A New Orleans Trip for Die-Hard Cajun Fans

Background: Both of us are huge fans of spicy food. By chance, we tried Hot N Juicy in Orlando for the first time, and since then, we’ve been obsessed with Cajun cuisine 🌶️ First, let’s cut to the chase: For cities (in our opinion): Orlando > New Orleans > Las Vegas >>>>> Seattle For this Nola trip specifically (Cajun spots): Big EZ > Boil Seafood House >> Hot N Cajun Boil House Big EZ We headed straight to the location near the airport right after landing—and it blew us away on first bite! For the first time, we tasted crawfish that felt truly fresh; the meat was super springy, totally different from what we’d had in other cities 🦞. Plus, the price was a steal: crawfish was $6.99 per pound, so we ate until we were stuffed. The only letdown was the sauce—we ordered Viet Cajun flavor, and it didn’t live up to our expectations. Boil Seafood House Pros: The crawfish here are huge! What’s even better is that you can choose a different flavor and spice level for every pound. We tried Cajun and Garlic Butter, and both were amazing 😋. Pro tip for spice lovers: Go straight for the spiciest level—don’t worry, it’s totally manageable! Cons: The crawfish were slightly less fresh than Big EZ’s, and the price was a little steeper ($7.99 per pound). Hot N Cajun Boil House We don’t have much to say about this one—no real pros here. Maybe it would be a decent meal by Seattle standards, but compared to other spots in Nola, it had no advantages at all. The sauce was just “meh,” the crawfish were small and not fresh (the meat was mushy), and the price was 1.5x that of Big EZ. Even the shrimp and mussels were almost double the cost! Their crawfish fried rice was a total disaster too—the crawfish in it was super stale 🤮. Bonus Pick: B&C Seafood Riverside & Cajun Restaurant We stumbled into this spot by accident after visiting Whitney Plantation. We thought it would be Cajun-style too, but after ordering, we realized the seafood was just boiled with salt—no sauce. Pros: It was insanely cheap! $18 got us 4 pounds of crawfish, and $15 got us 6 crabs—it felt like it was free 🤑. Takeout is even half the price! Surprisingly, this sauce-free style grew on us; it let us taste more of the seafood’s natural flavor. Cons: The seafood wasn’t fresh—it had been boiled and refrigerated for a while. We’ve only tried these spots so far, and we still have two more days in Nola. If you have any delicious recommendations, feel free to share them with us! #Cajun #CajunFood #NewOrleans #NOLA #Food #Seafood #Seattle #BoiledSeafood