Chow Yum’s crawfish have a second act
They are tossed in butter scented with garlic and lemongrass.
Baton Rouge has crawfish everywhere this time of year. Boilers appear across the parish with such regularity that they can start to feel like a part of the landscape. So it takes something unusual to make people pause.
Chow Yum does.
The big picture: The restaurant, near the I-10 exit at Perkins Road Overpass, has built a following by bringing Asian flavors into familiar dishes without making them feel like a stunt. The draw is not novelty for its own sake. The food is simply very good.
That includes the crawfish.
The details: Chow Yum boils its crawfish in traditional Cajun style with corn and potatoes, as well as edamame and quail eggs. The quail eggs are part of the charm, and part of the debate. Some people order extra. Others cannot quite see why anyone would bother.
Then comes the second act: After the crawfish are boiled, they are tossed in butter scented with garlic and lemongrass. The style nods to Vietnamese crawfish, a preparation that has become a Gulf Coast favorite, especially in and around New Orleans.
The butter clings to the shells. The lemongrass settles first. Then the garlic lifts everything, cutting through the richness and making the next crawfish feel as necessary as the last.
By the numbers: Chow Yum offers crawfish in three and five-pound buckets on Saturdays and Sundays, the only days it serves boiled crawfish, starting at 3 p.m. Demand is high, with owner Jordan Ramirez saying that he sells up to 1,800 pounds on a weekend.
Make a plan: Get there early if you want an outdoor table and a little atmosphere. A band plays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. The music and the food nearly drown out the steady rumble of the interstate.
Yes, but: Taking them home has its own pleasures. Spread newspaper across the table—The Advocate gets a second use—and let the shells pile up. Once you start, there is really only one sensible move: peel the next one.