Sal & Phil’s (6600 Old Canton Rd, Ridgeland) is in a small strip mall that looks vaguely Western. Inside, it was much larger than I would have expected from the exterior.

We started with the fried crab claw appetizer, after a lot of indecision (because all of the appetizers looked good) and some help from our waiter. We didn’t regret the decision—the claws were great. They were not greasy and weren’t too heavily battered. The batter was cornmeal based and was nicely, but lightly, seasoned.

We had never even heard of royal …

T’Beaux’s Crawfish and Seafood (369 W. Northside Dr., Jackson) is a Cajun seafood place specializing in crawfish. It’s the third of three locations; the other two are in Vicksburg and Clinton.

Inside is cute and colorful, with graffitied walls and a covered porch that wasn’t in use on the freezing rainy day we went.

Neither my boyfriend nor I had ever extracted the meat from a whole crawfish. After an iPhone google search and some trial and error, we got good at it and the deliciousness began.  The seasoning was full of …