Crawfish in DC

Hot n Juicy
2651 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20008
http://www.hotnjuicycrawfish.com/

Mild Louisiana Flavor Crawfish

When one thinks of crawfish they probably think about New Orleans and not Washington, D.C.  Others might immediately think of crawfish's infamous nicknames: "mud bugs."  Just to set the record straight, crawfish can be had in our very own District of Columbia and I am referring to the crustaceans and not the other various types "mud bugs" that can be found in the city.  One doesn't have to travel all the way to the Big Easy to find crawfish, but just how good could crawfish in DC really be?


I have never been to Louisiana so I am definitely not the creole expert but I have been able to sample crawfish from many places over the years.

Oysters

The crawfish here were in fact hot and juicy, but it may have been too much of a good thing.  We ordered 2 pounds of crawfish - one pound was mild Louisiana flavor and the other pound was medium hot n juicy flavor. 

Large Crawfish with Monster Claws

2 pound orders come with corn and potatoes.  The corn was soggy from being cooked with the crawfish.  The potatoes were boiled redskin potatoes.  The crawfish tails were so juicy that the meat was downright mushy.  I believe this might be from overcooking the crawfish.  I really didn't care for the hot and juicy flavor.  The garlic flavor was way too overpowering. 

Cajun Fries

The best part of the meal were the cajun fries because they were nice a thick, just like I like em.  I found it really strange that the waitress warned us that the cajun fries were spicy.  You do need to be careful about heat levels for the crawfish themselves.  The medium heat was spicy.  I've heard from others that anything beyond medium is going to be practically unbearable unless you really like spicy food.  The fries weren't too spicy, what were spicy were the actual crawfish.  The oysters were blah.  They weren't the most flavorful oysters that I've ever eaten and we didn't get sick so they were just ok.  The prices were just slightly more than what you'd pay for the crawfish in Eden Center (I'm not sure of any other restaurant that also serves seasoned crawfish).

Dumb Waiter

The restaurant can accomodate a lot of people and they offer free refills on soda and they have a nice bottles beer selection.  The wait staff are attentive to refilling the drinks because they know that all the cajun spice can make the plastic soda cups go empty very fast.  The kitchen is located in the basement so they use a dumb waiter to bring food upstairs into the dining area.  That's pretty ingenious if you ask me.


The Verdict?  Save the drive into the District of Columbia and stop by Eden Center in Falls Church (just be careful in the parking lot).  The crawfish in Eden might not be as big as Hot and Juicy, but they are tastier and ever so slightly cheaper.