why isn't there a southern disneyland?

i've passed by crawfish king more times that i can remember, but never thought of actually going there because i hadn't read any reviews, nor was my curiosity great enough to convert me. however, after telling one of my friends about it, he absolutely HAD to get fist deep in crawfish boil.

this place is like a cajun disneyland: zydeco music, plastic shellfish and rope fishing nets on the wall, dock pillars, buoys hanging from the wall. it was a little bit much for me. all this artifice, but how's the food??

the menu is pretty simple. fish and chips. po'boys. "cajun platters."

the real deal is the boils. you can order shellfish and other assorted seafood from the fresh board by he pound to create your optimal mix of seasoned, steamed goodies. supposedly there's one piece of corn per person and quartered potatoes aplenty (lies!), but we only got 4 measly chunks of potato. too bad, too, because they were the best vehicle to soak up the insane garlic and spices.

i think we got one pound of prawns and three pounds of crawfish. the server advised that 1 lb per person would be plenty. i don't know about that, sir.

the condiment six pack included ketchup, mayo, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and, of course, some "special sauce." as you can see, the table setting is trying to be "authentically" low-brow with a butcher paper table cover, roll of paper towels at every table, all disposable cutlery, and paper boats for any crawfish boil detritus. i was also displeased to see the "boil" arrive in a plastic bag that was ceremoniously cut tableside.

now, i wouldn't say i'm obsessive-compulsive about environmental soundness, but all this waste seemed irresponsible. everything can be thrown away. why? in such a conscious city as seattle where even our takeout is monitored, how can this wastefulness fly? c'mon, crawfish king.

the boil. we ordered it as spicy as possible, and the heat level did not disappoint. i quite enjoyed it, and as it mingled with the butter and seafood juices, the burn developed more and more as i continued to eat. you have the choice of "rajun cajun (original)" or "the big easy (the house sauce)" flavors. these really make no sense, but when pressed, our server said that the main difference is that "the big easy" has garlic. needless to say, we got pretty easy.

although the crawfish were challenging to eat, the flavor was amazing. it might be a little on the salty side for the sodium-sensitive, but i thought it was perfectly intense; rife with old bay, file, chile, black pepper, garlic, and thyme. mmm.

thanks for the cajun adventure, crawfish king!