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 SOME CRAWDAD'S HISTORY
In 1984, Eddie & I opened Crawdad's here in Merigold on old Highway 61. In the beginning, we started with a building 22' x 14' built by Bill Johnson Jr., served only crawfish and could seat a total of six people. Cooking crawfish occurred on the front porch due to the lack of room elsewhere. Frankly, Crawdad's came about because it was impossible then to get a sure fire supply of hot crawfish in the Mississippi Delta and Eddie needed a project.
As more people came, rooms started being added here and there when Albert and I would find old cypress. It could not have been built without him. Eventually a kitchen was built and more menu items were added. Currently, there have been fourteen renovations and one complete building move, which occurred during a winter storm in 1989.
No one at Crawdad's has yet to have any real restaurant training(this has probably shown from time to time) but we have always tried our best to provide you good food and the kind of place to have a good time with friends. All of us at Crawdad's owe you our sincere thanks for coming and we promise to do our best every night to serve you.
CRAWDAD'S BURNED TO THE GROUND ON JANUARY 2, 2002.
Wow! It's really hard to describe the emotions of losing Crawdad's or the experience of rebuilding it in 139 days. It could not have been done without Albert (always The Man), Warren, Clay, Bill Johnson Jr., Floyd, "all the Lost Boys"(Crawdad's staff), Richard and Cleveland Lumber Company, Crazy Cajun, Keith, Kevin, T-Bone, Odis & crew, Guy, and friends who just came by and helped. A special thanks goes to Warren from me for all he has provided to Crawdad's throught the years.
MORE CRAWDAD'S HISTORY IN THE MAKING
Your entree out of the kitchen tonight is being prepared and cooked by David Wright. David was 22 years old when he started working at Crawdad's in 2005 when he realized he loved cooking. He enrolled in the le Cordon Bleu School of Culinary Arts in Atlanta, Georgia and graduated in August at the age of 25. I am very proud David's career started here in Crawdad's. He will become a "household name" in the cooking world in his time. Tonight he is "at the stove" cooking for you. Try the Grouper Gautier if you haven't already. That is a David Wright creation. I rest my case.
Jack has always known Crawdad's. He was born in 1988 and I can remember weighing him on the crawfish scales in the old place on Highway 61. When Jack got a little bigger and started getting into things, he would climb into the big wash tubs where we were cleaning the crawfish (sometimes au natural!). Fortunately, we broke him of that before the crawfish had to. He became the manager of Crawdad's when he was 19 in 2008. Although we will all be probably working for a young brother, Jon, one day, Jack is the day-to-day boss now. Yes, I am a proud dad and yes he will make his share of mistakes, but he is learning about business and people early on so if something is wrong, tell him and if it is right, you can also know he had something to do with that too.
Sincerely,
Andrew M. W. Westerfield
Crawdad's crews past and present
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