Off With Its Head!

at some point in the dirty south, you have to eat seafood. it's not an option. if you're this close to water, it's just morally wrong if you don't. really, it is.

and since i'm only a 4 hr drive away from a coastline and potential hurricane beatdown, i knew i had to go somewhere. thus tnite's adventure to crawfish shack seafood.

this place is amazing. it's in a tiny spot on buford hwy, home of all things ethnic, which should already give you an idea of how oddly placed it is.

traditionally the only things you find on buford are chinese, vietnamese, korean, mexican, and anything else immigrant. if you have a greencard or visa, you are on buford hwy. so it was a little bit of a mystery on why a cajun/creole seafood place that focuses on southern fare from louisiana, mississippi, and alabama would be hiding out here.

but after 5 mins inside and looking at the menu, you realize that they offer egg rolls next to the hush puppies, and that there's writing on the window that's not exactly english.

as it turns out, CSS is owned by an atlanta-born-and-raised vietnamese boy. and he is the NICEST guy ever! seriously. he has an interior design background (tho the only evidence of his talent outside the kitchen is the paint on the walls). while mara and i waited for our friend stephanie, he came by our table (1 of 4 in this place) over and over again, answering our questions, making us laugh, and just being all around very patient and sweet.

after stephanie arrived, we spent a few more mins to review the menu.

this is the sort of place where you can order stuff by the pound or a la carte, or even take home raw to prepare on your own.

it's also the sort of place that will teach you how to properly eat crawfish, esp if you're all from the upper midwest and don't have a clue how.

i don't know about you, but i have a hard time looking at a little mini lobster w/beady eyes and trying to rip his head and body off.

(kiesha - i have no idea how you did it on a daily basis while living in new orleans! i probably would've quit and gone back to the cereal bar in the dorm cafeteria...)

so the owner, understanding our hesitation - and obviously finding humor in it - offered to bring out a few bites for us to try.

i'm proud to say we tried, we fought, and we conquered.

tho i don't know if i'll try it again.

i'll definitely come back here cuz it's uber yummy, fresh, and cheap, but i don't know if i can do the crawfish again w/o feeling kinda barbaric about the whole thing.

and in retrospect, it probably didn't help that we gave them names...

(top to bottom, L to R: crawfish samples from the owner; the owner demonstrating how to get to the meat; me, mara, and stephanie laughing at our pathetic attempts to be brave and rip their heads off; stephanie demonstrating her new found skills; our little crawfish: john, george, paul, and ringo)