We choose this year’s winner of the Best River Oaks Brunch.
Best Brunch – River Oaks: State of Grace
This River Oaks favorite continues to impress with its mix of polished Southern charm, Gulf Coast flavors and wood-fired finesse. At brunch, go for Gulf crab beignets, crawfish ettouffee eggs benny and crazy good griddle cakes with buttermilk syrup. With acclaimed Houston chef Ryan Lachaine now in the kitchen, expect even more hits, including the cult favorite butter burgers and caviar-topped tater tots from his former restaurant, Riel.
Houston – Garbage Girlfriend stopped by Studio B to perform ahead of their next gig headlining KPRC 2′s first ever Eat Like a Local Crawfish Fest. The all-female teen rock band out of Katy is comprised of five students who are rocking out when they’re not studying. There’s Evelyn on drums, Mya and Liv on vocals, Christy on guitar, and Ciona on the bass guitar.
The girls are no strangers to Houston Life. The last time they were at KPRC they were promoting their participation in the Opening Act contest. While they didn’t take home the top prize, Garbage Girlfriend ended up making it to the semi-finals and finished in the top 150 out of the 20,000 bands that entered.
While the popularity of their band continues growing, the girls are busier than ever with homework and a calendar marked with more gigs throughout the year. Here’s where you can find them over the next few months:
Tickets available for this weekend’s Crawfish Fest at Discovery Green
It’s crawfish season, and there are plenty of places to get it and ways to make it.
“Eat Like a Local” host Chris Shepherd sat down with friends from three of his favorite Houston restaurants serving crawfish to talk about the season and crawfish styles.
Shepherd also visited Crawfish Shack in Crosby, a crawfish farm in Louisiana, and learned about the history of Crawfish & Noodles – which serves delicious Viet-Cajun crawfish.
Check out this “Eat Like a Local” crawfish special in the video player above.
Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
HOUSTON – Indulge your taste buds and join us for a flavorful celebration at the KPRC 2 Crawfish Fest, where culinary delights and Southern hospitality converge in a spectacular showcase. This year’s festival promises a feast for the senses, featuring an abundance of delectable crawfish dishes, live music, and family-friendly activities. General Admission tickets start at $15 and right now you can get BUY ONE GET ONE FREE GENERAL ADMISSION with code BOGO.
Event Highlights:
Culinary extravaganza: Immerse yourself in a world of culinary excellence as our talented chefs showcase their skills in crafting mouthwatering dishes.
Live music: Groove to the rhythm of lively tunes as local bands and musicians take the stage in Battle of the Bands, creating an infectious atmosphere of joy and celebration. Apply HERE.
Family-friendly fun: The KPRC 2 Crawfish Fest is a family affair! Bring the kids for a day of entertainment and exciting activities. There’s something for every member of the family to enjoy.
Vendors: Explore a vibrant marketplace filled with local artisans and vendors. It’s the perfect opportunity to find one-of-a-kind treasures to commemorate your festival experience.
Location: Discovery Green 1500 McKinney St, Houston, TX 77010
Tickets are available online HERE or at the event entrance. VIP packages are also available for those looking to elevate their festival experience.
Don’t miss the KPRC 2 Crawfish Fest – a celebration of community, culture, and cuisine that promises to delight food enthusiasts and festival-goers alike.
Interested in being a vendor? CLICK HERE to apply.
Interested in being a sponsor? CLICK HERE to apply.
Interested in competing in Battle of the Bands? CLICK HERE to apply.
Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
Twenty years ago, Dan Meaux worried his little crawfish business was about to crack. Sales were slow. He wasn’t sure if his new restaurant would make it.
He had grown up on a Louisiana farm with crawfish ponds pretty much in his backyard. He went to school to study restaurant management. This seemingly was what he was meant to do… but it wasn’t working out.
That is, until he persisted. He moved his small to-go only restaurant in Crosby, Texas to another spot nearby and added some tables in the second year. By the third year, things began to take off.
Now, Meaux and his wife run one of the most successful crawfish restaurants in the country.
On a busy day, Crawfish Shack can go through 180 sacks of crawfish a day, more than anyone else in Texas — boiling 6,000 pounds of the mudbugs for dine-in, to-go, and drive-thru customers. That doesn’t include their catering gigs or the bags of live crawfish they sell to businesses or residents looking to do their own boils.
“A lot of people drive a long distance to get our crawfish, because they also want our seasoning,” said Meaux. “There’s 100 ways to cook crawfish, but it’s only going to be as good as the flavor.”
Meaux told Chris Shepherd, host of KPRC 2′s show “Eat Like a Local with Chris Shepherd”, that he changed his seasoning recipe thirteen times and lowered the salt content three times before he got it just right.
“The salt to me takes away from all the flavor, because every time I lowered my salt content, the flavor just came out more and more so we sell a lot of seasoning here,” said Meaux.
“I’m going to get some before I leave. I mean, why would I not?” laughed Shepherd.
“The flavor’s just amazing. That’s, I think, the number one reason for the volume that we do here and the success over the twenty years that we’ve been in business,” added Meaux.
“Eat Like a Local” host Chris Shepherd chats with Crawfish Shack’s Dan Meaux (KPRC/Click2Houston.com)
Crawfish Shack first opened in 2004. From the beginning, it was a family affair. In fact, the reason they’re in Texas instead of Louisiana is because of Meaux’s wife.
Meaux was attending college in Lafayette, Louisiana when he got a job as a server in a Hilton hotel restaurant. That’s where he said he fell in love with the restaurant business, switched his major to restaurant management, and transferred to the University of Houston.
Once in the Lone Star State, he got his degree and met the woman he would marry.
Meaux told Shepherd, at the time, he still planned to move back to Lafayette to open a seafood restaurant. His wife Jennifer; however, said she was never leaving Texas.
“I said, if I’m going to stay here, I’m going to do crawfish,” said Meaux. “Crosby has been an amazing place to start our business.”
Meaux and his wife have given back to the community hosting events and by providing employment to young, hard working teenagers.
“The youth here are amazing, because 80% of our employees here are high school, or recently graduated high school,” said Meaux. “They work for their money, they pay for their truck note, their insurance, college… We have a lot of kids who go to Texas A&M and come here on the weekends to work.”
Traditionally, Crawfish Shack starts the season with drive-thru only because the volume of crawfish is not yet available. This year, with the crawfish supply limited, the opening of their dining room was delayed. As of mid-March, they were fully back in business.
On an average Saturday in crawfish season, Meaux said 2,000 customers can file through the dining room. Cars will start lining up at eight in the morning. Sometimes when they open in the afternoon, they’ll already have 50 to 60 cars in line.
Because of the demand, customers are encouraged to check Crawfish Shack’s social media and website for hours and availability before heading to Crosby.
“Nobody’s boiling the amount that we do… It’s taken 20 years to get to this point,” said Meaux.
He added that his family is all there with him, which he considers one of the biggest blessings of their business.
“My wife and I are partners in this. She works a ton. She does a lot of the behind the scenes. Our two daughters work here and manage here. Our son-in-law works here. Our father-in-law works here.”
All of the crawfish they serve comes from between Lake Charles and Crowley, Louisiana. Meaux said three of the people he gets crawfish from went to high school with him, so they take good care of him.
In Crosby, Meaux returns the favor and takes good care of his customers by taking extra precautions to only serve the best crawfish around. His team filters through the crawfish to make sure only quality ones go into the boil or bag. They use what Meaux described as a “big jacuzzi” for crawfish to aerate and clean them before they’re cooked.
For the boil, they season the water and then season the crawfish again after they come out of the pot. Giving them time to steam in a chest after they boil makes them extra juicy.
Crawfish Shack offers seven different spice levels in order to suit every taste.
Meaux said he eats crawfish every day during the season. Being able to serve the community something he loves is rewarding year after year.
“I love the beginning of the season. It’s a happy time. This is my happy place.”
This is the time of year many look forward to — the rodeo is in town, spring is in the air, and piping hot crawfish are being poured onto tables at restaurants and backyard boils.
While the season started slow, there are still places you can quench your crawfish craving.
In this episode of “Eat Like a Local with Chris Shepherd”, Shepherd heads east to meet Billy Link of Link Rice and Crawfish Farms who explains what it takes to supply Houston with the best crawfish. According to Link, it’s all about timing and location. Western Louisiana and Eastern Texas have the perfect ecosystem for crawfish and rice farming. Crawfish fertilizes the rice fields, and the rice provides the perfect habitat for the crawfish, which is why when crawfish season ends, Link and his farm turn to rice.
Shepherd then visits Crawfish Shack in Crosby where they boil up more crawfish each year than just about anybody. Want cooked crawfish? They’ve got it. Want perfectly prepped live crawfish for your boil? They’ll hook you up with that too.
While traditional cajun crawfish might be what makes your mouth water most, Houston restaurants like Crawfish & Noodles put their own spin on preparing the freshwater crustaceans. Shepherd shares some of his favorite things to order when he enjoys a Viet-Cajun meal at Crawfish & Noodles.
Bookmark the Eat Like a Local website, so you can find more restaurants serving up great food near you. We’re adding restaurants to the map every week.
Season 1: “Eat Like a Local” episodes
Copyright 2024 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.
