LA Crawfish

With almost two dozen locations across the state, LA Crawfish isn’t exactly some local hidden secret. But with only one location in a South Austin shopping mall, it’s not the most well known, either. The specialty is Viet-Cajun-style seafood boils—including crawfish, when it’s in season—and you can get a very good version here, with a generous amount of heat to complement all the sweet and buttery garlic. But our favorite seasoning here is the Sichuan-style (when it’s available). Partially because it’s not a style we see a lot of in Austin, but also because we can’t get enough of the spicy, mouth-numbing peppercorns on everything.

photo credit: Nicolai McCrary