Hot Boiled = Pho + Crawfish

So we're driving around this past weekend hauling some furniture to the new pad and we see a sign on the side of the road at Parmer and MOPAC that says "Hot Boiled Crawfish". We look into the shopping center and there is a sign where Thai Spice used to be next to Odaku Sushi that says "Hot Boiled" and underneath that it says "Pho + Crawfish". Jamie and I turn to each other and ask "Pho + Crawfish?! What's that about?" I am definitely interested as I love both of those things and can't imagine them put together but hey, there are stranger combinations.

So for the rest of the day we are busy moving but at the end of the night, this Hot Boiled place has been percolating in the back of my head. I have already googled them on the web and looked at their menu online and it intrigues me even more because they do have a Crawfish Pho on their menu in addition to other Pho and traditional Vietnamese entrees. AND they have menu items that are definitely Cajun - red beans and rice, dirty rice, gumbo, etc. By this time I am just drooling and have decided that we must go give them a try since 1) they are in our new hood/local 2) it's just too interesting not to check out.

We drive by and I am bummed because they are closed. It is after all July 4th and 8PM. I decided that we will have to give them a try another time. Well the other time turns out to be Monday on my way home from work. Truth be told, I was like a dog with a bone and was hoping that they would be open on Sunday but alas, they were closed Sunday too. I guess they were just fully enjoying (or possibly recuperating?) from the holiday weekend. Perhaps they drove back home to Louisiana to visit relatives for the holidays? Who knows. All I know is that I now have made it a mission to try them out.

We get there around 7:45 PM. I have already decided what I want to order. We get an order of their spring rolls with shrimp (goi cuon tom). They offer a grilled chicken version as well. I am continually trying out this dish at every restaurant that offers it...and continually being disappointed that they aren't as good as mine. Hot Boiled's version was actually not bad. It was definitely made from scratch and made-to-order because it took a while for them to come out. That was partly also due to the fact that we ordered Vietnamese eggrolls (cha gio) as well and those you have to deep fry. These spring rolls had good sized shrimp in them, shredded carrots and lettuce, and the best part were some crunch fried won ton strips (?) that gave them an unexpected crunch. Their peanut sauce was decent with the addition of some ground chili garlic paste. Here's a photo:

So about their cha gio - the eggrolls. Those were actually not bad but they were not tightly wrapped and did not contain the high meaty filling that I am used to getting with good eggrolls. They seemed to have more bean thread noodles and black wood ear mushroom than shrimp/pork/crab which is the typical filling. They were definitely freshly fried though as we had to wait for them to cool down and Jamie actually didn't finish his because the mushroom flavor was too overpowering to him. He is really sensitive to mushrooms (tastes like dirt he says) so he handed his eggroll over to me after his first bite. Here is a photo of the eggrolls:

So far, I would order the spring rolls again but probably not the eggrolls. The fish sauce for the eggrolls was really good though. I have hopes for the two entrees that we ordered. While we were in the restaurant, there was already another couple there that had ordered the crawfish. The minimum order is 2 lbs and from what we could see the crawfish were small. However, the season is over so that was no surprise.

When our food came out, my rice vermicelli (bun) bowl was a good size and Jamie had ordered the crawfish pho. I forgot to take a photo of his crawfish pho but it was actually the smaller bowl and still a good size. Instead of beef and other beef products being in the bowl there were crawfish tails plus smoked sausage pieces that had been cut into slices on the bias. I had heard that it was spicy but it was not spicy in our opinion (we love spicy and can take quite a bit of spice in our foods). The broth was slightly sweet which was surprising.

My bowl was filled with rice noodles, grilled chicken and shrimp. I had actually ordered the grilled chicke and eggroll bowl and when the server brought it out, he realized that there was chicken and shrimp in my bowl not chicken and eggroll but he went right back to the kitchen to get the eggroll and just said that I got shrimp for free (score!). Overall, I enjoyed my bowl. Here's a photo: (note the cut up eggrolls in the background along with the chili garlic paste and excellent fish sauce)

There was shredded carrot and shredded cabbage in the bowl along with the rice noodles. There were crushed peanuts (garnish) and also some julienned cucumbers. My one complaint with the dish was that there were no traditional herbs in the bowl. To me, Vietnamese food is about the combination of flavors and traditional cooking uses many herbs. Heck, there wasn't even any cilantro in there at all and I love cilantro and it belongs in this dish. Traditional herbs used in this dish are basil, mint, peppermint, and cilantro to name a few. What made this dish even more disappointing was that I went to Lulu B's Tuesday for lunch and had the lemongrass tofu rice vermicelli bowl there and it was WORLD of difference. The addition of the herbs makes the dish really pop and taste so fresh and wonderful. I highly recommend that you try Lulu B's for a really great vermicelli bowl done right.

In the photo you do seen flecks of green. That is from me snagging some of the basil that is supposed to go in his pho bowl and putting into my bowl as well. I thought it was interesting that they used shredded cabbage instead of chopped lettuce in the bowl. It still added crunch but did not help in punching up the colors in the bowl. Overall, we decided that we would return to try more of the Cajun items on the menu such as the dirty rice, red beans and rice and gumbo to see how they fare.

I would recommend folks go try this place out if they are looking for unusual flavor combinations. There was a house special Cajun Chicken that sounded great and during Happy Hour they have $2 beers. I will report back on the Cajun half of the menu once we have tried that out.