It’s spring in Louisiana and that can only mean one thing (besides thunderstorms and 80-plus degree days): It’s crawfish season.

Backyard crawfish boils are a tradition, as is arguing about how to eat these mudbugs — Spicy or extra spicy? Do you want mushrooms with the corn and potatoes? What other flavors do you want in the pot? Do you suck the head?

This year has posed a few challenges for crawfish lovers with a lower-than-average harvest meaning prices started off they highest they’ve ever been. The good news is that prices are slowly dropping at almost every location in Bossier, allowing crawfish lovers to pick up the live bugs for cooking at home or already cooked for a quick and delicious dinner.

With that in mind, let’s take a minute to check out the best spots to get live, boiled, or unique dishes of crawfish in Bossier.

Crawfish Palace

Located in Haughton, the Crawfish Palace is well known for their spicy crustaceans. It has indoor and outdoor seating, and its décor keeps that down-home, backyard feel alive. You can buy your own live crawfish or have a seat and dig into a platter right there.

Shane’s Seafood and BarBQ

A regional chain across Bossier and Shreveport, the Bossier City location on East Texas Street offers boiled crawfish by the tray full. If you don’t feel like having to peel your dinner, they also offer Crawfish Shirley, a dish of tail meat sauteed in butter and white wine, and crawfish etouffee alongside a large menu of other seafood and barbecue.

Kim’s Seafood

For nearly 20 years, Kim’s Seafood has been serving up poboys and seafood at their Benton Road location. The restaurant’s story is as famous as their crawfish eggroll: Kim’s owner previously ran a poboy shop in New Orleans, which was destroyed in the Hurricane Katrina disaster of 2005. Kim’s owner and his family relocated to northwest Louisiana, and haven’t looked back. Becoming a cult favorite among Bossier foodies…Did I mention the crawfish eggroll?

BeauxJax Crafthouse

Starting as a food truck in 2016, BeauxJax put in the work to see their dreams of opened a restaurant achieved in 2018. The East Bank District residents have become a driving force of development in Bossier City’s entertainment district — they’re now part of a whole row of old buildings turning into a mini-Bourbon Street. BeauxJax is famous for its focus on cajun cuisine and boiled crawfish is one of its tenants. Even if you aren’t a fan of the mudbugs, they have tons of seafood, poboys, and creole dishes to choose from.

B&D Seafood

What would this list be without a hidden gem? Tucked away off Palmetto Road in Benton, B&D is a take-home heaven for seafood lovers in north Bossier. Originally from south Louisiana, the self-proclaimed “real deal” Cajuns offer live and boiled crawfish. In addition, you can get some unique dishes starring the little crustacean, including crawfish pie and crawfish fettuccine!