I was happy to hear last summer that one of my favorite Cajun food places in the Midwest - Crawdaddy's in the Milwaukee suburb of West Allis - had reopened. It shut down after the death of one of the co-founders/owners a few years back, but I found out last summer that it had reopened down the road from the original location. On a trip up to Milwaukee earlier this year, I made a point to head to the new Crawdaddy's for a meal.
I wrote an entry on the original Crawdaddy's in one of my early Road Tips posts before I found a voice and formula for the blog. (Click here if you'd like to see the difference in styles from early posts to the present day.) The original Crawdaddy's was located on Greenfield at 64th Street in West Allis and was opened in 1995 by managing partner John Vukelic and chef-partner Jonathan Klug. Crawdaddy's was a huge hit from the start winning a number of local "Best of" local awards over a number of years.
In addition to the restaurant in West Allis, Crawdaddy's had a food place on the Henry Maier Festival Park grounds, home to a number of festivals, most notably Summerfest - the largest music festival in the world. My wife and I used to go to Summerfest nearly every year starting in the mid-90's and it became a tradition that our first stop would be at Crawdaddy's to get a "Gator-on-a-Stick". It consisted of ground alligator meat (it tastes like chicken) mixed with mild ground alligator sausage. It was all right, but it was a tradition.
Sadly, in 2012 John Vukelic passed away unexpectedly and Jonathan Klug kept the doors to Crawdaddy's open. However, about a year later financial troubles brought on by the death of Vukelic forced Klug to close Crawdaddy's. Milwaukeeans lamented the loss of the wonderful Cajun restaurant on Greenfield Ave.
However, Klug was able to find a new managing partner in Mike Weier. The two searched for a new location, not far from the original Crawdaddy's location. Big Dog's Sports Bar located 30 blocks west of the original Crawdaddy's at Greenfield and 94th, near the Wisconsin State Fair Park, had closed in early 2015 and Weier and Klug took over the space in late 2015. They remodeled the place into a larger version of the old Crawdaddy's and reopened in the summer of 2016. Crawdaddy's was back and people from all around Milwaukee flocked to the place in droves. And the "Best of" local awards began to pick up where they had left off three years.
I pulled up in front of Crawdaddy's and was able to find a parking spot out front. (see map) Parking at the original Crawdaddy's was always an adventure as it was mostly on street parking along a busy stretch of Greenfield. The new Crawdaddy's has a parking lot that can handle over 30 cars.
Upon entering Crawdaddy's, I found an expansive place with a main dining area that was much larger than the original Crawdaddy's. Waits of up to an hour - or more - were common at the original Crawdaddy's. But the new place looked like it could accommodate double the number of patrons versus the old place.
There a back dining area that served as an overflow or private party area. Drawn portraits of a number of musical artists hung on the walls throughout the place and the sound system was playing some great music from various New Orleans artists such as Earl King, Dr. John, The Wild Tchoupitoulas, Clarence "Frogman" Henry, and one of my all-time favorite bands, The Radiators.
The bar was a festive area on the opposite side of a wall from the main dining room. It had some nice lighting accents in front of and behind the bar. I contemplated sitting there, but decided to have a seat in the dining room.
Off to the side of the bar was a small lounging/gaming area. It appears that the new incarnation of Crawdaddy's can handle a large number of people in the dining room and in the bar for those waiting for a table.
I was shown to a table in the middle of the dining room and given a lunch menu. It's not as extensive as the dinner menu at Crawdaddy's, but it still offers some Cajun specialties such as Po' Boy sandwiches, shrimp and grits, and a Cajun stir fry consisting of a mixture of alligator meat, alligator sausage, andouille sausage, surimi (a Cajun flavored paste made out of minced seafood) and crawfish tails that are tossed with mixed vegetables with Crawdaddy's Cajun Power garlic sauce. It's all served on a bed of creamy grits and topped with a spicy Cajun gravy. Had I been more hungry, I would have gone for that.
My server was Mary Beth, a pleasant lady who was outgoing and effervescent in her demeanor. I immediately liked her when I asked for the beer menu and she said, "You look like the kind of guy who likes good beer. We have the Abita Wrought Iron IPA on special during lunch. $3.00 a pint." I couldn't pass that up.
I was sort of up in the air with what I was going to get, but I ended up starting off with a bowl of Crawdaddy's gumbo. Their "Ya Ya" gumbo was exactly as I remembered. It featured chunks of chicken, chopped smoked ham, andouille sausage, okra, and the "Holy Trinity" of onions, celery, and bell peppers with chunks of tomatoes in a spicy chicken broth. It was served with rice that I spooned into the gumbo once I was able to eat some of it down, and a couple pieces of fresh baked bread came on the side. I zipped up the temperature of the gumbo a bit with some Tabasco sauce and it was just fantastic.
Along with the gumbo, I got the fish tacos. They were three flour taco shells filled with blackened Icelandic cod (deep-fried tempura cod was also available), topped with a lime-cilantro slaw and a spicy chipotle mayo. Fresh pico de gallo came with the fish tacos. They were very good and very filling. I was able to get through two of the tacos and a couple bites of taco No. 3. I had filled up on the gumbo - which was fine with me. The gumbo was outstanding.
All hail the return of Crawdaddy's! It was one of my favorite restaurants in Milwaukee for a number of years and its demise in 2013 had me - and thousands of Milwaukeeans - bummed out. But they're back and bigger than ever with a new space that is gargantuan compared to the original Crawdaddy's 30 blocks to the east. The food is still outstanding - the gumbo I had was superb and the fish tacos were very good. And the service I received from the fun and outgoing Mary Beth was excellent. I'm glad to see that Crawdaddy's is back and I can't wait to go back some night to try some of their other Cajun specialties.
Check your facts, Crawdaddys Road
House is the original restaurant located on National Avenue. My friends and I were at Crawdaddys on Greenfield yesterday and were very disappointed with the food and service that
Posted by: Kathy | July 26, 2019 at 09:45 PM