If you haven’t been to Legends in a minute, you are overdue for a much-deserved visit. This summer, Notre Dame chefs put together a new menu that honestly feels like a “glow up”—same personality, with a few more skills and just a little more maturity. Go out once with this menu, and you’ll be back for a second date.
Three of my colleagues and I were lucky enough to get a preview of this menu. Let’s just say, when you walk in, consider yourself walking into a judgment-free zone to enjoy everything, including fried food. (Because if fried is wrong, you won’t want to be right!)
Here’s a quick rundown of some of our favorites:
Of the new starters, my favorite was the Irish fries. The portion size will not disappoint; it can easily keep three to four people happy while waiting on the main course. There were eight variations of french fries tested before landing on the current version used in the dish. We are talking about the “best french fries in South Bend,” according to Executive Chef and Director of Culinary Ryli Vissers.
These fries hearken back to the crinkle-cut fries of your childhood, but they come with a substantive dash of Vissers’s secret fry ingredient applied at the point of fried perfection, to create a full-on crunchy crunch that can stand up to the Irish cheddar sauce. There is a liberal amount of pork belly pastrami—think beefed-up bacon bits; let’s call them chunks—alongside caramelized onions, pickled peppers, scallions, and jalapeños. If I had to order only one thing off the menu and I was in a hurry, I’d take the Irish fries to go, and probably eat them before I get to where I’m going.
Another starter of note is the heirloom skillet cornbread. First, it’s the heirloom blue cornmeal that gives it its name, and it’s actually blue. And if you have blue at Notre Dame, you are going to need some gold, so Executive Pastry Chef and Director of Catering Sinai Vespie comes in with some Irish cheddar for the gold. If that’s not enough, then go ahead and add in the salted maple brown butter on top, which is also made in-house.
“Between the sugar, the butter, and the cheese in the cornbread, it all helps to keep the batter moist once it bakes. And I think that sweetness also helps with the moisture in the mouthfeel,” Vespie explained. This mouth-watering cornbread comes out in its own skillet like a pre-dessert, if such a thing exists. Chef Vespie has been dishing up award-winning pastries at Notre Dame for eight years.
The bowl game is a combination of vegetables that will leave you pleasantly surprised. The ingredients—ancient grains, seasonal veggies, roasted sweet potatoes, rotisserie cauliflower, smoked maitake mushrooms, pickled red onions, ricotta salata, arugula, and roasted garlic vinaigrette—create a taste combination not on my bingo card. In fact, all of the new offerings have that little something extra that you didn’t even know you were missing.
If you like fish, then you’ll love the updated Monk Malloy’s fish & chips. There is definitely something good going on, according to colleague Jennifer Laiber, internal communications specialist. She noted an “improved batter and type of fish from the previous version.” Her honest review was simply, “Yum!”
The whitefish, featuring an in-house beer batter recipe, is locally sourced from the Great Lakes. In fact, choose just about anything on the menu and you can rest assured that you’re part of a sustainable experience while visiting Legends. The menu includes greens and other vegetables from farms in Michigan, chicken from Indiana, cheese from Wisconsin, and Wagyu steak raised just down the road in Elkhart, according to Cheryl Bauer, director of supply chain and sustainability.
“By prioritizing the local food suppliers or farmers, we are not only thinking about sustainability because it’s closer to us and there’s less of an impact as it relates to transportation, but we’re also supporting the economic component of sustainability in our local areas,” said Geory Kurtzhals, executive director, sustainability.
The 1842 burger lives up to everything good that started in that year. The brisket patty comes with Irish cheddar, Teeling Whiskey glazed onions, Legends sauce, and pickles on a croissant bun. It’s at the top of the handhelds menu, but the rest of the list holds its own.
Another favorite among my colleagues was the rotisserie chicken, cooked up fresh on a wood-burning grill that turns 40 chickens at a time—Executive Chef Josh Maron showed me the extra-large tow-behind oven found just behind Legends. The oven comes complete with a stack of cherry wood, and Chef Maron throws in some oak and hickory for good measure. You may not know much about these woods, but you’ll definitely taste the subtle smoky flavor they impart. Both Julia Wilson, associate editor, and Staci Stickovich, marketing strategist, found the chicken to be both moist and well-seasoned.
No meal is complete without dessert, and the updated menu included some gastronomic goodies that absolutely satisfy a sweet tooth. Legends’s seasonal cookie sando—at the time of our preview, a butterscotch pecan pie cookie with a salted caramel buttercream filling—is the kind of sweet treat that will force you to pace yourself.
My personal favorite was the apple hand pie, served with a salted caramel sauce. I don’t think I’m alone in saying that the dough is my favorite part of a pie, and this pie dough is perfect. The secret is in the European butter. I can’t say for sure what Europeans are doing (or not doing) to their butter, but it’s definitely working in this pie crust. The balance of the pie, the fruit, and the not-too-sweet filling is truly made complete by the warm caramel sauce. The pies are small—it is a hand pie—and meant to be savored. If you’ve ever heard someone say “make it last,” I’m sure this is what they were talking about.
Lastly, here’s something fun and a treat that everyone enjoyed: the seasonal lavender lemonade with sugared rim. No one will ever mistake this nonalcoholic-but-in-a-pretty-glass summer drink for run-of-the-mill neighborhood lemonade stand swill. You know things are getting serious when Laiber, my colleague, made plans to go by Legends after her lunch-hour campus walk just to get a to-go cup of this “nectar of the gods.” Wilson crowned the drink “dessert.”
The food is enough to bring you in; the staff will make you feel welcomed and want to stay. You’ll appreciate the knowledge level of the staff. They can tell you exactly what you need to know about what you are about to eat. I spoke with Rakell Henderson, general manager, who explained that every day is a training day for her team members, all of whom are well-versed in Legends’s new offerings. The front-of-the-house staff work with photos and recipes and conduct taste testing on a regular basis so they can speak with confidence about the offerings with guests. The back-of-the-house staff focuses on presentation, correct portion sizes, and the right sauces, for example.
“The team is so flexible and so fluid, and they adapt so quickly,” Henderson said. “There’s passion behind it, and so it’s easy to train.”
The dedication to the look, feel, and taste of the food is apparent. And I’m of the mind that you don’t need an event or a special occasion to treat yourself. Legends is right here on campus, just around the corner, waiting to serve you a delicious meal. Go ahead and make that date.
Originally published by at ndworks.nd.edu on August 20, 2025.