This no-frills spot brings Louisiana-style mudbugs to Pearland. Fresh, cheap, nicely spiced crawfish come with your choice of corn, sausage, mushrooms, and potatoes, but you can’t sit down to enjoy them because there are no dining tables. Bummer. Instead, pick everything up at the to-go window out front. Cooking at home? Score live crawfish here, too. Add a pound of shrimp, while you're at it.

Brooks Bassler’s local chain offers a Houston take on Big Easy grub: po’boys, gumbo, fried fish, and crawfish when in season. Choose the Tex-Orleans style, where garlic paste is mixed in post-boil; or the Bayou Style for a classic Cajun flavor; or the citrus garlic, ideal for folks who can't take the heat. Boils can include sausage in classic and more unusual varieties. Try the spicy alligator andouille, alongside other classic crawfish fixins.

The LSU banners in this tiny wood shack are the first clue that you're on your way to eating traditional Louisiana-style crawfish. Born and raised in The Boot, the owners stick to their promise each year, delivering crawfish daily straight from "the pond to your plate." Platters come with corn and potatoes, best enjoyed with a craft beer or frozen marg on the front porch. In a hurry? Hit the drive-through.

The kind of mom-and-pop worth seeking out. Owner Henry Tran is a former shrimper and fisherman from Port Arthur who started doing boils for family and friends from a trailer in Waller in the late ’80s. The crowds followed, and Tran eventually opened his own restaurant. Today, Tran offers two flavors of crawfish: traditional Cajun and a Craven style that tosses the mudbugs in a house-style butter and garlic sauce. 

Cooked in a wok after being soaked in a Cajun boil, the crawfish here are prepared similar to the way crab and lobster are prepared in Chinese cuisine. Cajun Kitchen's technique ensures every crevice and inch gets covered in spices and oils, so prepare for a flavor bomb. Try the Thai Basil flavor, which channels the streets of Bangkok, or the Kitchen Special that tosses mudbugs with green onion, lemon, orange, butter, and garlic, for a sweet, savory, and tangy flavor. Choose your own spice level, ranging from mild to Cray Cray—ideal for those who like to feel the burn.

Chef and owner Trong Nguyen started offering mudbugs in mouth-numbing garlic butter in 2008, around the time that style of crawfish was becoming a Houston staple. Different spice levels are available, but we're here to tell you that Viet-Cajun medium is fiery enough. Try out some of the other dishes, including its salt-and-pepper shrimp, tamarind crab, and Viet-Cajun blue crab and fried rice.

Owner Kiet Duong uses real butter and sugar for his crawfish, which makes them sweeter and even more irresistible. Crawfish Café boasts flavors such as Original Cajun, Kickin’ Cajun, Texas Cajun, Coco Loco, garlic butter, lemon pepper, Thai basil, and The Mix, a blend of garlic butter and lemon pepper—but diners can also mix and match one of the restaurant’s house blends to create a flavor that is wholly your own. This season brings a new Chinatown location, operating as a dual concept with Pho Prime. As part of its debut, the owners introduced a new signature Viet-Cajun sauce, made with garlic and citrus. 

Yes, you have to travel outside of Houston, but you're guaranteed an experience you won't forget. Double Bayou Crawfish offers a farm-to-table experience, with tours of its crawfish and rice fields. Call ahead to book a crawfish excursion ($25 per person) and hop on a boat to learn more about mudbugs and the harvesting process. If you'd rather skip straight to the eating, pull up to Double Bayou's laid-back setup, where you can order its signature crawfish by the pound or a special. The Farm Feast (five pounds boiled crawfish, sausage, 1/2 pound boiled shrimp, corn, and potatoes) is a great starting point. The Boil House, which is BYOB, opens at 5:30pm, but you want to get there early. Lines form around 6pm.

Just outside the city limits, but absolutely worth the drive, Honore's Cajun Café offers a spice blend that's cooked directly into the crawfish, and heartier dishes, such as pasta Mardi Gras (shrimp, crawfish, and smoked sausage in étouffée sauce), and redfish Lafayette with white rice and crawfish étouffée. Friendly service, a zydeco soundtrack, and a post-meal washing station seal the deal.

Boils happen year-round at Josephine's Gulf Coast Tradition, but crawfish season is a special time when chef Lucas McKinney and his team break out the mudbugs. Find crawfish here daily, offering the crawdaddies in a flavorful dry seasoning or "wet," which comes covered in a buttery Viet-Cajun-inspired sauce with a dash of fish sauce. Pair with the more traditional boil fixins, or try some of Josephine's Southern sides, like its biscuits, hushpuppies, and mac and cheese. Don't forget a cold beer or cocktail, and don't be afraid to make a mess. Josephine's prides itself on being "a little bit class, and a little bit trashy." 

Run by a couple who caters crawfish events, this sprawling country-style establishment offers mostly outdoor seating and, on the weekends, live music. Go by the pound or commit to the five-pound crawfish special. The Pook's Platter— two pounds of hot boiled crawfish, a half pound of boiled shrimp, a snow crab, corn, and potato—is the move for groups. Plan ahead and bring your own drinks (Pook's is BYOB) and eat at the picnic tables, or fill a cooler and take the feast home. 

The giant red crawfish perched on the roof is all the signage you need. The menu runs deep on Louisiana staples—gumbo, chargrilled oysters, boudin, and even Natchitoches meat pies. Crawfish is sold by the pound with all kinds of extras—corn, potatoes, sausage, hard-boiled eggs, you name it.