where to eat crawfish now

Where to eat in Houston right now: 16 best restaurants for crawfish season

As late winter turns into spring, Houstonians’ thoughts inevitably turn to crawfish. All across the city, people gather to peel and slurp thousands of pounds of freshly boiled crustaceans.

Whether traditional Louisiana or Viet-Cajun, Houston restaurants offer a range of tempting options that vary in their spice levels. From spicy levels that are potent enough to require gloves to decadent garlic butter flavors, crawfish offers flavors that should appeal to almost everyone.

Of course, feasting on crawfish in February means a willingness to accept slightly higher prices and slightly smaller specimens. They’ll get bigger (and cheaper) in March and April.

This list mixes some of the city’s most acclaimed crawfish spots with a few newcomers and a couple of hidden gems. All offer crawfish to go; thankfully, crawfish travel well.

Acadian Coast
Recently opened in the Second Ward, this seafood restaurant serves traditional, Cajun-style crawfish Wednesday - Sunday for $6.99 per pound or five pounds for $30 ($5.99/$25 on Wednesday and Sunday). The restaurant’s spacious patio offers plenty of room for outdoor dining. An extensive selection of housemade cocktails and a well-priced wine list offer plenty of pairing options.

Bayou City Seafood & Pasta
The venerable, Galleria-area restaurant quietly relocated to a new building in 2020. Fans count on Bayou City to serve crawfish that are always a good size with a well-balanced spice mix. Make a meal of mud bugs or save room for some of the restaurant’s massive entrees.

BB’s Tex-Orleans
From a small Montrose restaurant, BB’s has grown to 10 locations across greater Houston. Its traditional, Louisiana-style boil has just enough heat to make a person’s lips tingle but never gets so spicy that someone wouldn’t want another pound. Most locations offer plenty of outdoor seating.

Boil House
Popular Houston food influencer Danielle Dubois (aka hangryhoustonian on Instagram) name checks this small Heights spot as the most similar to her experiences growing up in Louisiana, and that’s good enough for us. Sit at one of the restaurant’s picnic tables or take the crawfish to-go.

The Boot
Founded by Louisiana natives who know the secret to great crawfish starts with properly preparing them, The Boot’s crawfish always deliver lip-smacking spice. That’s why Houstonians gather on its expansive patio for pounds of mudbugs, but don’t miss the first-rate po’boys.

Buffalo Bayou Brewing Company
The CultureMap Tastemaker Awards Brewery of the Year winner touts itself as Houston’s most creative brewery, a claim given even more credence by chef Arash Kharat’s crawfish boil. Served on Saturdays from 2 pm until sold out, Kharat’s seasonings include onion, garlic, chiles, mango puree, housemade michelada mix, and five gallons of Buff Brew’s Dreamsicle blonde ale. After boiling, they’re tossed in the chef’s secret sauce plus butter and garlic. Don’t forget the links of housemade, smoked andouille sausage.

Cajun Kitchen
This Chinatown spot has earned acclaim for its "Kitchen Special" that adds citrus and onions to the familiar Cajun spice blend. A Thai basil flavor that uses lemongrass is also worth trying.

Crawfish Cafe
Whether at its original location in Chinatown or its second outpost in The Heights, this restaurant appeals to spice fans with its Thai basil flavor. Those looking for something a little sweeter should consider the house special mix of garlic butter and lemon pepper. Salt and pepper wings, boudin balls, and crawfish eggrolls are all worth ordering, too.

Crawfish Chris
Former Masterchef contestant Chris Spradley has launched a mobile crawfish pop-up that serves at different Houston-area breweries. A Houston native and former Louisiana resident, the chef touts his 20 years of experience in preparing crawfish and other Cajun fare. Those looking to feed a crowd should note the “BYO Cooler” discounts on orders of 50 and 100 pounds.

Crawfish & Noodles
This Chinatown staple remains Houston’s most famous destination for Viet-Cajun crawfish. Credit for that goes its appearances on multiple TV shows — remember when Andrew Zimmern ate his tails shell-on — as well as the recognition chef-owner Trong Nguyen received last year as a James Beard Award finalist. The signature garlic butter seasoning has been copied by restaurants all over, but the original still does it a little better. Diners should explore the rest of the menu, as the salt and pepper blue crabs, fish sauce chicken wings, and bo luc lac are all as excellent as the crawfish.

The Crawfish Shack
Crawfish fans flock to Crosby (it’s a surprisingly short drive from the inner loop) for the Cajun-spiced mud bugs at this massive restaurant. Reported to sell more crawfish than any single restaurant in Texas, the restaurant’s spice mix balances heat with letting the crawfish natural flavors shine through. It’s also BYOB, so be sure to bring a cooler with beer or wine to ease the burn. Currently to-go only via drive-thru; dine-in scheduled to begin February 24.

Jenivi’s Seafood Shoppe & Restaurant
This restaurant in West Houston is where true crawfish obsessives go for well-spiced — and well-priced — crawfish. Count on larger than normal crawfish that are always cooked properly. An appealing mix of fried seafood and other Cajun fare rounds out the offerings. Currently to-go only.

The Patio at The Pit Room
This bar next to the popular Montrose barbecue joint serves crawfish every Friday - Sunday. Currently priced at $9.95 per pound or three pounds for $27, they’re served with corn, potatoes, mushrooms, and housemade andouille sausage. A Cajun-style spice blend delivers plenty of heat, and the bars extensive tap selection offers lots of tempting options.

Revelry on Richmond
Every Sunday beginning February 14, the Montrose sports bar will offer all-you-can-eat crawfish for $30 per person (while supplies last). Drink specials include $15 domestic beer buckets, $20 craft beer buckets, $13 carafes of mimosas and sangria.

Wild Cajun
The popular Viet-Cajun restaurant offers five flavors of crawfish: Wild Cajun (fresh scallions), Hot and Sour, Thai Basil, Kitchen Special, and Garlic Butter. An extensive menu of well-executed Cajun fare — everything from boudin balls and fried alligator to beignet strips — provides appealing alternatives to boiled seafood. Just leave room for an order or two of the fish sauce wings.

Xin Chao
Chef Tony Nguyen serves his signature H-Town Bang (his take on garlic butter) crawfish every Monday at this modern Vietnamese restaurant. The restaurant offers all-day happy hour on Monday, which means $5 draft beers, $6 select wines, and $7 select cocktails.

Crawfish Cafe has locations in Chinatown and The Heights.

Courtesy of Crawfish Cafe

Crawfish Cafe has locations in Chinatown and The Heights.

where-to-eat

slice of life

Exclusive: Houston pizza legend to open new neighborhood joint in Spring

Photo by Eric Sandler

Anthony Calleo will open Galaxy Pizza in the coming weeks.

Any conversation about the evolution of Houston’s pizza offerings over the last decade or so would have to include a discussion of chef Anthony Calleo. As the founder of Pi Pizza, the co-founder of Gold Tooth Tony’s, and a consultant for Betelgeuse Betelgeuse, he’s contributed to the rise (sorry) of better pizza in the Bayou City.

After some time away from the restaurant business (more on that in a minute), Calleo will soon open his latest project, a neighborhood pizza joint in Spring that he’s calling Galaxy Pizza. Smaller in size and more focused than his previous restaurants, Galaxy Pizza showcases many of the lessons Calleo has learned along the way.

As Calleo tells CultureMap, he quietly left Gold Tooth Tony’s and his partnership in Rudyard’s last year after being diagnosed as autistic right around his 45th birthday. He says it pained him to leave — Gold Tooth Tony’s had just opened its Bellaire location and Rudyard’s was doing well — but his doctors gave him an ultimatum.

“‘You need to take time to stop and rest or die,’” Calleo says they told him. “I love this, but I don’t want to die. I had to stop. I didn’t think there was a way for me to do this again.”

The Location

Calleo took time off to rest. He got back into commercial real estate and began consulting with restaurateurs about new concepts they wanted to open. Through those efforts, he found the former Jackpot Pizza space at 6450 Louetta Rd. in Spring, a small space that’s ideally suited to carryout and to-go with just a couple of tables for either dine-in or waiting.

While the location may seem obscure to people who know Calleo for his inner loop eateries, it’s part of a busy dining district that includes the Spring location of Trill Burgers as well as neighborhood favorites like Toki, a Japanese restaurant that serves ramen and sushi.

“I have found so much good food up here. Really good food. At a bunch of mom-and-pop places. Some are trucks. Some are little restaurants that have been here forever,” he says.

As Calleo studied the location’s economics, he came to a realization. “At the end of the day, I really miss doing this. I miss making pizza. It is my autistic special interest,” he says.

The location’s lower lease rate compared to what landlords can get inside the loop allows Galaxy Pizza to be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. That will give both its staff and its owner some much-needed time off.

“The rent makes it doable. I can sell food out here and actually make a living and not just pay a lease,” Calleo says.

While it has a small footprint, the interior features murals by Houston artist Brian Dibala (aka Neon Thrash), who contributed to the design of both Endless Bummer, the speakeasy-style tiki bar in Montrose, and Radio Tave, Houston's Meow Wolf installation.

The Pizza

Calleo made “Houston pizza” at Pi Pizza and Detroit-style pizza at Gold Tooth Tony’s and Rudyard’s. For Galaxy, he’s chasing something a little more, shall we say, nostalgic.

“It’s a classic neighborhood pizzeria. It’s almost a thing that doesn’t exist anymore. It’s how Pizza Hut made pizza in 1987,” he says. “It’s got a good rise on the crust. It doesn’t droop, but it’s not stiff like a cracker. It’s got a little too much cheese and sauce on it. It’s slutty, do you know what I mean?

“A culinary instructor would tell you it’s unbalanced, and that’s the point. There’s some sneaky tricks we’re going to do that will be really nostalgic, but done with cheffy intention.”

The menu is still being finalized, but Calleo acknowledges he’ll serve classics like pepperoni and cheese. He’ll have salads, sandwiches, and appetizers like breadsticks and cheesy garlic bread. Notably, the menu doesn’t contain any chicken, which covers its sandwiches, pizza toppings, and appetizers, which means no wings or buffalo chicken pizza — at least for now.

Generally speaking, the preparations will be simpler and more traditional than his previous stops, where toppings included bacon-braised collard greens with pancetta or blackberries with chevre. For example, Galaxy Pizza will be the first time Calleo will serve raw onions rather than caramelizing them.

“This is a neighborhood pizza place,” he says. “There’s no goat cheese on the menu. This place doesn’t know how to spell ‘confit,’ and it doesn’t need to.”

In an acknowledgement of the neighborhood’s demographics, all of the beef at Galaxy Pizza will be halal. The restaurant will have two pizza ovens and two prep stations — one for pizzas with pork and one for pizzas without. Each oven will also have dedicated pans, utensils, and other cooking tools to prevent cross-contamination. Calleo acknowledges it won’t satisfy the most observant Muslims in the area, but he hopes it will help demonstrate a commitment to serving that community well.

The restaurant will soon host an invite-only friends and family service to see how its team works in the space. Then, they’ll go dark for a couple of weeks of practice before announcing an official opening date.

Once it’s open, Galaxy Pizza will offer carryout and delivery via third-party apps. Those who want more of a dine-in experience can walk next door to HR Bar and Grill.

Wherever a customer decides to eat his pizza, Calleo hopes it conjures a very specific memory.

“I am still chasing Showbiz Pizza in 1986 from my fifth birthday — the way it smelled, how it made me feel, the way the pepperoni crunched and how it tasted. I’m still chasing that. This is my chasing it in its most authentic form” he says.

openings pizza chefs anthony calleo galaxy pizza news-you-can-eat

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slice of life

Exclusive: Houston pizza legend to open new neighborhood joint in Spring