Round Rock Edition | March 2024

Dining

BY KAMERYN GRIESSER

The Austin area crawsh season is looking grim—and expensive

For Texans, spring is synonymous with blue- bonnets, warmer weather and crawsh season. But this year, lovers of the mud-burrowing crustacean may nd themselves paying triple what they usually do to host a boil. The crawsh industry is reporting a delayed season due to recent drought conditions and freezing temperatures in Louisiana and East Texas, where most live crawsh come from. Two-minute impact While the season typically starts in January and lasts until July, farmers only caught about 10% of their usual harvest in January, said distributor Russ T. “Crawdaddy” Smith of Loui- siana Wild Crawsh & Catering, which supplies crawsh to local restaurants. On top of lower supply, the crop has been smaller than previous seasons, making them more dicult to eat and more likely to die in the eight-hour journey to Central Texas. “We have to slow our roll,” Smith said. “I’m still oering catering, but not on a mass scale like other years. ... It’s a question of ethics. If we go scraping the ponds now, there’s not going to be any crawsh to breed for next year.” Mudbugs, another common nickname for crawsh, get this moniker from the way they burrow in the shallow, muddy ponds around rice paddies, Smith said. Louisiana’s drought conditions, which occurred during peak breeding months last year, caused ponds to dry up or become too salty for the critter in some cases. On top of that, mid-January’s freez- ing weather reduced the already dwindling supply by starving them of oxygen under frozen ponds.

What restaurants are saying Several local restaurants are bracing them- selves for a slower, pricier start to the crawsh season. While a plate of crawsh could cost customers as low as $7-$8 per pound in previous years, restaurateurs are looking at $16-$22 per pound just to break even, according to local vendors. Willie’s Grill and Icehouse usually puts craw- sh on the menu in January, but this year they waited until Super Bowl weekend for prices to cool down, Chief Concept Ocer Marty Wad- sworth said. Catsh Parlour, an Austin-based seafood joint, was planning to oer crawsh on their George- town menu for the rst time this year, but owner Chris Kerbow said it will likely have to wait due to the exorbitant prices. Meanwhile, those trying to get ahead of the demand this year had to take drastic measures, as many suppliers refused to sell in early January. “Our owner himself was driving to Louisiana just to get the crawsh,” HappyRito Seafood Manager Laura Rozo said. “And, when they show up here, half of them are dead, and we can’t sell them. ... Currently, we aren’t making a prot, but we hope that can turn around.” Other restaurants, such as Louisiana Crab Shack, keep crawsh on the menu year-round by oering them frozen for the majority of the year or sourcing them from Asian countries. Overall, crawsh fans can expect to see more substitutions for the beloved bug in the form of shrimp, snow crab and lobster boils, Smith said.

Russ T. “Crawdaddy” Smith trucks in crawsh from Louisiana to Austin every other day during the season.

COURTESY LOUISIANA WILD CRAWFISH & CATERING

Supply and demand

10% of usual catch reeled in this January 3x higher prices reported $16-$22 per pound this season

SOURCES: FISH CITY GRILL, HAPPYRITO SEAFOOD, LOUISIANA CRAB SHACK, QUALITY SEAFOOD MARKET, RUSS SMITH, WILLIE’S GRILL AND ICEHOUSECOMMUNITY IMPACT

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