Not So Mystery Birthday Dinner- Boiling Seafood Crawfish

Several years have past since our last mystery ethnic dinner. A lot has changed in those years, but our love for a good, unique dinner hasn’t changed. This blog was resurrected in honor of Brendan’s 33^rd birthday.

Brendan embraces his birthday to the full extent. He loves being celebrated and receiving attention from his family, especially his mother. Three years ago for his 30^th birthday, he coerced our younger brother Evan to participate in a Tough Mudder. My dad, mom and I were guilt-tripped into traveling to Mansfield, OH to celebrate his birthday milestone in the mud and rain. Evan got poison ivy, my dad trashed his shoes, my mom broke her camera and it was the happiest day of Brendan’s life.

Thankfully, this year Brendan chose a more universally enjoyable birthday experience. He recently visited New Orleans with his girlfriend Amie and had a wonderful time touring the Tabasco factory and enjoying the local cuisine. After reading a restaurant review in Scene Magazine about Boiling Seafood Crawfish, a recently opened Cajun-inspired seafood restaurant in Cleveland Heights, Brendan immediately added it to his list of birthday to-dos.

On Thursday, April 28^th we all met at my parents’ house and walked a mile to Lee Road to embark on our first Boiling Seafood Crawfish experience. The place was packed when we arrived. Thankfully, my mother made a reservation. The restaurant is small, painted black and decorated with shells, fishing nets and pictures of scrumptious seafood dishes. 96.5 Kiss FM was playing in the background, setting the mood with the contemporary hits of Bieber, Selena Gomez and Fifth Harmony. The tables were covered with white paper in preparation of our boiled feast. 

After ordering beers we came to agreement on our dinner selection. We decided to go communal and ordered two “Experiences” – “The Handful” and “The Ultimate” to share amongst the table. “The Handful” included a pound of shrimp, pound of crawfish, half pound of clams, Andouille sausage, corn and potatoes. “The Ultimate” included all of the above, plus calamari and a half-pound of snow crab. Both are boiled in a bag and come with your choice of seasoning and spice level. The “spicy” preference had five levels: mild, baby spice, medium, spicy and extra spicy. The waitress informed us that the spicy and extra spicy levels contained ghost peppers. (In 2007, Guinness World Records certified that the ghost pepper was the world's hottest chili pepper, 400 times hotter than Tabasco sauce. The ghost chili is rated at more than 1 million Scoville heat units (SHUs). However, today, the ghost chili has been passed in hotness by the Infinity chili, the Naga Viper and the Carolina Reaper). Needless to say, it is known to be hot! Despite the warning, and a few concerns from others at the table, Brendan ruled the night and ordered “The Handful” in mild and “The Ultimate” in spicy. Additionally, we ordered a basket of corn fritters and oysters as appetizers, as well as 3 pounds of blue crab. It was going to be an awesome feast. Though Evan still had doubts it would be enough food.

The calamari came first and was covered with a delicious medley of fried onions and green and red peppers. The corn fritters came next and were my personal favorite; delicious little fried nuggets slightly sweet and served with a creamy dipping sauce. The oysters were big and enjoyed by all. However, the real culinary excitement was still yet to come. 

Our waitress set the scene for our “Experiences” by delivering three plastic buckets to be used as bone yards, plastic bibs and plastic gloves to our table. My father and I immediately put the plastic gloves on despite the vocal disapproval from my mother. After about five minutes of wearing them my hands were sweating and I gave up on the cause.

The food was delivered to our table in two plastic bags. There were two camps on the presentation of our meal. One camp lead by Brendan was to just dump it all on the paper-covered table, creating a more interactive experience. The other, cleaner camp led by my mom was to eat it out of the bag. (Others in the restaurant seemed to opt for the cleaner option). But again, Brendan was the birthday boy so the contents of both bags were dumped on the table creating a delicious, saucy, seafood mess. We dug in.

At first I was unaware of which side was spicy and which side was mild. I went for a clam, and was assaulted by the spice and heat. I learned that day how some people react very differently to heat. Both Brendan and my Dad’s heads were sweating, I was downing my beer and my brother’s friend Bo was un-phased, licking the spice off the table. Greg – the sensible one in the group – practiced the avoidance method and stuck with mild the entire night. Despite the heat, the food was delicious, especially the head-on-shrimp. As delicious as the meal was, it was messy. Sauce was everywhere – on my hands, bib and burning in my nostrils. After our pile of “The Ultimate” and “The Handful” were consumed, we were brought our next course of blue crabs.

The crabs were coated with a delicious, sweet, lemon pepper sauce, which gave us relief from the ghost pepper. They required much more work, lots of hammering and cracking to dismantle the shell and get to the meat. It felt like a biology dissection lab, pulling out the lungs and brain. This whole exercise made me squeamish, but it was worth it.

The aftermath was buckets full of shells and carcasses, white paper tablecloth soaked and stained with Cajun sauce, satisfied diners and a happy birthday boy.

I cannot wait for my next visit to Boiling Seafood Crawfish. It is a great place to go and share a fun meal with family and friends. It is truly a gem.