Get ready to get messy at Streamwood's new Crazy Crab
Judging by the crowds beating a path to Streamwood newcomer Crazy Crab, the independent self-styled Cajun fusion seafood emporium has struck a chord with local diners willing to dig in with both hands to get at their food.
Many have compared Crazy Crab favorably to The Boiler Shrimp & Crawfish in Skokie and The Angry Crab in Chicago.
But the casual 52-seat restaurant, which successfully re-creates the crab-shack experience, didn't quite bowl us over on a recent visit despite its wide selection of fresh seafood. However, I can recommend the place with a few caveats.
Adventuresome diners should be aware upfront that they will be using their fingers a lot and are likely to encounter stubborn shrimp shells and uncooperative crab legs.
Also, this is not an ideal venue for couples on a first date. Nor would I recommend it for small children.
The format at Crazy Crab is straightforward: Once seated at a butcher paper-covered table, you can choose from 11 seafood options, ordered by the pound. Then you pick a sauce: Crazy Cajun, lemon pepper or garlic butter, plus the level of spiciness, ranging from calm to insane.
Your seafood choice is then placed in a clear plastic bag with the sauces and spices, boiled and then brought to the table. A more sensible approach would be to boil the seafood with the spices and then serve dipping sauces for the extracted flesh.
Thoughtfully, the restaurant supplies you with bibs, paper plates and plastic cutlery. There's also a metal cracker and a plastic picking tool - neither of which was easy to grip when our hands were dripping with buttery sauce. Luckily, extra paper napkins are available at much-needed wash-up basins at the back near the restrooms.
Our dining adventure began with a serving of deep-fried calamari (too heavily crusted) accompanied by cocktail sauce. Other starters include beignets, crazy onion rings, a fried oyster basket and more.
Moving on, an enjoyable playlist featuring occasional reggae music wasn't enough to distract us as we busied ourselves trying with slippery fingers to separate shells of headless deveined shrimp boiled in garlic butter. The flavorful garlic butter lived up to its name, and the getting crazy heat level provided a mild spice kick.
Then there was the battle to extricate an edible portion of crab leg meat. Unfortunately for us, the crab won, and my dining partner and I ended up leaving behind a goodly - albeit inaccessible - portion of stubborn crab legs. Frustrating, considering the $19-a-pound market price.
An a la carte order of sweet potato fries, which needed a touch more salt, rounded out our meal.
Sweet corn, sausage, steamed rice and potatoes comprise other side dishes. But, as our attentive server noted, the menu remains a work in progress. It would be nice to see bread plus a salad or two.
Another wish-list item would be for Crazy Crab to offer at least one wild-caught shrimp selection versus the farm-raised shrimp from Southeast Asia.
Overall, our order was ample enough to feed a party of six. If you prefer a variety of seafood, for $40 you can order a three-pound bundling of crawfish, whole shrimp, headless shrimp, clams, mussels and Alaskan Snow crab legs.
Be aware that alcoholic beverages are limited to a handful of mainstream domestic and imported bottled beers. Local craft brews are missing in action, as is wine. Those would be welcome additions to the drinks menu.
Restaurant reviews are based on one anonymous visit. The Daily Herald does not publish reviews of restaurants it cannot recommend.
Crazy Crab
279 N. Barrington Road, Streamwood, (847) 252-9555,
Cuisine: Cajun fusion seafood
Setting: Casual storefront space in a strip mall
Prices: Appetizers: $3.50-$12; entrees: crawfish to crab legs to whole lobster at market price varying from $8 to $29 a pound
Hours: 3 to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday; noon to 11 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Also: Free parking; limited beer selection and soft drinks