Filed under: featuredarticle, Food & Beverage
Review: Crawfish Shack adds seating
Snuggled in among the markets, repair shops and ethnic restaurants along Buford Hwy (inside the Perimeter) is a terrific little seafood place with a Louisiana accent. It’s called the Crawfish Shack – and as you would surmise from its name, it’s a very casual place.
Order at the counter then go have a seat while you await your food. Open about a year, owner Hieu Pham (pronounced Hugh) has just expanded into the space next door so instead of a couple of tables, he now has seven! Hieu and his father built the additions – family-sized picnic tables.
Pham himself took our order, pointed out the special (beignets) and yes, he has Vietnamese blood, but he’s a native Atlantan. As he smilingly put it, “I’m a Grady baby.” The help in the kitchen and dining room is provided by his sisters.
Atmosphere is not why you’re here, although there are fishnets on the ceiling and lively jazz on the sound system. It’s the food! The Shack offers Po-Boys – grouper, catfish, shrimp, crawfish, oysters – and an American cheese Po-Boy and a French Fries Po-Boy. There’s also fried, boiled or steamed shrimp, with a couple of choices of batter – fried crawfish, oysters or soft shell crab. The family at the table beside me had a stainless steal bowl full of crawfish. You can have fries, potato salad, corn on the cob or red potatoes with your meal (and good Cole slaw) fresh-made egg rolls and a pressed sugarcane drink that’s a specialty of the house.
I told you there’s a Cajun flavor – the corn is boiled in Crab boil (so it’s a little spicy) and Pham spent two months perfecting his special Remoulade sauce.
The Crawfish Shack sells its fresh seafood by the pound also, so you can take it home and cook it, or for $2 more per pound, they’ll cook it for you. If seafood is a regular necessity for you as it is me, the Crawfish Shack is a must. It’s open 11-7 Mon – Thur, `11-8 Fri – Sat and 12:30-8 Sun. No website, so you’ll have to call 404-929-6789 if you want to check on something special. They’re located at 4337 Buford Hwy. ()
