[dropcap size=big]D[/dropcap]ada Ngo and Sinh Nguyen opened the first Boiling Crab in 2004 in Garden Grove, and it was one of the first places to introduce Southern California to a Vietnamese take on the traditional crab boil that by then was popular in Houston. Since that first Boiling Crab, they’ve opened several more locations, including a handful in L.A., and it remains one of the best places to experience what unhyphenated Vietnamese American cooking tastes like. Here you choose the contents of your boil (your choices include crab, shrimp, clams, oysters and, when it’s in season, fresh crayfish) and the seasoning, with the most popular option being the Whole Sha-Bang, where the Cajun seasoning standard at Gulf Coast boiling points is spiked with copious amounts of garlic, butter, lemon, and pepper. The whole thing is presented in a plastic bag and carefully placed at the center of the table. Meanwhile, you’ll put on a bib and squeeze a wedge of lime into a small dish of salt and pepper to make a dipping sauce not unlike the one you had the last time you went out for shaking beef at your favorite Vietnamese restaurant. By the end of the night, your bib, your shirt and your hands will be stained with crustacean and Whole Sha-Bang. Exactly as they should be.
33 W Main St., Alhambra
(626) 300-5898
http://www.theboilingcrab.com/
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