LAFAYETTE, La. — This year's crawfish shortage is no secret, but just because we don't have them doesn't mean we don't want them.
Mark Shirley, a crawfish specialist with LSU AgCenter and Louisiana Sea Grant, shared a piece of advice to those itching for a crawfish boil.
"We're getting into the spring time—nicer weather, people want to boil crawfish at the house. We're not going to have that big supply of crawfish available, and whatever crawfish is available will be a higher price, but the good thing is that Louisiana does have alternatives," Shirley said. "We have a lot of shrimp. We have crabs, so I would encourage everybody to, instead of having a crawfish boil, maybe have a shrimp boil. Maybe cook a big pot of shrimp jambalaya or shrimp étoufée."
This advice has come in pretty handy for crawfish restaurants, too.
Recently the crawfish catch has started coming up a little bit, relieving the stress on some crawfish spots, but throughout the rough season, some have had to take certain measures to keep business up while crawfish is down.
"Our shrimp have always been a really popular item on our menu. Our customers tend to love it, so one thing we do is bring in a few more flavors," said William Mills, co-owner of Coastal Fire & Ice in Lafayette. "We have a buffalo flavor, parmesan garlic. We have a flavor—really popular—called zydeco. It's kind of a spicy parmesan garlic, and then our regular is always a great seller, so just stepping up those few items has helped kind of pull us through."
Coastal Fire & Ice isn't alone in this method of pushing popular products. Over in Basile, Sherry Fruge, owner of D.I.'s Cajun Restaurant said something similar.
"There's so much other things that they are trying out that they never did before," she said. "We do a barbecue Dungeness crab, which a lot of people didn't want to eat them, and they eating them, and then our steaks have just doubled..."
Fruge also mentioned the grilled seafood platters they are offering, which have been "a big hit."
Thankfully, pushing these products seems to be a stable solution.
"Shrimp stays pretty consistent year-round," said Hunter Lapoint, co-owner of Coastal Fire & Ice. "The crabs and shrimp have stayed the same. As far as availability, price, nothing's really changed with those two."
Even in tough times, the Louisiana seafood industry is finding its way through.
