Roger Berkowitz’s latest Legal Sea Foods offspring is getting a lot of attention for its location and scale: 23,000 square feet with 700 seats, making it one of the largest restaurants in Boston. It’s on the site of the old Jimmy’s Harborside, next to historic Fish Pier, just across the water from Logan Airport.
Though he will not reveal how much he spent on what he now considers his flagship, Berkowitz says it’s Boston’s most expensive restaurant rehab. Nearly six years in the planning, Harborside is what Berkowitz says he dreamed of doing once he had the time and money.
“I just wanted to get on the damn water,’’ he says. “Then, I said, ‘If we’re coming on the water, why not do more than one concept? Let’s do something really special with it.’ ’’
Since he took over the family business in 1992, Berkowitz has grown it at a steady clip and turned it into the biggest Boston-bred restaurant empire. He’s got 32 Legal Sea Foods stores — as he calls the restaurants — from Boston to Florida. He serves on the boards of businesses and nonprofit groups and donates generously to causes. He prefers to keep a low profile but has gotten himself into a couple of high-profile jams.
Read the complete story from The Boston Globe.