Back to the Basics

So, when I first started this blog Jimmy and I thought we would go eat at new restaurants and review them on the blog. We only did it once, but here's the newest (and second ever) review: Hot N Juicy Crawfish!

Jimmy's buddy, Jesse, knows the owner and helps out at the restaurant when needed. He'd mentioned it to Jimmy a couple of times and told him we should come by and eat, but we never did. Then, enter Sarah - the new teen librarian in my department - she says she and her boyfriend Thorin saw this crawfish restaurant on Man vs. Food and wanted to check it out. And I was like, wait, that's the restaurant Jesse keeps telling us to go to. So, we made our plans and decided to try it out this past Saturday.

Mind you, I am not the most adventurous eater ever. I do like to try new things, but seafood usually is not my forte. But I decided I was game and should give it a try. As it's getting closer to the Saturday Jimmy is bringing up crawfish to everyone and I can start to see he's a little nervous about it. He keeps hearing all this talk about you're supposed to tear their head off and suck out their brains - gross.

Finally Saturday arrives and we stop by and pick up Sarah and Thorin and head to Hot N Juicy Crawfish on Spring Mountain near Decatur. The place was hopping - there were people waiting outside and the minute you walk through the door your nose is greeted with the delicious scent of Louisiana spices. Yum.

Jesse sees us and leads us to a great table he's been holding for us. The tables are covered in plastic. Jesse starts us with our drinks, bibs (yes you need them) and explains the menu to us. The items at the top (crawfish, crab legs and more) can be ordered by the pound. They are boiled in a water with some spices. When they come out of the boil you have your choice of seasonings (including Louisiana style - which is just straight out of the boiling water, lemon pepper, garlic butter, and the Hot n Juicy special) and hotness (from mild to extra spicy). Further down the menu are all things fried - shrimp, calamari, fries, soft shell crab, and chicken.

We ended up ordering two pounds of crawfish - one pound was Louisiana Style and one pound was the Hot n Juicy Special - both pounds we ordered spicy. We also got a pound of snow crab with the lemon pepper seasoning, fried shrimp, calamari and a basket of fries. We added a couple of cobs of corn and a couple of potatoes - these are boiled and thrown in with the crawfish.

Each item comes out as it is ready. Our crawfish came out first. It is tied up in clear plastic bags. There are no plates, no silverware - you just dig in with your fingers and be grateful for the full roll of paper towels on your table! Now, the crawfish come out looking like little crawfish - heads (with eyes), pincers, legs, the whole shebang. In order to eat them, you twist their head off, crack into their tail and pull the meat out of the their tail. I was a little squeamish about digging into the first one, but quickly overcame the squeam-factor. The actual meat was delicious - worth the effort it took to get to it! And there was definitely some kick to it! The snow crab was perfect - once you cracked it open the meat came out in one giant meaty piece. The shrimp was perfectly fried - it was battered like catfish and scrumptious. The calamari was by far the best calamari I've ever had! All in all it was absolutely wonderful.

Our service was fantastic. Our cups were constantly being refilled - which was necessary with all the spiciness of the dishes. Jesse took care of our dinner for us - so I'm not sure what the prices were - the menu states market price for most of the items, but I have heard they are very decently priced.

I would definitely recommend Hot N Juicy Crawfish! It was great food and a fun environment. I think it's definitely a fun meal to share with others so that you can take advantage of ordering and trying lots of menu items. Definitely two thumbs up!