Crawfish and Noodles - Popular Viet-Cajun in Chinatown

[Josh]

When crawfish are in season, it's tough to go a week without heading out for a few pounds, and this weekend we set out early for lunch at what may be the most well-known of Houston's Viet-Cajun joints, Crawfish and Noodles.  C&N has hosted Zimmern, Chang, and god knows who else, and they are clearly aware of their celeb-status, with t-shirts for sale prominently displayed as you walk in.  That kind of hubris is typically not a great sign, and I have to admit approaching the rest of my visit as though I were cross-examining a hostile witness.  C&N held its own, and while I didn't leave with a "We've Got Crabs" t-shirt (I mean, really), I can dig the food they're putting out.

We started with an order of honey-garlic chicken wings, as requested by the 4-year old.  He fell in love with the "Viet wings" at Cajun Kitchen, and hasn't stopped talking about them for weeks since.  C&N's wings were solid, though I think we should have ordered the "Fish sauce" version for a more direct comparison.  These were a bit too sweet for my tastes, with no heat.

There are a variety of noodles and soups to choose from, and we went with the stir-fried rice noodle with mixed seafood.  This is a hefty portion, with onion, celery, carrot, and crispy shallots mixed with shrimp, (chewy) squid, and fish balls, with a peppery sauce on the side ready to be mixed in. Delicious, and devoured quickly, but if we had to go head to head, we all agreed the crabby garlic noodles from Cajun Kitchen might edge out a win.

The crawfish delivered.  Choices are limited to spice level (though an intriguing "ginger grass" option is listed as being available at some point in the future).  Medium is Houston-medium, which is to say, probably "hot" if you're coming from somewhere else.  We opted for medium with a side of "hot" dipping sauce, and I would heartily recommend this combo.  For the spice-loving but not super-spicy friends, the medium mudbugs alone are perfect.  For those of us who prefer to see God when we eat, you can drag the tail through the sauce and get it done.  Compared to the purely Cajun versions I grew up with (and have had at Houston places like The Boot in the Heights), these have a more pronounced garlic and citrus flavor.  Priced at $10/lb, these were also the most expensive I've had thus far.

Note on wait times: We got there just before noon on Sunday, and were 1 of 5 or 6 tables there.  30 minutes later there was a line out the door.