The Room
Trong Nguyen opened Crawfish & Noodles on Bellaire Boulevard in 2008, a Vietnamese-Cajun crawfish house that has aged into the most-considered expression of the Viet-Cajun crossover that defines Houston's Bellaire-Asiatown neighbourhood. The James Beard Foundation has shortlisted Nguyen for Best Chef Texas multiple years; the Michelin Texas guide assigned a Bib Gourmand on the inaugural list.
The dining room is intentionally non-fine-dining, a small Bellaire-strip-mall room with bib-friendly seating, communal tables, an open kitchen at the back. The Texas Monthly review held the room as one of the city's most-disciplined Asian-Cajun kitchens through three review cycles.
The Food
The Vietnamese-Cajun crawfish boil, fresh Louisiana crawfish in a Vietnamese-aromatic spice bath of lemongrass, garlic, butter, Cajun seasoning, is the menu's calling card and runs in crawfish season (January through May). The garlic noodles run year-round and are the menu's secondary signature. The whole-fish preparations, the Vietnamese rice plates, and the salt-and-pepper crab handle the menu's wider draws.
Beer programme runs Vietnamese-import. Wine programme is small and Riesling-led. Service is counter-style and warm, in the working-Bellaire register.
Best Occasion Fit
Team Dinner: Crawfish & Noodles handles team dinners better than most Bellaire counters. The communal tables hold ten to fourteen, the family-style ordering scales, and the bill at $30 a head reads as honest.
Solo Dining: The counter at Crawfish & Noodles is one of the more interesting Houston solo-dining seats. The garlic noodles, a small crawfish portion, a Vietnamese beer.
First Date: Crawfish & Noodles is a casual-adventurous first-date alternative. The bib-required crawfish boil is the conversational scaffolding, and the kind of date that ends in second plans being made.
