Crawfish Season Is Definitely Still Happening, Despite COVID-19

Novel coronavirus may have closed all the bars and forced restaurants to temporarily shutter their dining rooms, but it can’t stop crawfish season.

According to Baton Rouge newspaper The Advocate, crawfish yields this year are healthy, but farmers are struggling to sell their wares as restaurant orders decline and people cancel their at-home crawfish boils in an effort to properly practice social distancing. Still, there are plenty of solid spots to score a sack of spicy mudbugs to eat at home while maintaining a safe distance.

James Beard nominated spot Crawfish & Noodles has dropped its prices to $8 per pound of cooked crawfish, available for takeout and delivery, in an effort to drum up business for crawfish purveyors. After talking to our local vendors we realized we need to do more. They are hurting just as much, if not more,” a post to the restaurant’s Facebook page reads. “We have never made crawfish this low before in our history and this will only be available during these hard times. We hope this make it more affordable for our guests through these hard times.”

To help satisfy crawfish cravings while everyone’s stuck indoors, throw down some newspaper on the kitchen table and check out this guide to delivery options, takeout specials, and more crawfish intel.

• B.B.’s Cafe — Offering “boil your own” crawfish with all the fixings, five-pound sacks of cooked crawfish for $25, and more options via curbside pickup.
• Boil House — Offering both live and cooked crawfish via drive-thru, carry-out, and delivery through Favor. Note: Boil House sold out of crawfish on Sunday and will reopen on March 25 at 5 p.m.
• Crawfish Cafe — Offering online ordering for takeout orders and delivery via UberEats, DoorDash, and Grubhub. Cooked crawfish is $8.99 per pound.
• Crawfish & Noodles — Serving cooked crawfish at $8/pound for curbside takeout.
• L.A. Crawfish — Offering online ordering for crawfish, shrimp, crab and more for curbside pickup and delivery via DoorDash.
• Shell Shack — Offering its full menu via takeout, delivery, and UberEats, along with beer, wine, and spirits. Call the restaurant to order.

Know of a crawfish spot that’s serving takeout and delivery and isn’t on this list? Drop us a line at houston@eater.com with details.

• Coronavirus leads to glut of crawfish [The Advocate]