the viet-cajun

crawfish RAWL

Text and photos by Mai Pham

how do you dig

into this?

40
APRIL MAY 2016

turn to page 44 for

tips from an expert.

t would be hard to imagine the Houston food landscape

today without the contributions made by its largest
adoptive population, the Vietnamese. Indeed, any
mention of Houston cuisine would be incomplete
without acknowledging the ubiquity of ph restaurants
and bnh m shops all around town. The appearance of
Vietnamese-esque, Vietnamese-inspired dishes on the menus
of prominent chef-driven restaurants like Underbelly and
Prohibition are further examples of how Vietnamese food has
become so tightly interwoven into the very fabric of Houston
food culture.
Nowhere is that more evident than in the emergence of
the phenomenon known as Viet-Cajun cuisine, in which the
Vietnamese took the Louisiana tradition of Cajun crawfish
and modified it with spices and additional ingredients, the
most prevalent of which is garlic butter. Though the genre has
spread to other heavily populated Vietnamese areas around the
country, its roots can be traced back to Houston circa 2006.

It was then that people started flocking to a little shop called

Cajun Corner, which flourished in the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina when local demand for crawfish increased. These days,
walk into any Vietnamese-owned crawfish restaurant, and a
variation of that garlic butter flavor will feature prominently on
the menu.
What is Viet-Cajun crawfish? Simply put, its Cajun
crawfish with an added boost of flavor. Some restaurants
prepare a seasoning to toss the crawfish in after its been boiled
in Cajun spices. Others boil the crawfish in the Cajun spices
along with herbs and ingredients like lemongrass, orange and
lemon. Each restaurant has its own proprietary recipe, so while
they may taste similar, no two are exactly the same.
Where should you go for the best Viet-Cajun crawfish in
Houston? That was the question guiding me as I researched
this article, visiting each establishment profiled seven total
within a three-week time frame so that I could make a fair
comparison during the 2016 season currently underway.

CRAWFISH CAFE OWNER

KIET DUONG

CRAWFISH CAFE
GARLIC BUTTER

Crawfish Cafe

11209 Bellaire Blvd. at Boone Rd., 281-575-1746, crawfishcafe.com

My crawfish journey started at Crawfish Cafe, located inside the
Hong Kong City Mall IV, a bright and rather odd location just outside of
Ocean Palace restaurant. The extremely clean space has several high-backed
wooden booths, each large enough to accommodate parties of six to eight.
Individual tables and longer tables for groups are also available.
The menu here is typical of a Cajun seafood restaurant, the
difference being that there are six official flavors on the menu: The Original
Cajun, Kickin Cajun, Garlic Butter, Thai Basil, Lemon Pepper and The
Mix (garlic butter and lemon pepper). You choose the seafood (crawfish,
blue crabs, shrimp, etc), the flavor and the spice level (ranging from mild
to extra spicy). Youll receive your order in a plastic bag.
Owner Kiet Duong didnt know much about crawfish when he started,
he admits. He had a friend who helped him develop the recipes and says
that a lot of experimentation was involved. Kickin Cajun is the newest
flavor.

THE GARLIC BUTTER SAUCE

Youll love Crawfish Cafe if you like a sweeter crawfish flavor.

The Garlic Butter and the Garlic Butter/Thai Basil mix are insanely
delicious. For those who want less sweetness, the Cajun or Kickin Cajun
41
flavors are the most savory. Crawfish Cafe is BYOB for beer, and the craw Mfish
AY 20
1 6 up at $7.99/pound for all flavors. Dipping sauces, bibs and gloves
ring
are included in the price.
THE VERDICT

APRIL

Cajun Kitchen

GARLIC BUTTER

THE KITCHEN SPECIAL

6938 Wilcrest at Bellaire Blvd., 281-495-8881,

cajunkitchenhouston.com
This cute little shop sits in the middle of a non-descript strip
mall on Wilcrest. Proprietor John Nguyen purchased the shop in
2013, and since then the accolades have been rolling in. Chronicle
restaurant writer Alison Cook named it one of Houstons Top 100
Restaurants three years running. Cajun Kitchen was featured in
Season 3 of the PBS hit series The Mind of a Chef, then more
recently in Tom Sietsemas Washington Post review of Houston as
one of the best food cities in the country.
The crawfish come in four flavors: Cajun, Thai Basil,
Garlic Blend and the restaurants claim to fame, their The Kitchen
Special. Where other restaurants just toss the flavorings onto the
crawfish before serving, Nguyen goes the extra step by tossing the
boiled crawfish in a wok with a special blend of butter, garlic, green
onion, orange and other ingredients. You can order spice levels from
mild to the ultra-spicy suicide, so named because it combines
cayenne with habanero.
The wok-tossed flavors are absolutely delicious, but
the Kitchen Special is standout for its sublime blend of citrus, garlic
and butter. Reminiscent of a French preparation of mussels, the
sauce is the type that just begs to be soaked up by a piece of crusty
bread. (Alas, bread is not currently on the menu here.) The Garlic
Blend is wonderful as well and comes with copious amounts of raw
chopped garlic on top. The Thai Basil is also excellent. In addition
to the crawfish, Nguyens fish sauce wings and garlic noodles are
stellar. Dipping sauces are included in the crawfish price, which is
currently $8.99/pound. Beer and wine are available.
THE VERDICT

cajun KITCHEN

88 boiling

88 Boiling

GARLIC BUTTER

1910 Wilcrest at Briar Forest, 713-789-8288,

facebook.com/88BoilingCrawfish/
This standalone crawfish shop looks like it used to be a Long John
Silvers. Theres a drive-thru window, and the interior offers bright,
counter-style service with a big handwritten hanging chalkboard for
a menu. Whats interesting about this place is that it is not, strictly
speaking, Viet-Cajun in that the owners are Chinese. Another
salient point? The handwritten menu advertises dishes such as pad
Thai and Thai basil softshell crabs.
My uncle used to own a Thai restaurant, and since hes retired,
he hangs out here and cooks, says Kevin Vong, the manager, who
served me a freshly brewed, extraordinarily good cup of Thai iced
tea. On the crawfish front, there are four flavors: Garlic Butter,
Lemon Pepper, Ragin Cajun and the 88 Special. Crawfish are
$7.99/pound.
Of the four crawfish flavors I sampled, the Ragin
Cajun made the most impression, with a bouillon-type base that
imparted an extra savoriness to the crawfish. The other flavors were
fine, but the crawfish were remarkably mixed in size. Patrons who
want a fresh boil will like 88 Boiling, because they dont cook the
crawfish until you order. This yields fresh crawfish, but it takes
longer to get your order. It also sacrifices flavor, which isnt as
strongly infused as it is at places where the crawfish are soaked in
spices
42 first. If youre craving crawfish and Thai food, this is your
place.
THE VERDICT

APRIL MAY 2016

Crawfish & Noodles

11360 Bellaire Blvd. at Boone Rd., 281-988-8098, crawfishandnoodles.com

Prominently located on the front-facing end of a strip mall across from the Hong
Kong City Mall IV is Crawfish & Noodles, owned by Trong Nguyen. Nguyen is
one of the pioneers in the Viet-Cajun movement, and his restaurant is unique in
that he serves fantastic, traditional Vietnamese food alongside Cajun dishes that
have a Vietnamese spin. His B Ti Chanh (beef cooked in lemon), M B Kho
(Vietnamese stew beef with egg noodle) and Cm B Lc Lc (shaking beef cubes
with rice) are some of the best youll find in Houston. His Cua Rang Mui (salt and
pepper blue crabs) are also phenomenal.
Crawfish & Noodles landed on Alison Cooks Top 100 list in 2013 and 2015
and got some major national TV love when it was profiled by Andrew Zimmern for
Bizarre Foods on the Travel Channel.
On the crawfish front, Nguyen keeps things simple. There is only one flavor of
crawfish, which is the garlic butter. All you need to do is specify the poundage and
the spice level.
About halfway through my two pounds (most people eat three to
five pounds per person), I started dragging each crawfish through the garlicbutter sludge at the bottom of the bowl to pick up as much of the sauce as possible.
Nguyens garlic butter is magnificent a reason why he only has one flavor and has
kept it consistent throughout the years. Another thing I noticed was that the
crawfish were uniformly large. Do you order from a special vendor to get them
all the same size? I asked my server. No, we dont, he explained. But all the
crawfish that comes in gets sorted. The smaller crawfish get set aside for the crawfish
fried rice. With crawfish, size matters. These high-quality, pre-sorted, large crawfish
run $9.99/pound, but are worth every penny. Beer and wine are available.
THE VERDICT

CRAWFISH & NOODLES

GARLIC BUTTER

Tips on the
Viet-Cajun
Crawfish
Experience
Most of the flavor is in the
sauce that pools in the bottom
of the bowl. Periodically toss
or tip the crawfish bowl to
evenly distribute the flavor.
Make your own dipping sauce.
At some restaurants, you will
automatically get a basket that
includes mayonnaise, ketchup
and butter. Other restaurants
will have these condiments
on a counter for you to fetch
yourself. Make your own sauce
by blending the ingredients,
adding lemon and Cajun
spices until it suits your palate.
Many of these restaurants are
BYOB, so you just might be
able to bring a bottle of wine
or six-pack of beer to enjoy.
Call or check online first to be
sure.
Dont be afraid to veer off the
crawfish menu to try other
menu items, such as chicken
wings, oysters, gumbo or other
seafood.
Crawfish season is at its peak
locally between January and
April, when the restaurants
serve live crawfish from
Louisiana. Most restaurants
serve crawfish year round,
however, with some closing
shop for a few weeks around
the October time frame.
During off-season, some
establishments will source their
crawfish live from California,
but its more typically frozen.

43
A
A PP RR II LL M
MA
AY
Y 2
20
01
16
6