Crawfish Season!!!!

It's crawfish season!!!!! After months of waiting for this day to come it's finally here! I spent three years living in Louisiana smelling the ever alluring scent of spicy crawfish boils and not being able to try these tiny little "mud bugs."

Until June I kept kosher, was a vegetarian, and believed I was allergic to shellfish (due to a clear misdiagnosis from an allergist that most likely was in cahoots with all the people trying to stop me from running away from the tribe).

However, after living in Ghana for 5 months I accidentally ingested a number of unkosher nonvegetarian things, including dehydrated shrimp in shitto, the hot sauce there. To my amazement I was fine! No hives or anaphylactic shock, no need for an epi-pen or an ambulance (which is good because they don't have those there).

So of course when I came back and abandoned all my dietary restrictions I was pumped to finally try crawfish. But low and behold the BP oil spill screwed me again. Along with the oysters, and a million other sea creatures, the crawfish were dying off at epic proportions and the mutants that survived were in no shape to be eaten. So alas, the only creepy crawly buggers I ate were the pre-peeled (probably frozen) variety in pasta at various restaurants around the city.

Even though I missed the whole fun of peeling the crawfish and sucking out the head (the juiciest, saltiest, fattiest part), I still was very impressed by how flavorful this tiny little bit of meat was.

So now, after 7 months of waiting my time has come. I finally got my hands on some freshly boiled bright red crawdaddys and learned how to properly peel it, suck it (or scoop it), and toss it. These fine fritters came from Big Fisherman Seafood, a whole in the wall just across from the Bulldog, a lovely bar with an outdoor patio (which features a beer tap fountain and a fire pit!).

Along with the crawfish, we got some mouthwatering succulent shrimp, as well as corn and potatoes which are customarily boiled along with the crawfish. As someone who loves seafood and shellfish this may be my new favorite way to eat these delectable bite sized buddies. If you like spicy food, this will blow your mind.

Shockingly, it is actually the potatoes and corn that get the spiciest. But a nice cold Abita Strawberry is all you need to cut the sting and enjoy the flavor. Beautiful.