CAJUN CRAB & PHO
Hoppen Hierarchy:★★★⭑
District: Dundee
Cajun & Vietnamese Cuisine
Perfect For: Casual Dining; Lunch; Takeout
Standout Dishes: Spicy Noodle; Banh Mi; Banh Xeo
On the surface, a restaurant pairing Vietnamese and Cajun food seems a bit strange. But once you uncover the history behind the history behind the meshing of these two cuisines, the menu at Cajun Crab & Pho makes all the sense in the world. And few restaurants meld seemingly disparate cuisines as well as this Dundee gem.
Cajun and Vietnamese cuisine became linked in the 1970s when Vietnamese refugees landed in the Gulf Coast following the Indochinese Assistance and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975. These people discovered that crawfish and seafood boils were similar to the outdoor food markets of Vietnam, and Viet-Cajun cuisine was born.
Cajun Crab & Pho doesn’t lean too hard into fusion dishes, but it does offer a variety of plates from both cuisines. One side of the menu is loaded with boiled shrimp, crawfish, crab legs, blue crab, and mussels, served at various spice levels and swimming in delicious butter. The other features specialties you’d find on any street in Vietnam.
If you want to experience what a New Orleans seafood boil is like, this is as close as you’ll get in Omaha.
Seafood
The seafood boil arrives in rather spectacular fashion: a giant bucket with a puffed-up bag loaded with goodies. Peel back the plastic to discover a generous helping of seafood swimming in a pool of spiced butter that injects delicious fat into each element. The plump shrimp are firm and well-cooked, and the crab legs have a brilliant balance of saltiness sweetness.
Each boil also contains a boiled potato, a hard-boiled egg, and a small ear of corn, all of which inhale the butter to create sinfully delicious bites.
Vietnamese Dishes
The more extensive portion of the menu is dedicated to traditional Vietnamese cuisine. Alongside enormous bowls of pho (a Vietnamese noodle soup), you’ll find dumplings, fried rice, lo mein, various soups and salads, lemon grass chicken, and other Vietnamese specialties.
The star of the show (as the name would suggest) is the pho, and it all starts with the broth. Rich and savory, you find yourself curiously analyzing the various flavors hitting your tastebuds are you spoon through the complex liquid. It’s so tasty, you’ll be tempted to pull the straw out of your water glass and stick it into your bowl to glean every last drop.
Next come the noodles— slippery, tender, and perfect for slurping—and well-cooked seafood, with options of steak, chicken, or a combination of seafood.
Fans of heat will love the Spicy Noodle (pictured in the header photo). The broth has a kick that doesn’t punch your palate, but it builds over the course of the meal until your sinuses are fully engaged. With savory beef brisket and fatty, tender pork, it’s a wonderful bowl.
Cajun Crab & Pho could stop at pho and have a very successful concept, but the rest of the menu is just as good. That starts with the Banh Mi, which is as good as any in Omaha. The Vietnamese baguette has a crusty exterior contrasting its soft, pillowy insides, which are slathered in a creamy mayo. The bread is stuffed with scrumptious grilled pork, and a host of pickled carrots and daikon add welcome sweetness.
Another hit is something you won’t find at anywhere else in the city: Banh Xeo. This Vietnamese crepe is cooked in a searing hot pan to create a delicate, golden brown crust. That crispy vessel is folded over and stuffed with shrimp, pork, mung beans, and veggies and served alongside a delectable, sweet sauce. You consume it by ripping off hunks of crepe, combining them with lettuce and carrot, and dunking them in the sauce.
The crepe is both crispy and chewy, and the flavors are a combination of sweet, zippy, and earthy with just a touch of heat.
Appetizers
The two cuisines merge on the appetizer portion of Cajun Crab & Pho’s menu. Southern specialties join Vietnamese favorites for a sampling that allows you to take your tastebuds to the Bayou and the Far East. A few are excellent, while others leave a bit to be desired.
- Spring Rolls: Fried to a perfect golden crispiness and filled with pork, glass noodles, mushrooms, and carrots, these crunchy tubes are a delight even before a dunk in the funky, caramel-y fish sauce.
- Pork Dumplings: The deep fry adds good texture on the outside of these crispy half moons, and the savory pork adds a welcome fatty flavor.
- Hush Puppies: With a light, flaky batter that’s deep-fried, there’s a subtle sweetness alongside a toothsome texture from the cornmeal. They’re a bit dense and one note, but are fried well.
- Crab Rangoon: Again, the fry is perfect on this item. But the inside is heavy on cream cheese and light on crab. It relies on the sweet and sour sauce to punch it up.
- Rice Paper Rolls: Though the rice paper is stuffed with shrimp, pork, and mint, the roll on its own is moderate in flavor. However, the thick peanut sauce adds an earthy sweetness that amps this app up quite a bit.
Cajun Crab & Pho offers a combination of cuisines you won’t find many other places in Omaha. The seafood boils are (unfortunately) rare, and none are done this well. And the traditional Vietnamese dishes and giant bowls of pho are basically a trip to Saigon.
This restaurant could easily be two separate restaurants, but I’m happy it’s one. To have this combination of flavors and cooking styles under one roof makes for something truly special.