Legal's Test Kitchen at Logan

Today my job took me took me on a one-day trip to Cambridge, Massachusetts. When I got to Logan airport in the evening for the flight home and made it through security to the departure gate, I took the breaking news that our flight was delayed over an hour due to JFK gate congestion as an opportunity to visit the Legal's Test Kitchen restaurant in terminal A.

We lived near Boston for a few years in the mid-1990s, but haven't been back since we moved away ten years ago. While living there we frequented Legal Seafoods in Burlington, but hadn't been to any of their other locations since. The chance to visit even a pared-down airport terminal version was enough to bring out a strong feeling of restaurant nostalgia (the best kind), so I took advantage of the schedule change to drop in

Naturally the menu at LTK was greatly simplified from what I remembered, but as expected they offered a couple varieties of chowder including traditional Boston clam, so I started with that. I realize it's a strange choice given the seafood theme, but I decided to pair it with a Cubano sandwich (ham, pulled pork, cheese and pickles). The chowder was the star of the meal, anyway, and I had a craving for their sweet potato fries.

The chowder course arrived and was exactly as I recalled, just the right consistency. I don't always like chowder, particularly the egregiously thick variety that evokes thoughts of wallpaper paste. Legal Seafoods always had the just the right texture, and I was glad to see they were able to duplicate it even here at the airport.

Just as I finished the chowder, there was an announcement on the public address system that my flight had been undelayed, and that the scheduled passengers needed to proceed immediately to the departure gate. This seemed pretty unusual to me and I was a bit concerned about the fate of my sandwich and fries, but moments after the announcement my waiter appeared and asked if I wanted the rest of my orde packed up to go. I said yes and he returned promptly with my check and the Cubano in a bag. Of course I'm sure it's not the first time he has encountered this situation, but nevertheless I appreciated the efficient handling and I was back at the gate in plenty of time for boardng.

It turned out that they atually just preferred to have us wait on the plane in case there was a break in traffic and we could leave early, so we ended up being delayed even longer than the original estimate. At least I was able to enjoy my dinner on the plane, though, and even in a plastic take-out container my sabndwich and fries were very good.