I would just like to warn readers ahead of time that I will
interchange the term “crawfish” and “crawdad” throughout the writing of this
piece. They are interchangeable, and they describe the small crustacean you
Northerners oddly call “crayfish.” With that out of the way, seafood lovers
will be happy to know that in the beginning of June, Bessie Zhao opened What! Crawfish! in Henrietta, which
serves boiled crawfish by the pound, and patrons can enjoy the treat in both
Southern and Eastern styles.

Eating at What!
Crawfish! reminds me of the crab feasts I had in
Baltimore. We would cover the dinner table with newspaper, arm ourselves with
nut crackers and tiny forks, dump a heap of seasoned, boiled crabs on the
table, and go to town, cracking claws and legs and bodies and scooping out the
meat. Our unofficial goal was to stack as many empty shells as we could.
Everyone had their own “special” dipping sauce that was just some ratio of
butter and Old Bay seasoning. That was some wholesome family time.

Now imagine my
joy when I found out there was a similar ritual in Louisiana with crawdads. A
pound of them boiled in Cajun seasoning and cooked with andouille sausage, red
potatoes and corn on the cob, presented at the table for folks to share. The
only difference is that Louisianans use bowls, because I suppose they think
they are fancier than us Maryland philistines. They pull a steamy, hot crawfish
from a big metal bowl, extract as much meat as they can, and put the empty
shells in another bowl.

Either way,
it is a good time. Oh, how I miss living on an Atlantic shoreline. But there is
no more need to rely on nostalgia with What! Crawfish!
in town, and the venue offers inlanders
the pleasure of a proper crawfish feast.

Until now,
the only time I had seen crawdads in Rochester was as already-peeled frozen
tails, so it surprised me that anyone could find so many whole frozen crawfish
in Rochester. But as it turns out, all the crawfish at What!
Crawfish! are shipped live daily to the restaurant.

The
restaurant is in the middle of a plaza on Jefferson, between the International
Food Market and the Goodwill. The interior is interesting in a good way: Upon
entering What! Crawfish!, I
noticed dozens of red parasols suspended high above the front half of the
dining area. The seating area looks like a cross between a Nantucket bed &
breakfast and my grandmother’s house, but with East Asian art replacing sleepy
oil-painted landscapes. To the right is one of those glass cabinets that looks
like its sole purpose it to display porcelain figurines or your auntie’s “good”
china, and atop it is a big jade cat sculpture. Butterscotch-yellow walls are
adorned with photos of tigers and seaside pictures of what looks like the Gulf
of Mexico or the Atlantic coast. Wood tables and chairs look like they were
made for dining outside while watching the tide roll in, as the setting sun
slowly dims your view. It is a nice touch for a restaurant that specializes in
usually seaside meals. Zhao noted proudly that she assembled those tables
herself.

The crawfish
boil choices (each are $14.99/lb) are the Cajun, a
traditional Louisiana boil with choice of corn, red potato, or andouille
sausage; the Mala, a spice blend inspired by home recipes from Zhao’s native northern
China; and the garlic parmesan, which speaks for itself. In my opinion, the
Cajun tastes like home. I will take anyone down south with me in order to
better explain that. The Mala is reminiscent of a Sichuan spice; it is bold and
spicy, yet still soothing to the tongue. Zhao’s recipe for the garlic parmesan
is tasty and mild. The garlic is not overpowering, and there is a hint of
ground pepper in it to play against the smoothness of the parmesan.

Some people
say, “Crawfish are the M&Ms of Lobsters.” (Okay, no one says that). Eating a
crawdad is a little work, but worth it. Truthfully, if you have ever eaten a
lobster, you know how to tackle a crawdad. It is up to you to crack that tail
and get out the meat. There is also good meat in the claws, and some hiding in
the body. Depending on the size, there may even be some worthwhile meat in the
legs. After consuming all the edible parts and dispensing the empty hull, it
would be a good idea to soak up and enjoy the remaining spice blend with an
order of Cajun fries ($2.99). Some may not want to invest the time it takes the eat a crawfish boil. Not to worry; the spice blends
provided are available with the shrimp boils ($8.99/.5 lb.) as well.

The business’s
name is admittedly odd. Zhao says she came up with it based on her first
experiences with eating a crawfish bowl. Friends asked her on the phone if she
wanted to get some crawfish, and she asked, “What?” to
which her friend repeated, “Crawfish.” As misunderstandings in phone
conversations go, they repeated this pattern until they were yelling “What?!”
and “Crawfish!” to each other. Fortunately for us, that introduction inspired
her to make this business, and with good fortune, more people in Rochester will
be exclaiming about crawfish soon.

This article appears in Jul 10-16, 2019.