Ingredients for a lasting tradition

(ERIK JACOBS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE)

Legal Sea Foods started out as a hole-in-the-wall fish counter serving fish and chips on paper plates in Inman Square in Cambridge four decades ago. Today, Roger Berkowitz is president and chief executive of the company - an upscale seafood chain with 32 restaurants along the East Coast. Berkowitz spoke with Globe reporter Carolyn Y. Johnson.

Q.Is there a secret to the chowder?

A.Yes. Because this is a fish-processing plant, we are cutting fish every day, so the bones we use for stock are very fresh and done in such quantity that they give you an intensity of flavor that can't be replicated. I could give you the recipe for the chowder, and it would taste somewhat similar, but it wouldn't have the intensity.

Q.You're planning a major new restaurant on the South Boston Waterfront in 2010. What are the other expansion plans?

A.We're under construction now in Atlanta, right across from the Georgia Aquarium - and it's not because they're giving me a deal on the floaters. I've always wanted to go into New York City, but was not sure we were ready for it because New York City is a whole different world. We're making progress and I think there's a good chance, within a year and a half, we will be there.

Q.Legal Test Kitchen has less emphasis on seafood. Are you moving away from fish?

A.We're still going to be heavily focused on seafood. It's the core of what we do. But there are going to be periods of time where seafood, either through quota systems or moratoriums [on fishing], is not going to be as abundant, and so I think it's prudent for us to have a few alternative items on the menu.

Q.There was a study in 2006 that predicted the world would run out of seafood by 2048, and various fish populations have declined. How does that fit into your business?

A.Just because we sell fish doesn't mean we can't be conservation-minded. We look at fish and we want to sustain species as much as possible. As an example, we have never served Chilean sea bass. Chilean sea bass is a phenomenal-tasting fish, and I can guarantee if we put it on the menu, within a few months it would be the number one seller. The problem with Chilean sea bass today is that a huge percentage of the fish is harvested illegally. If we started to use Chilean sea bass, it would encourage more consumption of the product - and then we are part of the problem.

Q.Your father started Legal Sea Foods in Inman Square, but his brother, Leonard, was instrumental in creating the Angus beef certification. At family gatherings, would there be feuds over the menu?

A.We talk about a family legacy. I always marvel at the fact my grandfather could instill such passion for food. Before [my uncle] died, he used to teach at Florida International University and my father and I would get occasional invitations to come and speak at his meat class. We could speak about fish, though. It was very fun, great mutual respect. We didn't have food fights.

Q.Do you ever feel nostalgic for the early days?

A.What I'm nostalgic about is that we all had the opportunity to experiment, without knowing what we were doing.

As an example, I created a dish - lobster casserole. I couldn't believe how many lobster casseroles I was selling, and it took me a number of years to realize I was losing a significant amount on every dish.

But the irony is if I knew what I was doing, if we were too formulaic about what we were doing, we may have shortchanged how far we could have gone.

Q.There's been a lot of attention to mercury in seafood. How do you deal with those concerns?

A.We really have built our reputation on quality assurance and getting the appropriate, right sources and the freshest product. One of the things we were able to do when we built our plant here a little over three years ago is enhance the lab.

One of the things we do is test all shellfish - quarantine them for 24 hours and run a test.

About three years ago I purchased a machine for testing mercury, so what we do is test every single fish.

Q.Today, fish that were once considered the trash heap of fish have become haute cuisine. How does that happen?

A.Let me tell you the story of monkfish. In 1975 or '76, I was down at the fish pier and I saw a box marked "monkey tails" and I said to one of the guys, "What's that?" And he said to me, "You don't want any of that crap, but we send it to France for big money." I said give me ten pounds . . . Julia Child happened in that day. She bought it, and I got a call from her asking if I would get her a whole monkfish.

It took me two weeks to get a fisherman who wouldn't cut off the head, because it looks like a prehistoric beast - 70 percent head cartilage and mostly teeth.

I brought it in and she used it on her show, they did a photo shoot of it in Time magazine and in her cookbook, and it took off overnight.