Crawfish in Dallas (Houston, Richmond: appointed, apartment, live)

[shanebilliot]

I currently run 2 nice crawfish places in Baton Rouge and am considering opening my own place in Dallas. I plan on opening multiple places in the Dallas/FTW area. The main thing will be crawfish but I will have many other Louisiana items as well. How do y'all think it would do up there? I been considering Houston but there is more competition in Houston.

[Rakin]

Yes you will have completion here almost as much as Houston.

Several places come to mind but Papadeaux's is probably the biggest name I can think of that serves Cajun.

But I'm all for the little guy. Just got to find the right location.

[dallasboi]

PLEASE COME!!! Dallas comes up really short when it comes to cajun. A lot of people find themselves disappointed when having to settle with paying double the amout at pappadeaux. Open as many stores as you can. I think the competition is nil in Dallas. We need way more cajun cuisine in DFW. It would make people who relocate here from Louisiana feel more at home. I think dallas woul be perfect........I want some now...

[TrueDat]

There's certainly a market for it. There are a few places other than Pappadeux for Cajun in N. Texas but the more, the merrier.

[Aceraceae]

Boiling crab has good crawfish.

[clickbear]

Alligator Café and Dodie's are the biggest Cajun competitors in Dallas FWIW.

[hbdwihdh378y9]

I used to love going to the Ragin Cajun on Richmond when I lived in Houston. (They now have five locations, apparently.) My girlfriend (whose family was from Jeanerette) loved it, especially the soft-shelled crab. When I moved to Dallas 20 years ago I was disappointed. There was a crawfish place a quarter mile from my apartment, which is still in business (Shuck n Jive), but I thought it was very overpriced, and I've only been there twice in all this time. Aw Shucks and Big Shucks also serve crawfish, and they are more reasonable, although they never really patronized them, either. Dodie's is better. I dated a couple of girls from Baton Rouge high society, and they were big on Dodie's and seemed to have some kind of connection to the owners. I like Dodie's, and I'll go once in a while, but I'm still looking for something like the Ragin Cajun, so I think you should try Dallas.

[BeenThereDunThat]

Crawfish prices on the wholesale level this year are nuts due tot he extended freezing weather down south La. Kept the mudbugs digging down deep to stay warm and they're not so anxious to poke outta da hole like Pauxatawney Phil. I saw a couple places selling them for as high as $8 a lb. LIVE. Never, ever seen them that steep. I used to get them by the live sack-loads for 47 cents a lb. back in the mid-to-late 1980's. Guess those days are gone forever.

[shanebilliot]

Biggest difference from my place compared to places like Papadeauxs is that I'm not a restaurant. I am a fast, drive thru, take out crawfish place. Like a mcdonalds for crawfish. I have one love, CRAWFISH. We will have other menu items but I want people to think of me when they think of crawfish.

[Grainraiser]

A take out place like this is sorely lacking in Dallas. Location would be the key to success.