A Little Taste of Home: Ragin' Cajun & Kay's Lounge

Look at those bad boys... Get in mah belly!

Mardi Gras is basically the official start of crawfish season for people from Louisiana, and January 6th was already over a week ago. As much as I claim Texas as home, I cannot deny my south Louisiana roots as I did spend over two decades in the state. It’s been a wet winter, which is typically good for crawfish. That being said, we’re still very early in the season, and the crawfish size was not too disappointing. Last year oddly enough, some of the best crawfish I ate last season actually came from Cedar Creek. But I did go hard on some raw and chargrilled oysters and 3 lbs. of crawdads from Ragin' Cajun. My one complaint is that I'm a boil spice girl, not a post-boil spice girl. I find when you do most of the spicing post-boil, the crawfish doesn't retain that heat that makes your eyes tear up a little and your nose drip profusely, and that's basically the goal when I'm eating spicy foods. If that's not happening, it's obviously not hot enough. It's funny that I don't get to Ragin' Cajun very often. There is one pretty much under my office building and then the one on Richmond isn't so far. Definitely feels like something from home. Super casual, a little dirty, and not looking to really please anyone other than itself. That being said, I feel as though my great home state of Louisiana has cornered the market on that atmosphere with the abundance of dive bars, which good dives can be hard to come by in Houston. I've since found my favorites, but Louisiana's cup runneth over with dives, so that's typically the type of place I'm trying to drink at. Even if I do get salty stares from hipsters. Sorry but just because I look like I shower and wear decent clothes doesn't mean I don't belong in the bar...

Which brings us to one of Houston's oldest drinking establishments that sits in the Southampton neighborhood, toeing the lines into West U and the museum district, Kay's Lounge. My friends and I popped in for a quick nip and girl talk before heading home for the eve. Obviously getting older when my Friday nights end promptly at 10. The rumor mill is a-swirling and I heard word that the legacy of Kay's may be coming to a close. If that’s the case it’s going to be the end of an era for many of my friends and people of Houston. If people are really as passionate and dedicated to this place as they say they are, I fully expect that there will be some kind of Kickstarter or GoFundMe to save Kay’s if that's an option. And I’m sure it would be started by one of my friends. Not my personal favorite dive in Houston, but also not a bad place to end up for low maintenance reasonably priced drinks. Lest we forget this is where I did spend some time watching Rockets playoffs last season.

Also, this happened...