Crawfish and Crabs - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**Canadian Dude** · 01-30-2005, 05:09 PM

Ok, So I have posted about my trip to New Orleans...;Now here is why I wanna go, and it has nothing to do with Booze and Boobies....

You know in all movies/tv shows that take place in New Orleans or cool towns around Louisiana, there is always a scene with people sitting in a bar/pub eating a HUGE platter of Crab or Crawfish...I mean with bibs on amd mallets a smashing on the table., just elbow deep in shellfish.

Well I WANNA DO THAT! Someone out there must know a place that I can go to have that meal, It doesnt have to be in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Alexandria, Lafayette...where ever, i will make the drive to go to a recommended place that serves these masive platter of Crawfish or Crab.

Please don't tell me that these things only exist in the movies????

Help a brotha out!!!

Desperatly Yours,

Canadian Dude

**U2fan** · 01-30-2005, 08:21 PM

Hey it has been almost 3 years since I've been to New Orleans, but really, you can get meals like that almost EVERYWHERE from what I remember. So yeah, I have no specific recommendations except to say you can eat that 3 meals a day if you want.

And you have to go get the fried doughnuts with powdered sugar on them at the outside cafe, shoot what is it called. Can't think of it now, but I'm sure someone else knows. It's legendary. Good stuff.....

**Tadpole** · 01-30-2005, 08:29 PM

It's french and I can say it by I can't remember how to spell it. But it is said like "Benyays". There were three different lines leading outside the cafe that was selling them when I went. They are a must.

**Joker** · 01-31-2005, 12:02 AM

For the record, skip the crabs in NO since the only folks that do them right is in Maryland.

Trust me. Same breed (swimming blue crab) but nobody can do 'em like we do here! I'll give you a hint... look up "Old Bay."

Otherwise, we want gory details from The Big Easy! :D

**voyd** · 01-31-2005, 06:30 AM

"beignets"

I know a GREAT crawfish place in Austin, but not NO (although I'm sure they're all great over there.)

You do have to know how to eat them though - the proper way to pull the meat out. I think it's a pinch & pull or something...but sadly I've already forgotten as my memory sux quite badly.

Perhaps someone else can help CD out here so he doesn't expose himself as a noob?

**omisan** · 01-31-2005, 10:27 AM

Pop, twist, and suck!

There are a lot of places in NO that'll try to lure you in with seafood, only to find mediocre fare and jacked up tourist prices.

As for a good place... http://www.acmeoyster.com/menu.html

**lilwings** · 01-31-2005, 02:53 PM

Hey CD-

Cafe du Monde- the home of the beignet and cafe au lait. Very popular and busy just about any hour of the day. Simply walk in and find an open seat... even if it has stuff on the table. They will clear it off and take your order for you. If you don't want to wait... get it all to go at the window.

As far as where to go to get great creole, cajun, or crawfish... my best advice is to ask a local at the hotel you stay at where they would go to get a great meal. omi's right, there are so many places in the Quarter that do great food, but they have the prices jacked up for tourists. If you don't mind spending the money, most of them do a pretty good job. The locals are the best untapped resource for where the good stuff is though. All the great food I have had there has been because I introduced myself to the hotel staff, sat in the courtyard of the hotel, had a cigarette with them, and got a beat on the best places (and fairly inexpensive too). The last time I went, the lady at the front desk of the hotel told me about this great place near Lafeyette Cem (right near the entrance) that had good ettoufee... there was enough butter to choke my heart to a complete stop after the first bite. It was heaven!

Did I tell you just how jealous I am that you are going to my very favorite city in the whole of the US??? I have had some of the best nights ever there (even travelling solo). There is also a great used book store somewhere in the Quarter that deals in french books... I never remember where it is exactly, and I usually always find it again by accident. I love how you can walk in Jackson square in the middle of the night, and the whole place is lit with candles and smells like insence from the palm and tarot card readers. Oh, and window shopping in the antique stores... everything is waaaaay over priced, but there are a couple of places that were like museums with some of the things they had. Windham's is one of them. Even people watching on Bourbon is fun!

I can't wait to hear what you think about it when you go. How long are you staying?

**lilwings** · 01-31-2005, 03:04 PM

Oh... and for anyone who goes to Panama City... there is a place that does creole heading eastward on Back Beach Road (near the Naval Dive/ Salvage Training Center). It's called the Bayou... very good, not packed with spring breakers, and fairly cheap.

Just in case anyone here is going to SB in Panama City and hates dealing with crowds and crappy food. Also- bypass PC Beach, go to Fort Walton or Destin for good beaches and good food!

**bluepea** · 01-31-2005, 07:13 PM

I just have to say I love NO! We were just there in December again and it's just so fab. I do say you have to stop at Cafe Dumond - yes, everyone goes there but their chickory coffee and beignets are so yummy and it's inexpensive (that's about all they serve though). Go at an off time of the day or you won't find a place to sit.

Crap! We went to some hole in the wall and my hubby got like five pounds of craw daddys for super cheap... Can't remember!! It wasn't on a main street. That's the key though. Don't eat on Bourbon, eat on a side street. Food's better and cheaper. And as said before, ask the locals for the good places. You can find cheap food and beer if you look. My key was to look for a place off the main drags (Bourbon especially) with NO neon lights, uniforms, high maintenance looking people or fancy signs. Most places put menus in the window so you can get an idea of prices and such.

One place we ate at THREE times while there was called the Praline Connection. It was a little outside of the quarter. It was like three blocks from Royal/Esplande area. (http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp...%20Restaurants) It was sooo good. Around there is where they were filming a movie called the Poolhall Prophets! Got to watch a little bit.

Good breakfast food is near there at a restaurant called Le Peniche. Cheap and they have the best most simple bloody mary's. That area is what the locals refer to as the "locals Bourbon St." (Frenchman St.)

Sorry I can't give the specs on a good cheap craw daddy place... but look around, won't be hard to find. people are so friendly there.

(

**kingcrazylegs** · 02-01-2005, 09:28 AM

CD you are going down during crawfish season, so you won't have a problem!! Just about anywhere that does Cajun food is going to have them. If you are down in Alexandria go to Tunks or Robie G's (just ask someone there, they'll know). In Lafayette go to Randal's (also get some aligator...yum). Seriously though, you can go anywhere!

**lilwings** · 02-01-2005, 12:40 PM

Some correct me if I am wrong, but didn't the India House Hostel on S. Lopez do a crawfish boil too? The hostel wasn't in the best neighborhood, but I remember the boil being fairly good... my memories of the place are about 5 or 6 years old.

**urOZm8** · 02-01-2005, 08:50 PM

No booze and boobies?

ev

**Somnambulation** · 02-06-2005, 11:36 AM

Back home the local fire department puts on a 'crab feed' every year, where you sit at big tables and eat all the crab you possibly can. That is really the only way to eat shell fish, in unlimited mass quantities. Red Lobster had an unlimited crab feast a couple of years ago but they dont do it anymore because they lost money.

**glorious_day** · 02-13-2005, 09:12 AM

awwww maaaaaaan!

this reminds me so much of when me and my mama used to go right down the street from our house in natchitoches, louisiana to this place that sold nothing but boiled crawfish. it was a converted sonic, i think, with a huge, red painted wooden crawfish on top. we would spread newspaper on the kitchen table, break out the saltines, and get down and dirty breaking open all those damn shells. don't y'all love that burning in the corner of your mouth that you get from the crab boil they use? heaven!
btw...if someone pressures you to suck the head (!), trust me, it ain't worth it!

**kingcrazylegs** · 02-13-2005, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by glorious_day@Feb 13 2005, 11:12 AM
btw...if someone pressures you to suck the head (!), trust me, it ain't worth it!

Even though it sounds nasty (and well almost sexual

) , it you like really spicey stuff thats the best part! Come on Sarah, where is your sense of adventure?

**glorious_day** · 02-14-2005, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Come on Sarah, where is your sense of adventure?

yeah, yeah... been there, done that, my friend. i think i'll leave my head sucking to, uh, different things, thank you very much....

**kingcrazylegs** · 02-14-2005, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by glorious_day@Feb 14 2005, 10:24 AM
yeah, yeah... been there, done that, my friend.* i think i'll leave my head sucking to, uh, different things, thank you very much.... * *

Very well then!