In China we have a saying that we eat to "Guo Yin", which roughly translates into "exhilaration". Only a certain kind of restaurant can afford to deliver this kind of experience, and this is often where you see actual Chinese people lining up in hoards. Often the finesse of the cooking is debatable at large, but not as important as the experience in itself. It's hard for a Chinese native to describe to culinary experts like yourselves the importance of this activity. If you're still sitting around debating whether it's crayfish or crawfish you're missing the point.
Mr. Wells, not all of us here in New Orleans will bear you any animus for preferring California crawfish of late. I myself noticed that much of the local crawfish around here this past late spring into summer was curiously outsized and not especially sweet or succulent as they usually are.
We will, however, be chuckling at you for paying fifteen bucks a pound for it. According to the New Orleans-area Crawfish Price Index (yes, it's a thing; Google it for more info) for this past spring, the average price for boiled crawfish around here was under five dollars a pound.
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And you can fall right into the place after many ales at McSorley's
What the heck is a crayfish? That's like going outside to grill a hamburger and calling it a barbecue.
The debate shouldn't be "Is it crawfish or crayfish?" but "Why is the Times covering a restaurant featuring an invasive species that clones itself?" Like so many accidental imports, Asian crayfish are an environmental problem in several countries, including the U.S.
For the record, they don't call them "crayfish" in Acadiana. That's a Yankee variant. We call them crawfish. (My family's Cajun.)
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Yes, he says that in the review.
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The place seems interesting, and no more hit and miss than many reviews where Pete Wells has awarded 2 stars. In a city teeming with restaurants of every type, not the least of which are Chinese, it's hard to be unique.
However if you check out their menu and look at the portion sizes it quickly becomes clear that the prices are more expensive than one simple $ sign. The least expensive category should be reserved for where the starving students go.
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Still makes me sad to walk by this place. I miss Surma.
As some one has travels most part of china and tastes various regional cuisines, I can tell the food described in this article requires little to no cooking skills... seriously.
Second, as a native Chinese speaker fluent in both Cantonese and Mandarin, it pains me to see the Chinese pingyin (corresponding to the alphabet spelling) are misspelled. The Chinese words directly translated as "happy shrimp" and the spelling shall be "Le Xia". If in Cantonese, that should be "Lok Haa". Neither is used in the case of Le Sia.
I can't trust any one who can't even properly spell their language to cook my food.
@MindWanderer
What an odd notion, that spelling ability (assuming you're correct, which I can't know) correlates to cooking ability. I have not found that to be true in any language in which I'm fluent, but perhaps Chinese is different.
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@MindWanderer But Americans would have no idea what to make of the word "Xia." Writing "Sia" is the best way to get close to the pronuniation in an accessible way. There's no such thing as a word that begins "Xi" in English. Also there's an old American maxim: "It's a man with very little imagination who can only spell a word one way."
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So true...a Rose is a rose........
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Always called them crawdads growing up in Arkansas.
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We called them crawdaddys in Oregon.
The "cajun" seafood craze has been in full flower for years in the predominantly-chinese East of Los Angeles. I partook a few times when I lived there in an attempt--only partially successful--to understand the appeal. It's not about the quality so much as the joyful gluttony of the experience, of food so greasy and juicy that despite the gloves and bib and copious napkins you need a shower when you get home, and swiftly fall into a food coma after that. We Americans tend to associate this sort of primal feasting, bare-handed and furious-paced, with meat, particularly barbeque, or the deep-fried creations of the state fair. For Chinese, particularly young people as Pete notes, crayfish holds pride of place.
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I have no idea who started it, but my first experience with contemporary American food ignorance was when I returned from a trip to Thailand and an LA "in" person took me to the latest "in" Thai restaurant. By bite #2 my taste buds were fried. In Bangkok My culinary excursions were marvelous, nuanced, spicy, but not taste destroying. That was in the Eighties. I watched the same thing happen to Mexican food, then Korean food, the rich Indian cuisine, and finally, the culinary death wish has struck all around.
I'm not surprised at the food critics chic take on hot, but it has little to do with any indigenous cuisine except in countries with equatorial meat-rotting climates where deadening the entire taste/smell sensory equipment is necessary anesthesia.
People who eat the trends rather than the food miss a lot. Very LA/NY. Too bad.
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@Anonymot I think Pete just loves spicy Chinese food. I have gone to many places he has recommended and ordered dishes he's described as nuanced, that the spice highlights flavors and doesn't overpower. Each time, without fail, I find myself eating a dish so overwhelmingly spicy that I struggle to finish and only do so with my eyes watering and my tongue numb.
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@Anonymot
Um, that's pretty much the description of Mexico, India, Thailand, and parts of China. Not to mention food from parts of Africa and the Caribbean. It's not only about proximity to the equator, it's about scorching hot temperatures. Humidity doesn't help any.
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@Anonymot : Amal Naj, in his authoritative book, "Chilies" points out that the belief that chilies are used to camouflage the taste/smell of spoiled food has no basis in reality: even if your tongue is fooled, your body (especially your intestines) won't be and you'll fall sick. Even third-world people in tropical climates aren't stupid enough to invite food poisoning, especially when cooking at home.
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I am from Lafayette, La. It is crawfish, people, not crayfish. I don't care which pronunciation is technically "correct," when dealing with Cajun or Creole cuisine it's crawfish.
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Except this isn’t Cajun or Creole cuisine so crayfish is correct.
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@Eric
"Although a server there described the restaurant to me as “Cajun seafood,” Le Sia is not serving Acadiana-style crayfish."
Maybe, but it sure as heck sounds to me like someone thinks they are serving Cajun cuisine. Also, just in case you don't know, Acadiana is a region in South Louisiana.
Perhaps read the entire review? Wells acknowledges that they're called crawfish in LA, and that people are extremely passionate about it (which is clear from all the anguish in the comments, LOL).
o
it's crawfish folks
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Crayfish belong in NYC like pizza in Louisiana. They may do ok, but it is literally a fish out of water.
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As a native of Harbin in the Empire of Manchu-Di-Guo, I never heard of "Harbin sausage".
The preponderance of boiled, rather than fried or grilled, crayfish and shrimp is surprising.
An excellent advice of Mr. Wells in slide no. 10: "Customers are well advised to wear plastic gloves before taking apart the shrimp heads and crayfish tails". -- Crustaceans in a shell is one of the two foods that still have to be eaten with fingers. The other is the big boiled artichokes where the petals or bracts have to be peeled off by hand. One hopes that invention of suitable utensils for both is coming.
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@Tuvw Xyz
You're advised to consider wearing the gloves not because the shellfish bears any resemblance to artichokes. When's the last time you saw someone in a seafood joint wearing gloves for that reason?
The rationale is the insane heat level of some of the spice options. You get that stuff on your fingers, it's not that easy to scrub off. A casual swipe near the eye and you're in trouble. Go to the men's room and your special friend will be on fire.
Anyone who plays with the seriously hot stuff knows this all too well. The habaneros and ghost peppers, the hot sauces that are just off the Scoville charts. It happens even after you think you've washed and scrubbed your hands sufficiently. Capsaicin is both wonderful and nasty. They use it in sprays to repel wannabe criminals and even bears.
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@ drdeanster tinseltown
I must have expressed myself poorly. Peeling artichokes requires no gloves, but one has to use the fingers because there is no special tool. I bemoaned the same practice when eating crustaceans in a shell, and where the gloves alleviate, even if ever so slightly, the inelegant habit of using one's hands.