how app-etizing

This genius app maps the best places for crawfish in Houston

This app steers you to the best-rated crawfish in your area.

Photo by Eric Sandler

It's an annual rite of passage in Houston: crawfish season.

The phenomenon is so huge here that national TV chef and host of the new Netflix series Ugly Delicious devoted a large part of an episode our diverse and mighty mudbug offerings.

If you find yourself constantly on the lookout for the freshest, most-flavorful, and cheapest crawdads, the good news is there's an app for that.

The Crawfish App actually covers much of the Gulf Coast. The idea came from a Baton Rouge couple who were sick of calling a dozen different restaurants to find the best crawfish deals during the spring season. The app now includes more than 1,000 vendors throughout Texas — and the South — complete with reviews, size ratings, and more.

On the first screen, you select whether you are looking for boiled crawfish or live. You are then asked to provide an address (or use your current location). From there, you're taken to a list of purveyors that can be sorted by price, distance, and review.

Each listing includes price per pound, the size of the crawfish (small, medium or large), a five-star review system, and contact information for the restaurant. This information is based on reviews left by app users and mudbug aficionados. In addition, the team behind The Crawfish App calls every vendor listed in the app each week to confirm their prices and other offers. That info is updated just in time for the weekend.

For research, we looked for the best crawfish closest to Montrose. Topping the list was BB's Cafe, naturally. Those bugs are listed as medium-sized, rated five stars, and go for $7.95 a pound. There are better deals to be had further afield, but Houston's wonky weather over the last six months had led to a shorter crawfish season and higher prices. But that's where the crowdsourcing app comes in handy — you'll always be sure to find the best deal.

The Crawfish App is available in the App Store and Google Play.

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Aga's on the move

Cherished Houston Indo-Pak restaurant opens to-go only location in Katy

Courtesy of Aga's

Aga's To Go opens Wednesday, June 24.

Goat chops, curries, and naan are coming to Katy. Aga’s Restaurant & Catering, the cherished Indo-Pak restaurant that’s a staple of Houston’s South Asian community, will open its first new location in 25 years on Wednesday, June 24.

Called Aga’s To Go, the new restaurant will be located at The Shoppes at Grand Crossing (102 W. Grand Parkway S., Suite 100). As it names implies, the restaurant is a to-go only facility that’s designed for both takeout and delivery via third party apps. While diners won’t be able to eat at the restaurant, they will be able to enjoy Aga’s cuisine at home in a more convenient than by traveling to the original location in Southwest Houston.

The new restaurant will serve about 100 of the original location’s most popular offerings — all in compliance with the standards of zabiha halal. Customers can look forward to ordering kababs, boti, biryani, curries, freshly baked breads, and, of course, the signature goat chops.

“This new location is a direct response to the growth of our business and the tremendous support we’ve received from customers throughout Katy and west Houston,” Zain Maredia, Aga’s head of growth and strategy, said in a statement. “Many of our guests make a considerable drive to enjoy Aga’s, and we’re excited to bring our food closer to them while creating new opportunities for our team and our company. Katy has been one of our strongest customer bases for years, making it a natural next step as we continue to grow.”

Aga’s has plans for additional to-go only locations, according to press materials. Long term, the restaurant has its eyes on full service locations in other Texas cities such as Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas, CEO Shaukat Maredia tells the Houston Chronicle.

The Maredia family purchased Aga’s in 2010. Since then, they’ve grown the restaurant’s location at 11842 Wilcrest Dr. into a more than 16,000-square-foot behemoth that serves hundreds of diners every day. Along the way, Aga’s has earned wide acclaim, including multiple nominations for Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year in the CultureMap Tastemaker Awards, a no. 1 rating in the Houston Chronicle’s list of the city’s top 100 restaurants, and a spot on the New York Times’ list of The 26 Best Dishes We Ate Across the U.S. in 2024.

Writing for CultureMap in 2023, Burger Bodega owner Abbas Dhanani hailed Aga’s as “the best Pakistani restaurant not just in Houston, but in the nation.” His top recommendations include the goat chops, chicken shinwari karahi, butter chicken handi, and white kabab karahi

All that attention has drawn considerable interest from other media, including this deep drive from YouTube superstar Mark Wiens that’s racked up more than 1.7 million views.

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The restaurant funds college scholarships for high school seniors. This year, 25 students, including some from Katy, received a total of $100,000.

“We’re incredibly grateful for the support we’ve received over the years,” Maredia said. “Houston has embraced our food, our family, and our story. Food has a unique way of bringing people together, and we’re excited to continue sharing that experience with even more guests through our new Katy location.”

Courtesy of Aga's

Aga's To Go opens Wednesday, June 24.

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