Laissez les bon temps rouler

It’s crawfish season

By Ashley Keenan

y early ebruary, I’ve got an envie ahn-vee for some crawfish. Texans may call it a hankering but in Louisiana, when they’ve developed a craving for a specific food, it’s called envie. olks in ast Texas are no strangers to a backyard crawfish boil. I’ve been to do ens of crawfish boils in my lifetime, and now as an adult, my husband and I host at least one per season. And like our Cajun neighbors, we know how to pass a good time. utside of traveling to another city, boiling crawfish in the backyard was the only way to cure that envie but finally, the bayou has come to Crockett.

In April of 2022, arry Credeur opened Credeur’s Cajun Cookin’ in the building formerly known as owl-er’s or Wild ill’s, on the ast side of Loop 04, directly across the street from Whataburger. This was his second location, the first being in asadena. Credeur’s in asadena was open for 10 years, when their lease was up, he was ready to buy but they couldn’t come to terms, so they closed the doors in asadena and focused their efforts on building Crockett.

arry was born and raised in Lake Charles, he’s sure enough a born and bred Cajun. ringing langniappe lahn yop , something extra, to ouston County. I’ve been cooking crawfish for about 48 years. I started when I was a kid, helping my daddy, brother and uncles.

Crawfish also known as mud bugs, crayfish, crawdads are a fresh water crustacean that resembles a lobster. They’re a delicacy in the south and, in my opinion, Louisiana’s gift to the rest of the nation. Too cook, you simply boil. ecipes vary depending on who you ask, but they’re typically spicey and commonly served with corn and potatoes that were boiled in the same water as the crawfish. arry said, Anyone who wants to see how I cook crawfish, come see. I won’t show you my recipe, but I’ll show you how I cook em. It’s an authentic Louisiana boil, we don’t sprinkle the outside, we soak, and the avor is inside the meat and the shell. verybody can pretty much eat them. There is some heat to em. ou can’t request mild or spicy, we only do it one way. Some people would look at my crawfish and say, there ain’t nothing to these, until they crack it open and eat the tail meat, then they’ll say, amn, they pretty good.’

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ones, now, on a good day, you’re at e also explained that something most people don’t know is, once you cook crawfish, the weight decreases. ou start with a 0-pound bag of crawfish, pick out the dead ones, now, on a good day, you’re at 20 pounds. Cook em and you lose weight. There’s not really a lot of money to be made in crawfish. It’s a social gathering, that’s what it really is. ut, this is why people are jacking their prices up. arry expressed that he was shocked at how much crawfish people in ouston County could eat.

When we started in May last year, I brought three employees with me from asadena. The boy who helps me do the crawfish said, Why are they buying just one pound ’ I said, They’re trying it.’ Next thing you know, the same tables are buying five pounds, 10 pounds. e said, Well, they must like them.’ I said, I told ya.’ arry said they struggled at first. arry claims that one of his specialties is crawfish etouffee. A lot of our dishes, sauce piquant, chicken fricassee, in asadena, people wouldn’t try it. All of my gravys and rouxs are authentic. There’s a lot of things we haven’t cooked here because we’re still testing the water. sing fresh vegetables collards, squash, black eyes, okra makes a difference in the taste. Credeur’s also boasts of a ribeye that doesn’t need steak sauce and a chicken fried steak that isn’t rolled in our, staying crunchy and crispy, even when ordered to-go.

Anytime you open a new restaurant, you can look at three years for it to peak. ou just have to hang in there and hope you can survive.

A lot of ol’ Louisiana cooking is going away. ery few restaurants are doing home cooking anymore, from scratch. I do it all from scratch. I’ve taught my son. eople say to just hire somebody but it ain’t that easy. I can give someone my recipe they cook it and it doesn’t turn out the same. It took my son probably about three years to learn the way we do things.

A lot of people have been asking me about snow crab and crab legs I may try it. I want to offer something good and different. The guy that shrimps for us is like, od dang, they eat some shrimp in Crockett arry talks of serving on plates rather that paper in the future due to the increase in pricing.

The way we do our lunch, it’s a cafeteria line. That’s a big thing in Louisiana. Styrofoam containers instead of a plate lunch that’s the way it done in Louisiana.

I have big plans for the back. I’m going to keep that hush- hush for now, but it will be family oriented and fun. arry is waiting for the right time to o cially have his grand opening, but when it does happen, he wants to cook gumbo outside, roast a whole pig, have live music by his cousin orace Tahan, who sings in Cajun and rench. usiness is building. Word of mouth has really been good to us. We’re looking forward to what the future has in store for us.

A lot in the bar area has changed. What was once a dark, smoky room, is now non-smoking and full of air and natural light due to the contemporary glass garage door.

We used to have some big parties in asadena we haven’t even scratched the surface here.

Whether it’s gumbo or etouffee, there’s no doubt that this springtime crustacean is king. Crawfish and all things that accompany it, are filled with joie de vivre jhwa dad veev joy of living. e quick though, because two things about crawfish season: it’s short, and not to be missed. While you can, stop by Credeur’s Cajun Cookin’, I have a feeling that you’ll be saying, Ca c’est bon