5C's Louisiana Seafood - West Covina

5C's Louisiana Seafood
1034 West Covina Pkwy
West Covina, CA 91790
(626) 337-2530
Type: Cajun / Southern / Soul Food



2 in the morning. I gotta leave my house in about 4 hours to go to work. What should I be doing? Sleeping? Getting rest? No. Doing a review on 5C's Louisiana Seafood in West Covina. That's what you call dedication (insomnia).

So after having M&M's in Long Beach, I've been craving soul food every once in a while. I don't know how I found out about this place, but next thing you know there's a spot that opened up near my house by the West Covina mall. It's in the same plaza as Panera, Sizzler, and Fresh & Easy.

I've been here maybe about 3 or 4 times as of this writing. I always get their fish dishes. They have a lot of seafood choices: red snapper, catfish, sand dab, trout, sole, shrimp, and oysters. They also have jambalaya, gumbo, chicken wings, and various sandwiches.



The inside of the place is kind of small with not a lot of seating available, especially for large groups. I don't remember much about decor, but looking at the picture there wasn't too much of it. It's a regular hole in the wall spot dressed up a little. All that's important to me is the food...

Unfortunately, I didn't take notes again so I'll just base everything from my photographic memory. Ummmm...... It was good. The End. Just kidding. This particular day we got the combination plate ($12.35) which consisted of 3 jumbo shrimps, 6-8 deep fried oysters, and 3 pcs. of fish. We got the red snapper. It also came with lettuce, tomatoes, french bread and some hush puppies. The fish and oysters were tasty, but I remember the fish having lots of bones. The fried shrimp was just fried shrimp to me. We had these with different sauces but my personal favorite is tartar sauce with this kind of stuff. The lettuce and tomatoes I used as neutralizers and juicifyers(?). I'm not a fan of pickles and hush puppies.

deep fried frenzy


neutralizers and juicifyers. except the pickles and hush puppies


My friends got something similar except they just got the fish and chips ($5.50). They got the filet catfish. This was actually better than the red snapper for some reason. Maybe there wasn't as many bones.

hot sauce, tartar sauce, you're good to go.


So how does this place stack up against M&M's? If you put them side by side, I'd go to M&M's. But if you put M&M's in Long Beach, and 5C's in West Covina, I'll go to 5C's once in awhile. I mean it's not a bad spot. If you like deep fried seafood and live close by give this place a try. I read on Yelp and it got decent reviews on average. One dude gave it 5 stars. I'll be back, but I'm going to M&M's first. Actually, next week! Yay!

The Boiling Seafood

The Boiling Seafood
19705 Colima Rd Ste 415
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
(909) 594-1889
Type: Cajun Seafood Boil
Map

There's this new craze around So. Cal for Cajun-style seafood. You just order the type of seafood you want (shrimp, crab, lobster, or crawfish) and choose the type of seasoning. When it's done they bring you the finished product(s) in plastic bags. To eat it, you just get the stuff out of the bag, peel it, and toss it somewhere on the table (covered with butcher paper). That's it. But it gets messy.



I was a little late to this new trend-- if you wanna call it that. My friends used to rave about these kinds of places, especially a place known as Boiling Crab (review coming soon). I was put off from a similar experience when I went to San Pedro with some friends and had a similar style meal. It was just wack to me. Plain. Seasonings sucked. Never again. But it wasn't Cajun-style.

Some new place opened near the hood and my friends said it's supposed to be similar to Boiling Crab. They really really wanted to try this place out, so I dropped my past notions and joined in the hype and anticipation of trying this place.

The day of reckoning finally came. A big group of us rolled through. Luckily for us, the place was empty. Or maybe it's not so lucky for us. Not a good sign?

Since I didn't know crap about these places, my friends had to be our tour guides. First up, they ordered us 1 pound of king crab legs ($14.99). They said to get the "whole shebang" seasoning which is all their seasonings combined (rajun cajun, lemon pepper, butter). You get to choose how spicy you want it. We got medium. Next up 1 pound of shrimp ($8.99). Same deal. Whole shebang medium. We decided to get some items from the lower part of the menu. We got crispy oysters ($9.99), some corn on the cobs ($0.50 each), and some fries ($1.99).

you read their menus sideways


So first comes the side stuff. Crispy oysters and fries. You get about 10 oysters per order. They're deep fried obviously. I liked them. Nothing super outstanding, but they're cool. In my notes, I put the fries are decent and they give you a lot for 2 bucks. But having been to a few of these places now, I'm not getting fries anymore. Not that they suck. I prefer to eat the seafood with rice. What's good about this spot is you can order steamed rice, or you can probably bring your own. Yup. Do that instead.

crispy oysters and fries as a filler


(Before you get into all this mess, they give you a bib to protect part of that new, white shirt you stupidly wore)

The shrimp came next. I didn't do a great job with the picture cuz I took at an angle that makes it look plain and dry. Not the case. It's really soaked in a red sauce known as the whole-shebang. I think they had to change that name though cuz that's Boiling Crab's sauce name. I liked it. You just soak the shrimp in the sauce, remove the head, suck the head of all the juices, suck the body of whatever juices it has, peel the body, dip the peeled shrimp into the sauce again, and enjoy. No, this is not an instruction manual for a porno. But it might give you an orgasm or two. After my many experiences at these places now, I order more shrimp than anything else. For the money, it's just the best deal. I'll still order crab or whatever, but this is the staple of the meal for me.

Hi guys. Sorry you taste so good.


Alright. You gotta get some kind of crab. We always get the king crab legs cuz 1) I heard there's more to eat, and 2) it's cheaper than the dungeness. What can I say. It's crab. It's good. There's a lot more work to it than the shrimp, but the efforts are equally rewarded. Sometimes though, karma bites you in the ass when you're cracking them open and you get stabbed by the thorns on the legs. It's like I can hear the crab watching over us saying, "Take that!" But once you come out the battle field with your hostage (a fat slab of meat), I use a fat technique of pulling the pieces apart a little and soaking them back in the sauce. By pulling the meat apart, it exposes more surface area to absorb the sauce. It's a mathematical fact.

These things bite back.


somebody ordered some fried shrimp, but who cares, right?


I forgot to mention they also give you some lime, salt, and pepper that you mix together for a more citrusy flavor. It's good to have to change up the pace of whole-shebang.

bag o' goodies.


the rest of the carnage


Victorious!


So what's my take? For many who've tried this place and had the chance to compare it to Boiling Crab, they didn't like it. Some just straight up despise it. As of this writing, I've been to Boiling Crab about 3 times, and this place about 3 or 4 times. I've tried both, and yes, Boiling Crab is superior to this place in every way except that you can order rice just in case you forget to bring some, and it's closer to home. In all honesty, I don't mind going here again. And I probably will go here soon. I've brought people here who haven't tried B.C. and they liked it. Why spoil it? If they like it, they like it. I like it.

p.s. I heard they changed the name of this place to Michael's Cajun something or something. But for now, just look it up on Google as The Boiling Seafood. Also, don't wear anything nice. And maybe you might not want to go anywhere fancy after cuz you'll be smelling like seafood and garlic for a little bit.