The New Orleans-Area Restaurant Serving Vietnamese-Cajun-Style Crawfish

Crawfish is a true New Orleans classic. It reflects the buzzing city perfectly with its bold, flavorful nuances. Traditionally, crawfish in Louisiana is boiled with a string of ingredients, including aromatics, seasonings, and fixins, such as corn and potatoes. For adventure seekers, a more iconic experience is with Vietnamese-Cajun crawfish at Big EZ Seafood.

The founders of the restaurant, Thien and Nhu Nguyen, started Big EZ in 2015. Back then, Viet-Cajun crawfish was an unfamiliar fusion, and might've even caused a few brows to furrow — but it stayed on the menu. It wasn't until it became a trend among seafood restaurants that it cemented its success, making Big EZ Seafood an influential establishment in NOLA. 

Big EZ Seafood creates the iconic dish by blending old and new techniques. The freshly caught crawfish are first boiled in a pot with seasonings added to the mix, which is reminiscent of the traditional Louisiana method. After draining the crawfish, a special spicy garlic butter sauce is introduced. There's also added tang from citrus, and another layer of heat from ginger and Chinese pepper. Folks who know how to eat crawfish like a pro might find themselves wanting to dig into the dish as soon as they can. 

The creamy Viet-Cajun sauce from Big EZ Seafood delivers a rich finish from the butter garlic, so you get a sense of indulgence as soon as you take a bite of the crawfish. The garlic notes hit you right afterward, and the heat lingers until your next bite. The garlicky flavor, however, received some mixed reviews. Some seemed to enjoy the punch (even saying it's better than the traditional version), while some weren't too keen about it. Meanwhile, the heat is pleasant; you get a modest kick at first, but it ramps up with every bite, so spice-averse folks should watch out. Fortunately, you can increase your spice tolerance ahead of your trip to NOLA if you want to enjoy it to the fullest. If you really want to leave the restaurant feeling satisfied, you shouldn't skip the flavor-packed part when eating crawfish. In an Instagram reel, Thien Nguyen showed how things work in Big EZ's kitchen and insisted that "You got to suck the head."

Big EZ Seafood has three locations: two in Louisiana (Gretna and Kenner) and one in Texas (Arlington). Gretna is the location that came first. Kenner opened after five years, then came its expansion in Texas. If things only go up from here, who knows; maybe we'll see Big EZ Seafood everywhere.