Crawfish season, the Baytown way

From roughly February to May the whole east side of Houston eats crawfish on the weekend, and Baytown has one of the better spots for it.

Where. Black Bayou, 1930 Garth. Vietnamese-Cajun — which means garlic butter, more garlic butter, and a spice scale that starts at "medium" and lies. Order by the pound, get the corn, potatoes and sausage, get the second shirt out of the truck. Peak season the wait on a Saturday is an hour; order ahead on their app and eat in the parking lot like everyone who's figured it out. The dining-room hours and the online-order hours match, which is more than most places can say.

The boils. Churches, fire stations, the VFW, and the youth sports leagues all run crawfish boils as fundraisers from March on. They show up on the calendar as they're announced; they're cheaper than a restaurant, the crawfish are usually better, and you'll meet the town. Bring cash and a folding chair. The Nurture Nature crowd and the Little League crowd are the same people in a different parking lot.

The seafood counters. CK's and the counters near the water sell live sacks when the price is right. If you're boiling at home, a sack is 30 to 40 pounds and feeds eight people who came hungry. Buy the morning of; purge them in fresh water; don't believe anyone who tells you salt helps.

Thompson's, for the switch. When the price climbs in May and the crawfish get small, the town moves to shrimp, which means Thompson's Fish Camp on Simms Road, on the water, by the pound, picnic tables, boats tying up ten feet away.

The calendar. - February: first sightings, small, expensive — prices start high and fall as supply comes in. Skip unless you can't wait. - March–April: peak. Big, cheap, everywhere. Every weekend. - May: last call; prices up, sizes down. - June onward: shrimp, and Galveston envy.

The etiquette. Pinch the tail, twist, suck the head if you're from here, don't if you're not; nobody will judge either way. Wet wipes are not optional. Beer is. Nobody eats the straight-tailed ones.

En español. La temporada de cangrejo de río (crawfish) va de febrero a mayo. Black Bayou en Garth es el lugar; las ventas de las iglesias y ligas juveniles son más baratas y mejores.