Omnivore - Celebrating wellness

• James Camp

I’ve been sick with yet another bout of food poisoning. It started last Wednesday and mainly cleared up by Sunday. So I drove to Crawfish Shack Seafood (4337 Buford Hwy., 404-929-6789) to celebrate.

This restaurant, open about a year, has expanded considerably by taking over the adjoining space and turning it into a large dining room festooned with fishnets.

Crawfish Shack is part of an interesting ethnic movement of Vietnamese refugees who grew up in New Orleans and have fanned out to open Cajun-style seafood restaurants in many cities.

While the great majority of people in the restaurant were snapping crab legs and sucking the brains out of crawfish, I had to try the soft-shell crab po’ boy. I got a whole one, split into two sandwiches with an enormous, crispy, salty, fragrant crab on each half, along with lettuce, tomato, pickles and a slightly spicy Remoulade sauce.

I ordered a side of the best hushpuppies anywhere. They are little globes, crunchy on the outside and sweetly cornbready on the inside.

There’s plenty else to order here, including platters of fried or steamed seafood. You can also buy first-quality seafood to cook at home.