"But we don't like to think of ourselves as a chain," Berkowitz tells me. "We still think of ourselves as fish people who operate restaurants."
The second-generation president of Legal Sea Foods, Berkowitz is a charming bundle of contradictions like this, at one moment revealing why he's one of the country's most savvy restaurant execs, at another spinning a down-home attitude that is as authentic as his creamy "chowdah."
Old-line Bostonians still conjure up fond memories of when Legal Sea Foods was just that - a casual extension of the family fish shop in Cambridge's Inman Square, where locals ate from paper plates at picnic tables laden with fish and chips and crisply fried clam bellies.
But such old-line fish houses had to evolve if they were to thrive - as Philadelphians know all too well. Having witnessed our own unevolved fish-house tradition essentially collapse, the region is suddenly a feeding ground for bigger corporate fish from distant waters.
The Oceanaire, Bonefish Grill and McCormick & Schmick have already arrived from Minneapolis, Florida, and Portland, Ore., respectively. And now, Baltimore-based Phillips has pulled in from the south just as Legal cruises down from the north.
It can be hard to tell them apart if you're simply looking at the mall-crowd clientele, the cheery but overprogrammed staff, and the slick corporate decor.
This Legal is that and more. Its water wall and layered stone columns, its handsome blue-and-white pendant box lamps, plush booths, and plasma-screen-decked bar are a far cry from (and considerably more expensive than) its days of paper-plate innocence.
Legal has mastered the art of corporate consistency, pre-preparing a chunk of its menu - from fish portioning to sauces and its signature chowder - at its processing plant in Boston.
