive comfort food, nothing experimental.
The first thing to come to the table were two warm and very tasty rolls served with a delightful herbed butter and less delightful ramekins of sliced pickles and coleslaw. Who, I thought, possibly out loud, will be combining these three things? Freebie aside, we started with a selection of oysters and clams from Legasea's raw bar menu. Raw bars are always pricey, but so long as the selection is fresh they tend to be a guaranteed good eat and this was no exception. Good, but, pound for pound, expensive.
After our oysters, the appetizers arrived. Grilled Octopus over olives, celery, potatoes, and pesto was Pike's choice. "Here, try a bite" he said. "What do you think?" Seemed okay. It could have been a little more tender, or used a little fresh cracked pepper, seems a little burned-. "It's burned." There was definitely more char than it needed. "And it's cold. It's grilled." It was lukewarm. "It should be hot."
Attempting desperately to be healthier than I normally am, I chose the Candy Striped Beets salad; beets, ruby red grapefruit, sunflower seeds and a vinaigrette. Normally, I love beet salads, but this was pretty tasteless. I kept wishing that it would become a bowl of grapefruit wedges, but the genie was out that day.
Pike's dinner were the Diver Sea Scallops, pictured below. Looks good. Wearing its little salad hat, it tasted like scallops tend to taste, but they, too, had more char than Pike would have liked. "These are also burned. For forty bucks, they shouldn't be burned." My entree was the Wild Branzino. It was tender, fluffy, and basically everything that I was hoping it would be. Cheaper would have been nice, but hey, I'll take what I can get. Something that I got that I should not have gotten was a side of Broccoli. Oh Jon, always trying to squeeze a hearty dark green vegetable into his meal. It came over a dollop of dijon mustard yogurt, which is an acquired taste, and under a heart glaze of charcoal, which is not. It seems that the kitchen really likes to burn things.
So, what can I say about Legasea? Is what we got worth $100 per person? No. Not to me. Not to Pike. Would I return? Sure, if someone else foots the bill and I've been everywhere else in the area. But would I recommend it? No. Will I stop asking and answering my own questions now? Yes, I think that I will.
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