My Richmond Crawfish Experience

Last night I went on an adventure here in Richmond. Rapp Session, the Rappahannock Oyster Company side bar, was promoting a Mardi Gras menu from Friday to this coming Wednesday. Gumbo! Oyster po'boys! Red beans and rice! Muffalettas! And the highlight, 60lbs of crawfish!

I decide to go and check it out last night. Here is the menu:


That's right, $26 for a pound of boiled crawfish. Now I want to know what $26/lb crawfish taste like.



I was pretty sure the yellow-ish contents in the metal cup was melted butter. I guess the restaurant thought crawfish should be treated like lobster? The fingerling potatoes pared well with the melted butter, and there were slices of sausage, onions, and bell peppers in the boil. It was... different. The crawfish lacked spice, with most of the flavor coming from the sausage. I could tell they did not wash the crawfish thoroughly. Let's just say I had no fear of accidentally touching any sensitive body parts before washing my hands.

Because I knew 1lb wouldn't be enough I decided also order the Red Beans and Rice with lots of bacon. I only encountered a couple of beans that were undercooked, and I couldn't understand why bacon was chosen over the sausage for the dish.


And here is the aftermath of the crawfish experience:


I ordered a Sazerac while waiting for a table to open up. The taste was slightly off, almost like they used too much bitters or left the Herbsaint/absinthe/whatever in the glass instead of dumping after coating the glass. No twist of lemon either. The Hurricane contained a slice of grapefruit in the glass and tasted like a high-class version of something that isn't supposed to be high-class.

I give them an "A" for effort, but if they were going to try and attempt another crawfish boil for their customers I would hope the chefs/cooks reexamine their boil process for a more flavorful experience. And drop the price to about $10/lb.