2.46 Boiling Crab
Posted on February 5, 2009
Filed Under Cajun, Extra Hard Core, Seafood | 7 Comments
It was right after Chinese New Year that we came to Boiling Crab — we were definitely in the mood for some steamin’ cajun seafood. The slightly weird part of this, of course, is that we’re in Alhambra, where Chinese food dominates. Yet despite — or perhaps because — Boiling Crab stands out from the glut of Chinese restaurants, it has garnered over 300 overwhelmingly positive reviews on yelp. The people here are similarly savvy hybrids. The staff and clientele are nearly all Asian, but everyone spoke perfect English.
So the idea is simple, pick your seafood (crabs, crab legs, crawfish, clams, shrimp,) pick your sauce (Ragin’ Cajun, Lemon Pepper, garlic butter, or go crazy with all of the above) and your food will come to you in a plastic bag mixed with the sauce. The presentation is terrible and definitely not for the photographer in me, but the food is an entirely different story. There are also a smattering of sides and fried entrees if you don’t want to get your hands too dirty — but if that’s your main concern, you’re probably at the wrong place.
We start off with some oysters on the half shell. I will simply say that the oysters are fresh — they have a special sauce and also the standard tabasco and lime for dressing it up, but really, a squeeze of lime is all I need.
People kept recommending the fried catfish to us and so we ordered one — partly because it comes with cajun fries. The catfish is spectacular, lightly breaded and fried perfectly — crispy outside, hot, moist and incredibly tender on the inside. The cajun fries were also excellent, crunchy with great seasoning.
We got a pound of shrimp and tossed in some corn ($.75 each) and some sausage ($3 for 12 little pieces) You might think the sausage is a bit overpriced, but it’s got a great big taste and I couldn’t help but order more. The corn is also very good. The shrimp may be the best bang for the buck as far as seafood in a bag goes here. The powerful seasoning enhances the taste of the big, meaty shrimp. We quickly piled a small mountain of shells and shrimp heads on the table and devoured the corn and sausage.
We also ordered a dungeness crab with the whole shebang sauce. It wasn’t the best choice for a couple reasons: 1. The strong seasoning overwhelmed the crab’s natural flavors, 2. At $13 a pound it’s a little pricy, our crab was 2.5lb and it came out to be about $32.
Still a little unsatisfied, we ordered a pound of crawfish. Crawfish tastes good and plays well with the sauces, but the amount of meat you get per crawfish is vastly inferior to the shrimp. I think we concluded that the shrimp is the best bang for the buck in their lineup.
Service was decent, the young staff is friendly and on top of things. The atmosphere is relaxed and lively with quite a few large parties. I’d definitely be back when I feeling like having lots of shrimp and fried catfish… and fries… and corn, and sausages.
Boiling crab
742 W Valley Boulevard
Alhambra, CA 91803
(626) 576-9368
Theboilingcrab.com