Servers preface a meal at Kickin’ Kajun by informing newbies, "This is going to be the messiest but one of the best meals you’ll ever have."
True to their word, we started cleanly enough, delicately scraping oysters on the half shell (recently $15 per half-pound) that were splashed with ponzu, green onion and tobiko, before picking up the shells and slurping them clean.
Working with nutcrackers, shellfish cutters and scissors, it didn’t take much longer to go in with all our fingers, then whole hands, when it came to cracking into crab claws and lobster tails, to the point I was no longer willing to pick up my camera to document the meal, for fear of smearing it with the pungent mix of seafood, garlic and butter.
The Kickin’ Kajun concept is simple. It’s essentially the classic no-holds-barred, paper-on-the-table shellfish bake — practically a birthright in the South and Northeast — that anyone could replicate at home with minimal cooking ability and happy results. Yet, no restaurant has been able to bring it successfully to the table here. The one that came closest was The Crab Tank in City Square several years ago. I’ve missed that place.
Prior to that, the last time I had a great crab feast was in Washington, D.C., and before that in my parents’ home when I was a kid. Back then we didn’t worry about pollution, so we’d go crabbing in West Loch in Waipahu, hauling in lots of Samoan crab and smaller specimens in crab nets with fish heads as bait. The water was clear enough for us to see the crabs inching their way toward the bait, and there was plenty for our family of seven. The smaller crabs were a size and flavor equivalent to a Maryland blue crab.
I don’t know how safe it was to eat out of West Loch, but, boy, those were delicious, boiled and served only with melted butter on our newspaper-clad dining room table.
It’s harder to get into the spirit of making a mess when you’re an adult. And instead of a thick layer of newspaper, the restaurant lays only a thin layer of butcher paper on the table, hardly enough to soak up the oil that coats the shellfish when you order the Louisiana (a sort of chili oil with a pinch of salt, pepper and celery seed) or garlic and butter (more oil) preparation. If you prefer your seafood dry, get the "plain and simple" version.
The shellfish feasts are delivered in plastic sacks. Most people rolled back the tops and pulled their shellfish out of the bags, but I wanted to get a picture of a lobster and dumped the bag, corn cobs (75 cents per half-cob), oil and all, onto the table, causing the oil to bloom out. I felt sorry for the person who had to clean up, but I was just following instructions to pour everything on the table.
The menu offers prices for some standard fare, such as deep-fried seafood and french fry combo baskets, but keep your eye on the chalkboard for market prices of fresh seafood.
The way to start is to pick from a list that includes shrimp ($12 per pound), lobster (recently $18 whole), crawfish, snow crab legs, king crab legs (recently $25 per pound), whole Dungeness crab and blue crab.
Then, pick your seasoning — Louisiana Cajun, garlic butter or plain — then the heat level, from mild to medium or spicy. They claim the spicy is painfully hot, so I opted for the medium when ordering the king crab legs Louisiana style. It wasn’t hot to my taste at all, so if you love peppers, go for the spicy.
Condiments such as ketchup, mayonnaise and tartar, cocktail or ranch sauce are 25 cents each. A Tabasco bottle came gratis.
The king crab legs and lobster were so sweet and delicious it seemed any sauce was superfluous. Occasionally I’d bite on a speck of celery seed in the Louisiana sauce, and I was in heaven. I developed an addiction to Old Bay seasoning while living briefly in D.C. and wish it were used more here. There it’s sold on everything, including potato chips.
If you’re feeling indecisive, order one of three Kickin’ Specials, combo bags featuring varied mixes of shellfish and clams at $40 to $60 per pound. For me the inclusion of crawfish in the bags is a deal breaker. I’ve just never had a good crawfish, so I’ve pretty much written them off for having less meat and being less tasty and tougher to get into than shrimp.
A woman near me said she would try to eat at Kickin’ Kajun once a week, before acknowledging that she might end up with a case of gout. There’s really nothing here that’s easy on the body.
Beyond the boiled goods, there are baskets of deep-fried oysters ($11), catfish ($11), clam strips ($12), calamari ($10), chicken tenders ($10) and more, served with fries. You can also get Cajun ($7) or garlic ($8) fries.
One of the house specialties is basic fried wings ($9) sprinkled with Cajun spices. I ordered the scallop basket, imagining a sort of sweet, chewy, deep-fried scallop jerky, but the scallops were soft, which made the deep-fried batter soggy. I wanted to try the clam strips, but our waiter said he hadn’t tried many of these, and seemed leery of recommending them.
If you find you don’t like the Louisiana preparations, look east with orders of Chinese-style salt-and-pepper crab ($30) or shrimp ($15).
This place is small, tucked into the low-rise building on Makaloa Street across from Walgreens, so expect a wait if you arrive any time after 4 p.m. And before rushing over, be aware that Kickin’ Kajun is not open during typical lunch hours, but from 3 p.m. to midnight.
Good luck getting a table. I know this will be the most popular of all the restaurants I’ve recently reviewed.
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Nadine Kam’s restaurant reviews are conducted anonymously and paid for by the Star-Advertiser. Reach her at nkam@staradvertiser.com.
