crawfish crawl

Upload: mytablemagazine

Post on 07-Jul-2018

254 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

  • 8/19/2019 Crawfish Crawl

    1/4

    !"

    ! " # $ % –   ' ! ( ) * + ,

    the viet-cajun

    crawfish

    !"#$ &'( )*+$+, -. /&0 1*&2

    how do you dig

    into this?

    turn to page 44 for

    tips from an expet.

    CR AWL

  • 8/19/2019 Crawfish Crawl

    2/4

    !"

    ! " # $ % –   ' ! ( ) * + ,

    !t would be hard to imagine the Houston food landscapetoday without the contributions made by its largestadoptive population, the Vietnamese. Indeed, anymention of Houston cuisine would be incomplete

     without acknowledging the ubiquity of phở restaurantsand bánh mì shops all around town. Te appearance ofVietnamese-esque, Vietnamese-inspired dishes on the menusof prominent chef-driven restaurants like Underbelly andProhibition are further examples of how Vietnamese food hasbecome so tightly interwoven into the very fabric of Houston

    food culture.Nowhere is that more evident than in the emergence ofthe phenomenon known as Viet-Cajun cuisine, in which theVietnamese took the Louisiana tradition of Cajun craw shand modied it with spices and additional ingredients, themost prevalent of which is garlic butter.Tough the genre hasspread to other heavily populated Vietnamese areas around thecountry, its roots can be traced back to Houston circa 2006.

    It was then that people started ocking to a little shop calledCajun Corner, which ourished in the aftermath of HurricaneKatrina when local demand for craw sh increased. Tese days, walk into any Vietnamese-owned craw sh restaurant, and avariation of that garlic butter avor will feature prominently onthe menu.

     What is Viet-Cajun craw sh? Simply put, it’s Cajuncraw sh with an added boost of avor. Some restaurantsprepare a seasoning to toss the craw sh in after it’s been boiledin Cajun spices. Others boil the craw sh in the Cajun spices

    along with herbs and ingredients like lemongrass, orange andlemon. Each restaurant has its own proprietary recipe, so whilethey may taste similar, no two are exactly the same.

     Where should you go for the best Viet-Cajun craw sh inHouston?Tat was the question guiding me as I researchedthis article, visiting each establishment proled – seven total– within a three-week time frame so that I could make a faircomparison during the 2016 season currently underway.

    Crawfish Cafe11209 Bellaire Blvd. at Boone Rd., 281-575-1746, craw   shcafe.comMy craw sh journey started at Craw sh Cafe, located inside theHong Kong City Mall IV, a bright and rather odd location just outsideOcean Palace restaurant. Te extremely clean space has several high-bac

     wooden booths, each large enough to accommodate parties of six to eigIndividual tables and longer tables for groups are also available.Te menu here is typical of a Cajun seafood restaurant, the

    diff erence being that there are six official avors on the menu: Te Orig

    Cajun, Kickin’ Cajun, Garlic Butter,T

    ai Basil, Lemon Pepper andT

    Mix (garlic butter and lemon pepper). You choose the seafood (craw shblue crabs, shrimp, etc), the avor and the spice level (ranging from mito extra spicy). You’ll receive your order in a plastic bag.

    Owner Kiet Duong didn’t know much about craw sh when he startehe admits. He had a friend who helped him develop the recipes and saythat a lot of experimentation was involved. Kickin’ Cajun is the newestavor.

    !"# %#&'()! You’ll love Craw sh Cafe if you like a sweeter craw sh avTe Garlic Butter and the Garlic Butter/Tai Basil mix are insanelydelicious. For those who want less sweetness, the Cajun or Kickin’ Cajuavors are the most savory. Craw sh Cafe is BYOB for beer, and the crsh ring up at $7.99/pound for all avors. Dipping sauces, bibs and glo

    are included in the price.

    )&*+,(-" )*,# .+/#& 

     0(#! '1./2

    )&*+,(-" )*,#

    2*&3() 41!!#& 

    !"# 2*&3() 41!!#& -*1)#

  • 8/19/2019 Crawfish Crawl

    3/4

    !"

    ! " # $ % –   ' ! ( ) * + ,

    Cajun Kitchen6938 Wilcrest at Bellaire Blvd., 281-495-8881,cajunkitchenhouston.comTis cute little shop sits in the middle of a non-descript stripmall on Wilcrest. Proprietor John Nguyen purchased the shop in2013, and since then the accolades have been rolling in. Chroniclerestaurant writer Alison Cook named it one of Houston’s Top 100Restaurants three years running. Cajun Kitchen was featured inSeason 3 of the PBS hit series Te Mind of a Chef, then morerecently in Tom Sietsema’s Washington Post  review of Houston asone of the best food cities in the country.Te craw sh come in four avors: Cajun, Tai Basil,

    Garlic Blend and the restaurant’s claim to fame, their “Te KitchenSpecial.” Where other restaurants just toss the avorings onto thecraw sh before serving, Nguyen goes the extra step by tossing theboiled craw sh in a wok with a special blend of butter, garlic, greenonion, orange and other ingredients. You can order spice levels frommild to the ultra-spicy “suicide,” so named because it combinescayenne with habanero.

    !"# %#&'()! Te wok-tossed avors are absolutely delicious, butthe Kitchen Special is standout for its sublime blend of citrus, garlic

    and butter. Reminiscent of a French preparation of mussels, thesauce is the type that just begs to be soaked up by a piece of crustybread. (Alas, bread is not currently on the menu here.) Te GarlicBlend is wonderful as well and comes with copious amounts of rawchopped garlic on top. Te Tai Basil is also excellent. In additionto the craw sh, Nguyen’s sh sauce wings and garlic noodles arestellar. Dipping sauces are included in the craw sh price, which iscurrently $8.99/pound. Beer and wine are available.

    88 Boiling1910 Wilcrest at Briar Forest, 713-789-8288,

     facebook.com/88BoilingCraw   sh/ Tis standalone craw sh shop looks like it used to be a Long JohnSilver’s.Tere’s a drive-thru window, and the interior off ers bright,counter-style service with a big handwritten hanging chalkboard fora menu. What’s interesting about this place is that it is not, strictlyspeaking, “Viet-Cajun” in that the owners are Chinese. Anothersalient point? Te handwritten menu advertises dishes such as “padTai” and Tai basil softshell crabs.

    “My uncle used to own a Tai restaurant, and since he’s retired,he hangs out here and cooks,” says Kevin Vong, the manager, whoserved me a freshly brewed, extraordinarily good cup of Tai icedtea. On the craw sh front, there are four avors: Garlic Butter,

    Lemon Pepper, Ragin’ Cajun and the 88 Special. Craw sh are$7.99/pound.

    !"# %#&'()! Of the four craw sh avors I sampled, the Ragin’Cajun made the most impression, with a bouillon-type base thatimparted an extra savoriness to the craw sh. Te other avors werene, but the craw sh were remarkably mixed in size. Patrons who

     want a fresh boil will like 88 Boiling, because they don’t cook thecraw sh until you order. Tis yields fresh craw sh, but it takeslonger to get your order. It also sacrices avor, which isn’t asstrongly infused as it is at places where the craw sh are soaked inspices rst. If you’re craving craw sh and Tai food, this is yourplace.

    88 boilingcajun KITCHEN

    !"# *(!)"#+ ,-#)(./

    0.&/() 12!!#& 

    0.&/() 12!!#& 

  • 8/19/2019 Crawfish Crawl

    4/4

    !"

    ! " # $ % –   ' ! ( ) * + ,

    Crawfish & Noodles11360 Bellaire Blvd. at Boone Rd., 281-988-8098, craw   shandnoodles.comProminently located on the front-facing end of a strip mall across from the HongKong City Mall IV is Craw sh & Noodles, owned by Trong Nguyen. Nguyen isone of the pioneers in the Viet-Cajun movement, and his restaurant is unique inthat he serves fantastic, traditional Vietnamese food alongside Cajun dishes thathave a Vietnamese spin. His Bò Tái Chanh (beef cooked in lemon), Mì Bò Kho  (Vietnamese stew beef with egg noodle) and C ơ m Bò Lúc Lắ c  (shaking beef cubes with rice) are some of the best you’ll nd in Houston. His Cua Rang Muố i  (salt andpepper blue crabs) are also phenomenal.

    Craw sh & Noodles landed on Alison Cook’s Top 100 list in 2013 and 2015and got some major national TV love when it was proled by Andrew Zimmern forBizarre Foods  on the Travel Channel.

    On the craw sh front, Nguyen keeps things simple. Tere is only one avor ofcraw sh, which is the garlic butter. All you need to do is specify the poundage andthe spice level.

    !"# %#&'()! About halfway through my two pounds (most people eat three tove pounds per person), I started dragging each craw sh through the garlic-butter sludge at the bottom of the bowl to pick up as much of the sauce as possible.Nguyen’s garlic butter is magnicent – a reason why he only has one avor and haskept it consistent throughout the years. Another thing I noticed was that the

    craw sh were uniformly large. “Do you order from a special vendor to get themall the same size?” I asked my server. “No, we don’t,” he explained. “But all thecraw sh that comes in gets sorted. Te smaller craw sh get set aside for the craw shfried rice.” With craw sh, size matters. Tese high-quality, pre-sorted, large craw shrun $9.99/pound, but are worth every penny. Beer and wine are available.

    Tips on the

    Viet-Cajun

    Crawfish

    Experience

    Most of the avor is in thesauce that pools in the bottom

    of the bowl. Periodically tossor tip the craw sh bowl toevenly distribute the avor.

    Make your own dipping sauce. At some restaurants, you willautomatically get a basket thatincludes mayonnaise, ketchupand butter. Other restaurants

     will have these condimentson a counter for you to fetchyourself. Make your own sauceby blending the ingredients,adding lemon and Cajunspices until it suits your palate.

    Many of these restaurants areBYOB, so you just might beable to bring a bottle of wineor six-pack of beer to enjoy.Call or check online rst to besure.

    Don’t be afraid to veer off  thecraw sh menu to try othermenu items, such as chicken

     wings, oysters, gumbo or other

    seafood.

    Craw sh season is at its peaklocally between January and

     April, when the restaurantsserve live craw sh fromLouisiana. Most restaurantsserve craw sh year round,however, with some closingshop for a few weeks aroundthe October time frame.During off -season, someestablishments will source theircraw sh live from California,but it’s more typically frozen.

    !"

    ! " # $ % –   ' ! ( ) * + ,

    )&*+,(-" . /00'1#-2

    3*&1() 45!!#&