Minnesota Goes Cajun at Grand Catch

It’s messy. It’s slow. It’s spicy. Why is Minnesota going crazy for crawfish boil?

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Somewhere in the middle of the fourth episode of David Chang’s hot new Netflix docuseries, Ugly Delicious, Minnesota has a moment. The international superchef and his cohorts sit at a round table, debating why bland shrimp rules the world’s menus, instead of flavorful crawfish. They hit all the talking points: availability, ease of eating, familiarity. Then, one of Chang’s buddies identifies the kind of place that would still prefer shrimp over crawfish: Minnesota.

It’s clear that “Minnesota” here just means someplace that’s definitely not the South. But what if the Chang gang is wrong?

Now historically, we haven’t had great crawfish distribution up here. For the longest time, the DNR wouldn’t even let us commercially harvest the crawfish invading our lakes!

But suddenly, everything seems to be changing. Within the past couple of years, we’ve witnessed the popularity of party boils and the hugely successful Smack Shack Crayfest (returning August 4!). The Crazy Cajun food truck was the first to trawl our streets, and more trucks will be coming. And now, a smattering of Cajun and seafood-boil spots are opening all over the metro. The crawdad invasion is real: We’ve gone bayou.

Some might be tempted to look for the origins of the trend in the Swedish tradition of kräftskiva feasts. But they’d be wrong. This is all about the next generation of immigrants and the creative ways they envision the American food scene’s “melting pot”—here, a real, bubbling thing.

Consider Grand Catch, which recently opened on Grand Avenue, in St. Paul. Sameh Wadi, acclaimed Palestinian chef and notorious heat-seeker, started visiting a spot in Brooklyn Park called Cajun Deli. After hanging out there with chef/owner Thien Ly, he knew he wanted to open a restaurant with him.

“I became addicted to his crawfish boil,” Wadi told me as I sat in the Grand Catch dining room, slurping boil. That’s a common theme from people who love Cajun Deli, which has been around for four years. It has built a cult following of loyalists who drive up there for boil-by-the-pound. Ly is Vietnamese and learned the craft of boil in Louisiana.

“I float with the waters; that’s why I’m here,” Ly said later on the phone. “I grew up in southern Vietnam around the water. Seafood is always in my life.”

The Gulf Coast holds a huge population of Vietnamese immigrants, many of whom became fishermen—a conversation topic on Ugly Delicious. The community adopted the boil culture of their new home, before stamping it with their own cultural imprint. Viet-Cajun, a term popular in Houston, suggests a boil that veers from tradition, tapping different spices and sauces. (The addition of garlic-butter sauce with boil is a signature Viet-Cajun move.) The preparation method may vary, too: Cooks often start with no spice in the water, adding it only later to the finished shellfish. Ly learned this cultural mash-up, and brought it up the Mississippi.

Grand Catch’s boil pays homage to tradition and then moves boldly forward. Seafood boil here can include crawfish, shrimp, mussels, crab—or whatever represents the fresh catch of the day.

“We bless the water with a range of aromatics and spices,” Wadi said. “Just enough so they pick up a little bit of the flavor in the cooking.”

The real flavor hit comes afterward, with your choice of sauces. You can start easy with the Viet-Cajun garlic-butter sauce, ramp it up with a Louisiana hot sauce, or kick it with its signature Awesome sauce, packed with umami. The next level is hot and spicy isaan sauce, a regional Thai style, which adorns your boil with bits of bright pepper and a sharp vegetal aroma. Take this as a warning. It won’t burn your face off, but you might want to consider using the plastic gloves for handling the shellfish. Heat-seekers like Wadi can take it to an “insane ghost” level, with a mouth-punch of secret sauce.

And hey, Minnesota? Let’s do dig in. Put on the bib and get in there with your hands, cracking mudbugs and sucking some tails. It’s all part of the new world where we embrace a bit of mess in the name of edible adventure. Wadi and Ly have bought some new woks, with a plan to riff on stir-fried crabs, Szechuan peppercorn shrimp, and Malaysian chili crab.

And why not? The world is their shellfish. Maybe the next Ugly Delicious round table should be held on Grand Avenue. 

No shells 

Not in the mood to boil today? You should know that Grand Catch also serves one of the best fried chicken sandwiches I’ve tasted. It’s meaty and crisp, with a slathering of buttermilk pickle sauce. Another option: buttery grilled cheese, stacked with lobster if you want it. And the cold shrimp roll could easily become a lunchtime staple.

Cool down 

Grand Catch must be one of the only boil joints with a cocktail program. (Most local spots stick to wine and beer.) Isaac Ramon has crafted a nice lineup of cheekily named drinks that fit well with the flavors of the food. The Susan? Susan? Hi. is a brandy cocktail with just enough banana, coconut, and lime to feel like a vacation. Because, you do have to go home after this.

More crawfish boils to try

Besides Cajun Deli, there’s Crazy Cajun in Brooklyn Park, which also just launched a food truck. Chef/owner John Nguyen hails from Houston and serves his crawfish boil with garlic butter or coco style(sweet coconut cream, garlic, butter, and basil). You eat it in a traditional Southern way: straight from a bag.

Coming this summer to Wirth Park’s new Trailhead building is Cajun Twist, which promises crawfish-by-the-pound. It also plans to serve creative mash-ups like Jambosas (jambalaya in a fried egg roll) and creole-seasoned beef with lo mein noodles.

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