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Started By
Message
My Epic Quest to Find Decent Boiled Crawfish in Houston - Part 1
Posted on 3/12/14 at 11:13 am
Posted on 3/12/14 at 11:13 am
Hi e-friends of the F/D board!
I need your help. Regardless of the fact that the city of Houston is less than 3 hours away from what could be considered Cajun country, the people and business owners of the great city of Houston have lost their way when it comes to the time honored tradition of boiling crawfish in the spring time.
I've lived here for 5 years now. And up until this year. I've completely given up on eating crawfish in the state of Texas. So sad. I just wait until a trip back home. I can't take the inexperienced bland boiling techniques and travesty of sprinkling the outside with "Cajun seasoning" (as a lot of them call it) aka Tony's. It's gotten to the point where even when my coworkers invite me over for their backyard home crawfish boils, I have to politely decline their invites. Because I know if I go and it's shite as I would expect, I can't look them in the eyes and tell them I enjoyed it. And you know they will ask, they will ask, "Well, you're from South Louisiana, that's pretty damn close to the real thing isn't it?" This uncomfortable situation leads to feelings get hurt and work relationships strained.
What makes all of this hard is the fact that the girl I'm currently dating LOVES crawfish. Great right? Well, sort of, but to be drug to one abortion of a crawfish boil to another without her really knowing how it's done, I can't stand for it any longer. She must be educated and see the light. Repent of her ways of enjoying shitty crawfish. Or this relationship is dead in the water.
Anyhow, this year. This year I am on a quest to find a joint who understands that you don't mess with perfection. There's absolutely no need for anything sprinkled, coated, or dusted on the outside of the crawfish. It's all in the boil technique.
So, based upon the F/D board's suggestions me and my ol' lady will go to a new place once a week ever week in attempt to find Houston Boiled Crawfish nirvana. Any suggestions? Let's try to keep it in the loop or near too. I live in Midtown, so the closer to the Downtown/Midtown area the better. I'll post reviews of each.
First up, my review of "LA" Crawfish on Richmond and Westlayen.
I need your help. Regardless of the fact that the city of Houston is less than 3 hours away from what could be considered Cajun country, the people and business owners of the great city of Houston have lost their way when it comes to the time honored tradition of boiling crawfish in the spring time.
I've lived here for 5 years now. And up until this year. I've completely given up on eating crawfish in the state of Texas. So sad. I just wait until a trip back home. I can't take the inexperienced bland boiling techniques and travesty of sprinkling the outside with "Cajun seasoning" (as a lot of them call it) aka Tony's. It's gotten to the point where even when my coworkers invite me over for their backyard home crawfish boils, I have to politely decline their invites. Because I know if I go and it's shite as I would expect, I can't look them in the eyes and tell them I enjoyed it. And you know they will ask, they will ask, "Well, you're from South Louisiana, that's pretty damn close to the real thing isn't it?" This uncomfortable situation leads to feelings get hurt and work relationships strained.
What makes all of this hard is the fact that the girl I'm currently dating LOVES crawfish. Great right? Well, sort of, but to be drug to one abortion of a crawfish boil to another without her really knowing how it's done, I can't stand for it any longer. She must be educated and see the light. Repent of her ways of enjoying shitty crawfish. Or this relationship is dead in the water.
Anyhow, this year. This year I am on a quest to find a joint who understands that you don't mess with perfection. There's absolutely no need for anything sprinkled, coated, or dusted on the outside of the crawfish. It's all in the boil technique.
So, based upon the F/D board's suggestions me and my ol' lady will go to a new place once a week ever week in attempt to find Houston Boiled Crawfish nirvana. Any suggestions? Let's try to keep it in the loop or near too. I live in Midtown, so the closer to the Downtown/Midtown area the better. I'll post reviews of each.
First up, my review of "LA" Crawfish on Richmond and Westlayen.
11
Posted on 3/12/14 at 11:15 am to Klark Kent
Bayou City usually has decent sized crawfish, Ragin Cajun sucks.
Will be interested to see how it is, still haven't gotten a chance to try it.
quote:
my review of "LA" Crawfish on Richmond and Weslayan.
Will be interested to see how it is, still haven't gotten a chance to try it.
This post was edited on 3/12/14 at 11:19 am
Posted on 3/12/14 at 11:17 am to Klark Kent
You're not going to find crawfish boiled properly in a restaurant in the city...some people say Calliope's are serviceable though.
Posted on 3/12/14 at 11:19 am to Klark Kent
quote:
What makes all of this hard is the fact that the girl I'm currently dating LOVES crawfish. Great right? Well, sort of, but to be drug to one abortion of a crawfish boil to another without her really knowing how it's done, I can't stand for it any longer. She must be educated and see the light. Repent of her ways of enjoying shitty crawfish. Or this relationship is dead in the water.
get your hands on a sack and boil them yourself. show her how its done.
This post was edited on 3/12/14 at 11:22 am
Posted on 3/12/14 at 11:20 am to offshoreangler
I had some at Celtic Garden the other weekend and surprisingly they weren't terrible.
Posted on 3/12/14 at 11:20 am to Klark Kent
After my first crawfish season in Houston I learned to not bother with crawfish there. My GF worked at a bar that sold crawfish like crazy. They boiled them by the lb to order than poured seasoning all over the outside. By the 2nd season I was there I would have her add a sack to the bars order for me and I'd boil them myself.
This post was edited on 3/12/14 at 11:21 am
Posted on 3/12/14 at 11:36 am to Klark Kent
If you don't mind driving go try "That One Place" out near Humble, tell them I sent you
Posted on 3/12/14 at 11:41 am to Klark Kent
"LA" Crawfish
Location: 3957 Richmond Ave, Houston, TX 77027, (832) 767-1533
Website Summary: "THE best Crawfish/Seafood/Pho/Wings restaurant in town ;-)!(Don't believe us? Check us out on Google/Yelp/Facebook/Etc.!) Swing by and see what all your friends are raving about!"
My first boiled crawfish experience of the 2014 year. Ouch. Notice I put LA in quotation marks, well, quiet frankly I'm not sure what L.A. stands for, but it certainly isn't Louisiana. Nor should it claim or pretend to represent anything from the state of Louisiana.
This place is right up the road from where I work at Buffalo Speedway and the girlfriend was begging for us to go get some crawfish. I was hesitant thinking it was a bit early in the season and this place had just appeared a few weeks ago in a strip mall esque shopping center. But whatever, I'll go and put on a happy face for her.
Just from the pictures on the home page of their website. I knew going in, I wasn't going to leave happy.
I stroll in at about 6:30. There's a line out the door. Place is packed. I wait my turn patiently behind a tape line. As I'm waiting in line, I start to notice something. And I don't mean to sound racist, but it was being worked by all Asians. I take that back, I will be racist. When I want to get a good meal of South Louisiana cooking, I never want to walk into a place and see Mexican or Asian chefs walking in and out of the kitchen. Immediately unsettling.
Anyhow, the whole idea behind the service at this place is terrible. You wait in line, they take your order, then you just hope and pray there is an open table somewhere within the building. They give you a number and you sit down and wait until they deliver your order.
$6.99 a lb. I got 6lbs with red potatoes and sweet corn. Plus an order of a dozen raw oysters, $18.99
When it was my turn to order the lil Asian girl politely asks me how many lbs I want. I say 6 and ask if that is including the potatoes and corn 6lbs or 6lbs of just crawfish. She says just crawfish. This is how the rest of the conversation plays out.
Her: "Sir what flavor would you like? Garlic Butter, Cajun Style, or Hot and Sweet?
Me: "Excuse me? There aren't flavors of boiled crawfish.....What is the "Cajun Style?"
Her: "That's the traditional Louisiana style seasoning we mix them in"
Me: "Ummmm, okay. I see. Can I get boiled crawfish without 'them being mixed in seasoning' ?"
Her: "Wait, so you don't want any seasoning at all on them?"
Me: "That's correct."
Her: "Okay, do you want Mild, Spicy, or Extra Spicy"
Me: "WHAT?"
Apparently, not only can you get them in different seasoning, but they also have different levels of Tony's they sprinkle on the crawfish to frick them up.
Whatever, I'm already here. Have waited in line for 20 minutes and the girlfriend is getting PISSED I'm "being picky".
About 15 minutes later they bring us 2 sacks of crawfish. Potatoes and Corn mixed in. No where remotely close to 6lbs of crawfish. Probably 3-4 with corn and potatoes rounding off the 5-6lbs. Shocker. Saw that coming.
You can hardly see inside this plastic clear bag because of the seasoning they apparently poor over the crawfish then shake up to evenly distribute throughout the bag. Sigh. To make matters worse. Small. Small. Small. They weren't cooked evenly either. Some nearly raw and unpeelable, some okay, and some waaay overcooked and falling apart when you tried to peel.
They have a bar / station of toppings for you. It has Tony's, Sea Salt, paprika, seasoning salt, hot butter, ranch, honey mustard, mayo, ketchup, and whatever that Asian hot sauce that has a green cap. NO TABASCO OR LOUISIANA HOT SAUCE? Interesting concept.
They bring you the crawfish in bags. Then hand you a tin tray to throw the discards in. No plates. No silverware. No roll of napkins or paper towels.
10 minutes later they bring out the oysters. Who would eat the oysters after their meal? The frick? I ask for crackers. They don't server crackers with oysters. Another WTF moment.
Just a complete and utter bust. My first crawfish of the 2014 season, a disaster. An Asian / Louisiana combo menu? Serving everything from wings to pho. From boiled crawfish to fried rice. This place is an abortion. And should have their license to serve crawfish revoked. Their YELP and Facebook reviews are either completely false and created from the owners or they are paying for the reviews. No one who has ever ever been to a real Louisiana crawfish boil would consider this place remotely acceptable.
Location: 3957 Richmond Ave, Houston, TX 77027, (832) 767-1533
Website Summary: "THE best Crawfish/Seafood/Pho/Wings restaurant in town ;-)!(Don't believe us? Check us out on Google/Yelp/Facebook/Etc.!) Swing by and see what all your friends are raving about!"
My first boiled crawfish experience of the 2014 year. Ouch. Notice I put LA in quotation marks, well, quiet frankly I'm not sure what L.A. stands for, but it certainly isn't Louisiana. Nor should it claim or pretend to represent anything from the state of Louisiana.
This place is right up the road from where I work at Buffalo Speedway and the girlfriend was begging for us to go get some crawfish. I was hesitant thinking it was a bit early in the season and this place had just appeared a few weeks ago in a strip mall esque shopping center. But whatever, I'll go and put on a happy face for her.
Just from the pictures on the home page of their website. I knew going in, I wasn't going to leave happy.
I stroll in at about 6:30. There's a line out the door. Place is packed. I wait my turn patiently behind a tape line. As I'm waiting in line, I start to notice something. And I don't mean to sound racist, but it was being worked by all Asians. I take that back, I will be racist. When I want to get a good meal of South Louisiana cooking, I never want to walk into a place and see Mexican or Asian chefs walking in and out of the kitchen. Immediately unsettling.
Anyhow, the whole idea behind the service at this place is terrible. You wait in line, they take your order, then you just hope and pray there is an open table somewhere within the building. They give you a number and you sit down and wait until they deliver your order.
$6.99 a lb. I got 6lbs with red potatoes and sweet corn. Plus an order of a dozen raw oysters, $18.99
When it was my turn to order the lil Asian girl politely asks me how many lbs I want. I say 6 and ask if that is including the potatoes and corn 6lbs or 6lbs of just crawfish. She says just crawfish. This is how the rest of the conversation plays out.
Her: "Sir what flavor would you like? Garlic Butter, Cajun Style, or Hot and Sweet?
Me: "Excuse me? There aren't flavors of boiled crawfish.....What is the "Cajun Style?"
Her: "That's the traditional Louisiana style seasoning we mix them in"
Me: "Ummmm, okay. I see. Can I get boiled crawfish without 'them being mixed in seasoning' ?"
Her: "Wait, so you don't want any seasoning at all on them?"
Me: "That's correct."
Her: "Okay, do you want Mild, Spicy, or Extra Spicy"
Me: "WHAT?"
Apparently, not only can you get them in different seasoning, but they also have different levels of Tony's they sprinkle on the crawfish to frick them up.
Whatever, I'm already here. Have waited in line for 20 minutes and the girlfriend is getting PISSED I'm "being picky".
About 15 minutes later they bring us 2 sacks of crawfish. Potatoes and Corn mixed in. No where remotely close to 6lbs of crawfish. Probably 3-4 with corn and potatoes rounding off the 5-6lbs. Shocker. Saw that coming.
You can hardly see inside this plastic clear bag because of the seasoning they apparently poor over the crawfish then shake up to evenly distribute throughout the bag. Sigh. To make matters worse. Small. Small. Small. They weren't cooked evenly either. Some nearly raw and unpeelable, some okay, and some waaay overcooked and falling apart when you tried to peel.
They have a bar / station of toppings for you. It has Tony's, Sea Salt, paprika, seasoning salt, hot butter, ranch, honey mustard, mayo, ketchup, and whatever that Asian hot sauce that has a green cap. NO TABASCO OR LOUISIANA HOT SAUCE? Interesting concept.
They bring you the crawfish in bags. Then hand you a tin tray to throw the discards in. No plates. No silverware. No roll of napkins or paper towels.
10 minutes later they bring out the oysters. Who would eat the oysters after their meal? The frick? I ask for crackers. They don't server crackers with oysters. Another WTF moment.
Just a complete and utter bust. My first crawfish of the 2014 season, a disaster. An Asian / Louisiana combo menu? Serving everything from wings to pho. From boiled crawfish to fried rice. This place is an abortion. And should have their license to serve crawfish revoked. Their YELP and Facebook reviews are either completely false and created from the owners or they are paying for the reviews. No one who has ever ever been to a real Louisiana crawfish boil would consider this place remotely acceptable.
This post was edited on 3/12/14 at 11:52 am
Posted on 3/12/14 at 11:45 am to Klark Kent
quote:
No plates. No silverware
You need a plate and silverware for a crawfish boil?
Posted on 3/12/14 at 11:49 am to Klark Kent
You don't need to waste your time...there is no such thing in Houston.
Save yourself the time and money and just buy yourself a rig and boil your own.
Save yourself the time and money and just buy yourself a rig and boil your own.
Posted on 3/12/14 at 11:53 am to zmoney2613
quote:
You need a plate and silverware for a crawfish boil?
Not for crawfish.
But for the oysters it would've been nice.
Plus the girlfriend likes to peel herself a dozen or so, create a pile, then eat them with a fork. I know, I know. She needs to be educated.
Posted on 3/12/14 at 12:04 pm to Klark Kent
quote:
But for the oysters it would've been nice. Plus the girlfriend likes to peel herself a dozen or so, create a pile, then eat them with a fork. I know, I know. She needs to be educated.
Like the blind leading the blind.
Posted on 3/12/14 at 12:04 pm to Klark Kent
quote:
My Epic Quest to Find Decent Boiled Crawfish in Houston
quote:
upon the F/D board's suggestions me and my ol' lady will go to a new place once a week ever week in attempt to find Houston Boiled Crawfish nirvana.
Sure. No problem.
quote:
Let's try to keep it in the loop or near too
Nevermind. Your bitching about driving 3 hours to eat good crawfish, but you don't seem willing to drive 30-45 minutes either.
This post was edited on 3/12/14 at 12:07 pm
Posted on 3/12/14 at 12:11 pm to MSMHater
sorry, let me clarify.
During the week, no, I'm not fighting the traffic to get outside the loop. So I'll try anything suggested within the loop.
On the weekends, I'd drive to a neighboring Houston community. Humble, Spring, Katy, Cypress, etc.... to find the right crawfish.
Up next is "That One Place" yellowfin suggested. I've been to a yellowfin crawfish boil out in suburbia and that's still probably the best crawfish I've had in Texas in 5 years. So, based upon his suggestion, this place is worth the drive.
What you got?
During the week, no, I'm not fighting the traffic to get outside the loop. So I'll try anything suggested within the loop.
On the weekends, I'd drive to a neighboring Houston community. Humble, Spring, Katy, Cypress, etc.... to find the right crawfish.
Up next is "That One Place" yellowfin suggested. I've been to a yellowfin crawfish boil out in suburbia and that's still probably the best crawfish I've had in Texas in 5 years. So, based upon his suggestion, this place is worth the drive.
What you got?
This post was edited on 3/12/14 at 12:13 pm
Posted on 3/12/14 at 12:16 pm to Klark Kent
Place I would buy my crawfish from was critter runners (I think). They will meet you out front any of their delivery spots and sell you a sack. Make friends, boil crawfish, butt chug a few boxes of wine, and your GF will be eating crawfish like a pro.
Posted on 3/12/14 at 12:21 pm to Klark Kent
quote:
What you got?
1 that I consider "good" for Texas. Definitly "decent"
Pod-Zu's
1 that is VERY hit or miss, but a cool little place to drink and listen to live music.
T-Bone Toms (You probably know that one)
And 1 that is getting alot of praise within my circle of coonasses down here. But I have, admittedly, not tried them yet
Pooks crawfish hole
BUT...
Ain't no dust on those bugs. Hopefully they are good. I plan on checking it out very soon.
ETA: Pooks would be a 35-40 minute ride for you.
ETA2: And with all that said, my backyard (or a friends) probably still has the best crawfish around my house. I would always prefer to do it at home, B/C MOST crawfish places here are a complete disaster.
This post was edited on 3/12/14 at 12:27 pm
Posted on 3/12/14 at 12:31 pm to offshoreangler
quote:
Calliope's
she changed the name to Cajun Stop
Posted on 3/12/14 at 1:00 pm to TomballTiger
I haven't been here, even though it is not far from our house, but this place is supposed to be good...but they might put seasoning on them, not sure?
Good Ole Boys - Katy
Like you, I've yet to find decent in Houston, the best I've found in the state of Texas is at Larry's French Market in Groves, basically in Louisiana
Good Ole Boys - Katy
Like you, I've yet to find decent in Houston, the best I've found in the state of Texas is at Larry's French Market in Groves, basically in Louisiana
Posted on 3/12/14 at 2:16 pm to Kingwood Tiger
you can pass on Good Ole Boys ...
This post was edited on 3/12/14 at 2:17 pm
Posted on 3/12/14 at 2:20 pm to TexasTiger
Big Woodrows and buckets of beer.
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