The Blue Crab at the New Orleans lakefront has been a favorite since it arrived on the scene. The vision of owner Nick Asphrodites was a modern West End-type place. While the old West End can never be replicated, this place does indeed harken back to it, and it is impossible to (a) not have a memory triggered by The Blue Crab, and (b) feel that the Blue Crab is a very desirable substitute.
The food at The Blue Crab is far superior to any even fond memory I have of the old West End. Who is doing housecut fries in a seafood joint? But The Blue Crab is not a joint. It is fried seafood done gourmet, if one can get their head around that. First-class ingredients are fried perfectly, always golden brown, hot, and greaseless. Chargrilled oysters are fantastic, seafood salads are fresh and loaded with beautiful seafood. And the stuffed crabs are a reminder of the old West End, not the softball-sized mound of mostly breading popping out of the shell barely able to contain such girth. The Blue Crab is a lovely mix of sweet memories of the West End, with a quantum upgrade of the food.
So I was thrilled to hear that owner Nick was adding a location, this one closer to my house. The second Blue Crab opened late summer of ‘22 in Slidell. On our first attempt to get there, even our GPS was confused.
It sits on a large tract of land that is bordered by the lake and some inlet canals into a neighborhood. It was a somewhat popular joint that was gutted to make way for the far more upscale Blue Crab. The layout is meandering, and we still haven’t sat outside because we haven’t figured out how. Once inside though, the colors remind you immediately of where you are.
With its pictures of Louisiana and its sculptured fish sitting on cool blue walls, it is a comfortable and modern seafood restaurant, but a stylish one instead of raffish. Whoever said seafood places must be raffish? This new Blue Crab has the same style as the original. Windows for walls, concrete floors, and minimalist tables combine to offer the perfect utilitarian vibe for the consumption of raw, grilled, and fried seafood.
The Slidell location is smaller than New Orleans, but the menu is the same. Both menus are smaller than before COVID, but everything is still really good.
On this visit, we had to start with chargrilled oysters. The Blue Crab chargrilled oysters are some of the best in town, but these were a little different than I remember. Instead of a generous amount of finely-grated Parmesan cheese, this was not nearly as finely grated and it wasn’t melted as much as it usually is. These oysters had lots of juice for dipping, one of the best parts of this preparation at The Blue Crab. The oysters come with slices of toasted bread for dipping into an herbal sauce that is great.
Tom and I disagree on desirable doneness for this dish. I like them cooked more and he likes them cooked less. These were large and plump, and more to his liking.
And that was good because I had my own choice of crab cakes. Here is one of the best stuffed crabs out there, and one of the most reminiscent of the old West End. I am tempted to always get it when I am at The Blue Crab, but I do need to try other things. This time it was crab cakes.
For Tom, we got fried oysters and fried catfish in a combo plate with fries. These fries aren’t nearly as good as the ones I remember from the New Orleans location, but they are very good.
The seafood was fried perfectly, as always, and this was a nice plate of food. It came with the signature jalapeno hush puppies, which are good enough to order as a side all by themselves.
The crab cakes were fine but nothing extraordinary. I guess I should have steered clear of these because a comparison to their fantastic stuffed crabs was inevitable. They were very nice, pan-seared with a filling of claw crab meat and breading as well as some nice seasonings. I liked the remoulade that came with them.
I liked these well enough, but if crab stuffing is needed, the stuffed crabs are much better. A crab cake in New Orleans is only worthwhile if it is jumbo lump and just like the Baltimore crab cakes that we copied. Most aren’t a true copy of those and fall into the “crabmeat stuffing” category, which also has its merits. It just shouldn’t be labeled crab cake because it creates confusion. Technically, it is a little cake of crab, But the image of the original Baltimore version remains out there, overshadowing in stature our little claw shreds version. At The Blue Crab, our local version of crab stuffing sitting in a crab shell cavity is a much better taste, with minimal breading, and those old West End flavors. Delicious.
Delicious is a good summation of the food at The Blue Crab. It is consistent with high-quality ingredients prepared very well. We have never been anything but well-satisfied here, always leaving in high anticipation of returning again…soon.
