Crawfish
Even in a land of Curious Culinary Trends, the new wave of Asian-Cajun restaurants that's swept across SoCal is an eyebrow-raiser. Its California incarnation seems to have begun in the Vietnamese community of Westminster in Orange County, where Cajun-style crab joints began popping up several months ago – down-home restaurants with names like The Cajun Corner, Rockin' Crawfish and The Boiling Crab. Those hunting for a taste of Saigon at these spots will find little if any, for these are the sort of unpretentious, cut-to-the-chase eateries found along the shores of Lake Pontchartrain.
What began in Orange County has spread like wildfire to Los Angeles County, with Asian-Cajuns popping up along Valley Boulevard in the San Gabriel Valley. There's a branch of The Boiling Crab in Alhambra just a few blocks from Boathouse Cajun Boiled Seafood, which is just a short hop from a mall in San Gabriel that's home to not one but two Asian-Cajuns – Captain Crab and Fisherman's Wharf – and just north of the wonderfully named Crabulous in Rosemead. And, as I found on a recent Saturday night, they're all full, mostly with Asian diners who have taken to gumbo with relish…and hot sauce.
Ordering at any of these restaurants is an exercise in madcap excess. The mudbug of choice is the crawfish, usually ordered in two-pound increments. That's because you get a cob of corn and two sausages for every two pounds of crawfish, so you may as well maximize the intake in between ripping the funny little things to pieces.
Now, I did not grow up in a land where crawfish were eaten – by anyone. And so, the joys of crawfish are a bit foreign to me. They're brought to the butcher paper–covered table still bubbling in large plastic bags. The bags are dropped on the table and you're pretty much on your own. Reach into the bag, pull out a bug and start…doing what?
You pull the crawfish apart, and what you find inside is a small plug of meat, which is pleasant enough, but even two pounds of them aren't quite enough for a fellow who likes to eat his shrimp and crab by the tankful. Which is why it's also a good idea to order additional plastic bags of shrimp, blue crab and Dungeness crab, perhaps some fried catfish with french fries, gumbo with rice (thick as mud), fried calamari and Cajun onion rings.
The shellfish bugs come in a choice of sauces – garlic butter, lemon pepper and a variety of sauces with names like "Ragin' Cajun" and "Cajun Sensation" – further amended as mild, spicy or suicide, which is hotter than seems humanly possible. Dip your fingers into the sauce enough times, and they begin to marinate. Your fingers turn a reddish-brown color that doesn't come off for about a week; the aroma stays with you no matter how much soap you use. And be sure to wear something either washable – or disposable. It's a terrific meal, wholly interactive and downright primal.
– Merrill Shindler