Cap’t Loui

Let's get buttery and garlicky and saucy baby. We are in Stoneham, Massachusetts at an absolutely delicious and unique restaurant concept called Captain Loui. And this place is all about the Louisiana style seafood boil.

This is a fast growing restaurant chain that actually started right here in Stoneham. And they have grown quickly over the past 10 years, all the way to Texas, Las Vegas, even California. In terms of atmosphere, this is a really inviting place, super casual, cool lighting, but all of your attention goes to the back of the restaurant because that's where the magic is happening. Now most seafood restaurants you might get a piece of salmon, you might get some tuna, not here. This place is all about the seafood boil. So you look up at the menu and they have the market prices for all the different types of shellfish that they offer. I'm talking shrimp, mussels, clams, crawfish, crab, and yes, of course lobster. So you pick your seafood, you pick your sauce, and you pick your spice, and then you just wait for the deliciousness to be served to you by the bag.

Now listen, this style of eating is really messy. So they do recommend wearing a bib and wearing gloves. But I'm a professional. So forget that. This platter is everything Captain Loui is all about - all the seafood, all the colors and you can smell this thing from a mile away. This is what's known as the Boiler Combo and you can choose whatever kind of seafood you want. In here. We have the shrimp, we have the clams, we have the mussels, and my personal favorite the crawfish. So I think you got to keep it traditional. And when they have crawfish, you gotta get it. Now these suckers are small, but they're tasty. And yeah, they're a lot of work, but still, I'd recommend it.

They have so many different kinds of shellfish here but crab is definitely the number one seller. as far as I'm concerned. King Crab legs are one of the world's greatest foods. I mean, you look at those legs and they are just calling out for you. It is super sweet. It is extremely addictive. I mean even though I'm a New Englander, I might take crab over lobster here, I gotta be honest.

All right, it might have been lying. The lobster was really good too. I have had lobster 100 different ways but this is the Cajun style lobster. This is how they do lobster down on the Bayou which means they kick up the flavor, they kick up the spice, and they really kick up the butter. Let's say this lobster is so good. You're probably going to finish it quick and then you're gonna say can you bring me another bag.

This is such a unique concept. This is the only restaurant I've ever seen that has their own customer cleanup station over in the corner. You have hand sanitizer, some lotions, baby products, gloves. They even have hair ties and stain stick I mean that's real southern hospitality.

This is a side pretty much every table gets which is the signature garlic noodles. Topped off with a little cheese, some Italian seasoning. These noodles are awesome by themselves. Yes, al dente de buttery garlic a honestly the noodles are even better if you just swirl them around the sauce with all that seafood. Get some color, get some oil, gets butter on there. Oh yeah.

90% of the seafood here is boiled and bagged up but the most underrated item on the menu might be the Fisherman's Platter. We're talking all fried seafood and all the stuff that you love. It starts out with a bit of French fries. I like going for the Cajun fries. You have fried fish, fried shrimp, fried calamari, and check this out -  an entire deep fried soft shell crab. It has a nice light fry sort of like a tempura of batter. It is bursting with sweetness. You don't get get this at a lot of places. It's special. It's exceptionally delicious.

You've had so much seafood, so much spice, you really need something sweet to end your meal here. I think the number one dessert to get here are the funnel cake fries. Funnel cake is a festival favorite down south, basically their equivalent of fried dough here. They pipe it out into nice small cylinders that look sort of like french fries, covered in sugar, covered in chocolate, served with some vanilla ice cream. So it's hot. It's sweet. It's cool. It's creamy. It's the perfect sweet treat to end your meal at Captain Loui.

As a guy who eats out a lot. This place has everything I want. It is different. It is delicious. And it's super interactive. Bring the whole family and just don't care what you're wearing. what you look like. or how smothered in butter and garlic in grease you are. It's worth it. It might be messy, but it is absolutely mouthwatering at Captain Loui.