Searching for bisque without risk
Huntington Station,N.Y. --- February 2010 -- Lobster bisque from Legal Sea Foods in Huntington Station. (Newsday Photo/Peter Gianotti) Credit: Newsday/Peter Gianotti
Finding excellent lobster bisque turns into a challenge on Long Island, as it does almost everywhere else. Just because we're surrounded by water and reach land's end in Montauk guarantees nothing.
I've had the tepid, brothy, floury, and sometimes ones without a hint of lobster. It has made me skeptical about ordering it except in the line of duty.
But on a busman's holiday at Legal Sea Foods, I tasted a winner. It didn't have the deep-coral color that you'll find in a stellar French restaurant. But it had the right flavor and the right texture, plus nuggets of sweet shellfish. And the bisque provides some competition for the house's fine New England and Rhode Island-style clam chowders.
There are two branches of Legal on Long Island: in Nassau, at Roosvelt Field, 630 Old Country Rd., Garden City, 516-248-4600; and in Suffolk, at Walt Whitman Mall, 160 Walt Whitman Rd., Huntington Station, 631-271-9777.
The Legal bisque. Newsday / Peter Gianotti
