The Boiler Shrimp & Crawfish or Asian Cajun Too?

A favor to ask, please--

We are planning a trip to one of the above and would appreciate recommendations from LTHers. The Broiler is mentioned is some threads and Asian Cajun Too has its own thread but the postings are not recent.

If you have an opinion based on recent visits, would you please share them? Thanx.

The LTH Evanston Lunch Group™ ate at Asian Cajun Too seven months ago. Posts about our lunch were split out as their own thread (click here) and one member updated it on his return visit in March.

Had dinner last night at The Boiler. Great meal. Lots of fun. You order your seafood (we got head-on shrimp), extras (we got corn on the cob and excellent andouille), and sauce (we went with the trifecta, which includes all three of the possible sauces -- garlic, chili, lime and pepper). We then specified heat (went with medium). They throw everything in a bag and boil it and bring it to the table hot, along with whatever else you might have ordered (we got corn fritters).

It's a place where you don't want to dress up. They give you bibs, but there is a lot of sauce and digging around. They also offer latex gloves to those who find the bags too hot -- or who don't want to go home with hands smelling like garlic. (I skipped the gloves. Don't mind smelling like garlic.)You can reach into your bags and pull out your goodies, or, if it's a large group sharing, pour it out onto the tabletop, which is covered in butcher paper.

Tuesday night is all you can eat crab night, and we saw folks with piles of crab, but the friend who I joined said the shrimp was a good place to start. No complaints here. Just know that a lot of juice may squirt out when you pull the head off the shrimp. (They offer headless, too.)

So the food is good, but the experience is great, too, and something different.

Similar concept, we like The Crab Pad in Logan Square. Agree with Cynthia that the fun factor in this style of dining is high. Crab Pad is BYOB and the Milk & Wood popsicles for dessert compliment the build-your-own theme. Our 7-year old loves this place. Will have to give The Boiler a try soon...

The Crab Pad
2529 N Milwaukee Ave
thecrabpad.com