My Brother's Crawfish

My Brother's Crawfish is a cajun/creole dive located on SE Harrison St. in Portland, Oregon. A friend of mine (from Louisiana) mentioned she went here, and gave it her "Louisiana stamp of approval." Good enough for me to try!

As I entered the establishment, I felt that the place was just too dark and shady, instead of bright and welcoming. The walls were full of items reminding one of New Orleans. A female server told me I could sit anywhere, so I took a seat about 50 feet from the bar area.

My Brother's Crawfish offers seafood boils, and seafood is based on market price. Didn't feel like breaking the bank today, sorry.

Instead, I had a side order of their chicken and sausage gumbo ($6): roux, rice, garlic, onions, bell pepper, and cajun spices are combined with pieces of cooked chicken and sausage. Gumbo color generally should be between a "peanut butter" (light brown) and "dark chocolate" (very dark brown) color. This one was probably just past the "milk chocolate" stage. The chef topped the gumbo with some fresh green onion.

My server also brought a bottle of Original Louisiana Hot Sauce to the table. Now that's awesome. It's a cayenne pepper-based hot sauce similar to a Frank's Red Hot or Texas Pete.

Gumbo with the Louisiana Hot Sauce in the background

Closeup of the gumbo

From the savory chicken and sausage to the roux, the depth of flavors here exploded in my mouth. A pleasurable heat from the cayenne and other cajun spices. An ideal dish for a cold Saturday afternoon. In hindsight, I might have been better off getting a full entree for $12, just so I could get a piece of cornbread to get a little break from the intense gumbo onslaught. But man, that gumbo was downright awesome.

I thought some of the sausage pieces were not cut very well, and the casing proved to be a bit tough or unappealing here and there. Aside from that and the dark environment, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience.

I read on their Facebook page that the owners of My Brother's Crawfish will not renew their lease when it expires at the end of 2011, so if you want to get some good cajun/creole food at My Brother's Crawfish, be sure to go before the year's up! 7.75/10