Cajun market Chris’s Specialty Foods in Frisco offers crawfish, boudin king cake and more - The Dallas Morning News

I remember it like it was yesterday — the start of the 2020 crawfish season, weeks before we learned a pandemic would hit our nation. I was feasting on a platter of boiled crawfish at a nearby eatery's communal table. I asked two diners next to me if they were enjoying their crawfish and one replied, "These are just OKAY, but nothing compared to what we had at Chris's Specialty Foods in Frisco a few weeks ago."

At that moment, my quest for authentic Cajun cuisine in North Texas would be forever changed. Days later, I headed north to Frisco to check out this grab-and-go Cajun specialty-foods shop. Tucked in a strip shopping center just off the service road, Chris's Specialty Foods might make you feel like you've traveled across state lines to a Louisiana neighborhood meat market. It's a dream come true for Dallas-area Bayou-state transplants or folks like me, who simply love authentic Louisiana cuisine.

Like Saturday Night Live's "Stefon" character would say: "This place has everything." Just inside the entrance are shelves stocked with Louisiana-sourced grocery staples like Camellia red beans (the preferred brand for classic red beans and rice), boxes of gumbo roux mix, cans of Blue Runner-brand creamy, red beans (and navy beans), and New Orleans' infamous Cafe Du Monde beignet mix. The store also sells its own signature Cajun seasoning.

A few steps forward is the mouthwatering meat case, displaying house-made boudin and sausages along with hand-cut steaks and fresh Alaskan salmon (from their preferred fishmonger). The store also sells crawfish tails, shrimp and other seafood and meats. And cracklins — crispy, twice-fried meaty pork belly chunks showered in the market's Cajun spices. (I need a moment please.)

William Durand is owner of Chris's Specialty Foods in Frisco.(Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)

How did Chris's Specialty Foods, founded in 1994 in Maurice, La. (with locations in Baton Rouge, Prairieville and New Orleans) end up in Frisco, Texas? For this, we owe a debt of gratitude to Louisiana-native William Durand, who suggested to his business partners that Frisco would be a great location for their first Texas store.

"When I was in culinary school in Louisiana, I interned at one of the original stores," says Durand, who first learned to prepare authentic Cajun foods like sausage, étouffées, boudin and gumbo as a teen working at his father's meat market. "One day, during my internship, I put my spin on a turducken and my managers [and future business partners] said, 'Keep it up, this is outstanding.'"

The Frisco location, which opened in December 2019, was always a grab-n-go concept. So when the pandemic hit, business didn't really suffer. Instead, it gained momentum. "When people had to quarantine, our home-cooked cuisine provided a sense of comfort they seemed to appreciate," Durand says.

And now, during crawfish season, you can experience what may be some of the best, well-seasoned, slurp-worthy crawfish available in our area.

"We source our supply from a family-owned Louisiana crawfish farm twice a week throughout the season, which typically lasts through June," Durand says. He says the first shipment is in by Thursday and the crawfish is boiled and sold Friday through Sunday (with a second shipment arriving Saturday to meet customer demand).

When I first purchased a few pounds of crawfish, they were perfectly spiced, tender and bursting with a balance of flavor and juiciness from being properly steeped in the cooking liquid. I returned to my car, covered my lap with paper towels, and devoured about a pound of them before I left the parking lot.

William Durand, owner of Chris's Specialty Foods, stirs a pot of crawfish in Frisco. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)

The store also has several well-stocked freezers allowing customers to grab some ready-to-heat and/or cook "specialty" entrees like crawfish pies, seafood-stuffed portobello mushrooms, a variety of gumbos (chicken and sausage or seafood) featuring a smoky dark roux with a depth of flavor, étouffées, stuffed shrimp and stuffed tilapia.

You also can find frozen packs of boudin, lean and flavorful chicken sausage, andouille sausage, and the shop's signature, intensely house-smoked sausage, which is great on its own and ideal for flavoring traditional Cajun dishes like gumbo, red beans, greens and étouffées. All sausages, side dishes, entrees and stuffed meats are produced on site.

Let's circle back to the boudin. There's grocery-store boudin and there's THIS boudin, which features more meat than rice, elevated with green onions and spices. Again, it's available fresh or frozen. And now, you can order special boudin king cakes, which are a wreath of pastry stuffed with boudin and cheese and sprinkled with bacon.

Frozen side dishes in the grab-n-go freezers include creamed spinach, mac and cheese, rice dressing, red beans and rice, and Cajun mashed potatoes. (A decadent carb feast.) Each dish is prepared in the market with the same passion Durand has had for food his whole life.

Customers also flock to the store for other frozen specialties like stuffed chickens (available in six succulent varieties), Durand's turducken, stuffed pork tenderloins and chops. "Our stuffed products have become a hit with many of our regular customers, so we are making them almost daily," Durand says. "And during this past holiday season, we produced and sold a record number of our fried and our smoked turkeys." There also is a variety of lamb and beef items available.

"We love knowing our customers feel as if they are experiencing a taste of the authentic Louisiana cuisine they've known most of their lives, and we're also excited to introduce others to the taste of 'certified Cajun' foods with the items we prepare and sell in our store," Durand adds.

According to Durand, the infamous Mardi Gras pastry tradition — Gambino's King Cakes — have also arrived.

Chris's Specialty Foods is located at 6363 Dallas Parkway, Suite 110 in Frisco. 214-308-2800. chrisspecialtyfoods.com.

Chris's Specialty Foods in Frisco offers boudin king cake.(Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)

Chris's Specialty Foods in Frisco offers a variety of grab-and-go meals and condiments.(Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)

William Durand, owner of Chris's Specialty Foods prepares crawfish ahead of boilin.(Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)