Arts and Crabs

Imagine a festival which combines three of my very favorite things – food, art, and music. Such was the event yesterday at the Lake Charles Civic Center, the second annual Arts and Crabs fest. There were numerous jewelry makers – love perusing their wares. A considerable amount of photography vendors – they’re all terrific. And some fantastic fine artists. One of my favorite local watercolorists was there – Sue Zimmerman! I’m giddy as a groupie around her, but her paintings are so incredible! Look at that painting in the background. Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE roseate spoonbills.

Parris Duhon painted the poster at top.

We listened to some excellent Cajun music. On the left, (below) is Chris Miller, who, incidentally, is choir director extraordinaire at my church, First Presbyterian of Lake Charles.
And the food! Ten restaurants. Ten different crab dishes. Ten accompanying flavors of Abita beer. I was so busy sampling and sipping, I forgot to take photos of the food! We savored crab etoufee, crab cakes, crab-stuffed jalapenos, crab-stuffed mushrooms, crab au gratin, crab and avocado salad, crab gazpacho, creamy pasta and crab, crab bisque, and crab ceviche. Talk about passing a good time! Just one suggestion to the planners . . . more tables! There was seating for about a tenth or less of the folks there. It wasn’t easy balancing a cardboard tray piled high with crab dishes and 10 shot glasses of beer samples while eating at the same time. But I managed. When we left, there was still a very long line snaking around the mezzanine. I hope the folks at the end of the queue got food.

All the dishes were delicious, but if I had to choose a personal best of show, I really liked the crab ceviche. It had a strong lime flavor that went well with the crab. It was prepared by Harlequin Steaks and Seafood, one of my favorite restaurants in town. What’s your favorite crab dish?