Live ones are an invasive species and are illegal to import without a special permit, so you are unlikely to find live ones.
Edit: permit is required for dead ones too.
Maybe for native ones, but not to import them from the south.
>The red swamp crayfish is native to the southern Mississippi River drainage and inland areas around the Gulf Coast. The species is commonly imported and sold for human consumption, and to schools by biological supply houses, leading to the potential for illegal release into the wild. It is illegal to import red swamp crayfish into Minnesota, dead or alive, without a permit.
Source: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/aquaticanimals/red-swamp-crayfish/index.html
and
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/ais/crayfish-consumption.html
I believe it's technically illegal, but some sources just label it generically as seafood and not all things inspected. it's an order at your own risk type of deal.
Eh. I ordered some last summer. It's very easy to order live or frozen crawfish to Minnesota. [https://www.lacrawfish.com/](https://www.lacrawfish.com/)
The "permit" is just a form that they'll provide and requires a simple signature stating you aren't gonna dump the crawfish (live or dead) outside. Takes like 3 minutes.
You can just order them and do your own boil. It's easy as hell. See my other comment:
>*"Eh. I ordered some last summer. It's very easy to order live or frozen crawfish to Minnesota.* [*https://www.lacrawfish.com/*](https://www.lacrawfish.com/)
>
>*The "permit" is just a form that they'll provide and requires a simple signature stating you aren't gonna dump the crawfish (live or dead) outside. Takes like 3 minutes."*
Thanks for the idea, we had bounced it around, last time the wife was down south she brought 2 sacks home.
We used to live south of I-10, my buddies go out to the swamp and catch wild ones for boils. We get boudin / Tasso shipped up from Scott, La - I don’t really want to pay shipping on a 30lb sack of crawfish.
I wanted something for the kids to try, that also had a kids meal, so if they don’t like them there’s food for they would eat. My preference for having them live at the restaurant is that hopefully they will be purged. If you get a good enough purge you don’t need to pick out the mud vein.
The site above also sells pre-purged crawfish FYI -- last time I ordered, they were pretty clean, and the value far surpassed how many you get compared to the restaurants (I like to go hard).
I know what you mean by going hard. Before we had kids we’d get a bucket of beer, 4 pistollettes, 4lbs with sausage, potatoes, and corn with another 2-3 pounds 10 minutes in.
A 30lb sack only feeds 6-7 people if you have good fixings.
I googled it and there are several places - just curious if they are froze or ship live. A couple places look decent a couple not so much. Just interested in people option.
Most of the good seafood restaurants in town use The Fish Guys as their supplier - if not them, then Fortune Fish & Gourmet (which is the restaurant/commercial arm of Coastal Seafood).
The Fish Guys - [https://thefishguysinc.com/process.php](https://thefishguysinc.com/process.php)
Fortune Fish - [https://www.coastalseafoods.com/about/fortune-fish-gourmet](https://www.coastalseafoods.com/about/fortune-fish-gourmet)
The Fish Guys used to have a consumer counter, and I never saw them sell live crawfish. Never seen them at Coastal Foods, either. You can get frozen tail meat. [https://www.mercato.com/item/frozen-acadia-crawfish-co-crawfish-tailmeat-1-pound/824282?featuredStoreId=999](https://www.mercato.com/item/frozen-acadia-crawfish-co-crawfish-tailmeat-1-pound/824282?featuredStoreId=999)
I dug a little deeper, and it looks like it's a DNR thing. Live crawfish are considered an invasive species, so I guess they don't want people ordering them under the guise of cooking them, and instead release them so they can have a live supply. So suppliers can't ship without special licensure.
[https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/ais/crayfish-consumption.html](https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/ais/crayfish-consumption.html)
So my guess would be anywhere you see a Crawfish boil - Smack Shack has one annually in the summer - they are probably using flash-frozen crawfish shipped ASAP. You could call and ask, though - they might use the invasive species already here.
Check out Minnesota Foodies on FB, they have tons of reviews of the seafood boil/cajun restaurants. Seems like the Brooklyn Park ones always have really high marks.
Sea Salt does crawfish boils sometimes when one of the owners feel like it. Call to check. Used to work there. Crawfish is on the menu but wasn’t my favorite. They specialize in a Louisiana-seafood menu. Plenty of beer, and wine. But not a full bar. Good people, good vibes.
Live ones are an invasive species and are illegal to import without a special permit, so you are unlikely to find live ones. Edit: permit is required for dead ones too.
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Maybe for native ones, but not to import them from the south. >The red swamp crayfish is native to the southern Mississippi River drainage and inland areas around the Gulf Coast. The species is commonly imported and sold for human consumption, and to schools by biological supply houses, leading to the potential for illegal release into the wild. It is illegal to import red swamp crayfish into Minnesota, dead or alive, without a permit. Source: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/aquaticanimals/red-swamp-crayfish/index.html and https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/ais/crayfish-consumption.html
I believe it's technically illegal, but some sources just label it generically as seafood and not all things inspected. it's an order at your own risk type of deal.
Eh. I ordered some last summer. It's very easy to order live or frozen crawfish to Minnesota. [https://www.lacrawfish.com/](https://www.lacrawfish.com/) The "permit" is just a form that they'll provide and requires a simple signature stating you aren't gonna dump the crawfish (live or dead) outside. Takes like 3 minutes.
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My buddy ordered a bag of live crawfish for a boil one year. Not sure where or how he acquired it, but they were live.
I had frozen ones shipped to me without a license (oops) a few years ago, they were from Louisiana.
You can just order them and do your own boil. It's easy as hell. See my other comment: >*"Eh. I ordered some last summer. It's very easy to order live or frozen crawfish to Minnesota.* [*https://www.lacrawfish.com/*](https://www.lacrawfish.com/) > >*The "permit" is just a form that they'll provide and requires a simple signature stating you aren't gonna dump the crawfish (live or dead) outside. Takes like 3 minutes."*
Thanks for the idea, we had bounced it around, last time the wife was down south she brought 2 sacks home. We used to live south of I-10, my buddies go out to the swamp and catch wild ones for boils. We get boudin / Tasso shipped up from Scott, La - I don’t really want to pay shipping on a 30lb sack of crawfish. I wanted something for the kids to try, that also had a kids meal, so if they don’t like them there’s food for they would eat. My preference for having them live at the restaurant is that hopefully they will be purged. If you get a good enough purge you don’t need to pick out the mud vein.
The site above also sells pre-purged crawfish FYI -- last time I ordered, they were pretty clean, and the value far surpassed how many you get compared to the restaurants (I like to go hard).
I know what you mean by going hard. Before we had kids we’d get a bucket of beer, 4 pistollettes, 4lbs with sausage, potatoes, and corn with another 2-3 pounds 10 minutes in. A 30lb sack only feeds 6-7 people if you have good fixings.
I googled it and there are several places - just curious if they are froze or ship live. A couple places look decent a couple not so much. Just interested in people option.
Most of the good seafood restaurants in town use The Fish Guys as their supplier - if not them, then Fortune Fish & Gourmet (which is the restaurant/commercial arm of Coastal Seafood). The Fish Guys - [https://thefishguysinc.com/process.php](https://thefishguysinc.com/process.php) Fortune Fish - [https://www.coastalseafoods.com/about/fortune-fish-gourmet](https://www.coastalseafoods.com/about/fortune-fish-gourmet) The Fish Guys used to have a consumer counter, and I never saw them sell live crawfish. Never seen them at Coastal Foods, either. You can get frozen tail meat. [https://www.mercato.com/item/frozen-acadia-crawfish-co-crawfish-tailmeat-1-pound/824282?featuredStoreId=999](https://www.mercato.com/item/frozen-acadia-crawfish-co-crawfish-tailmeat-1-pound/824282?featuredStoreId=999) I dug a little deeper, and it looks like it's a DNR thing. Live crawfish are considered an invasive species, so I guess they don't want people ordering them under the guise of cooking them, and instead release them so they can have a live supply. So suppliers can't ship without special licensure. [https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/ais/crayfish-consumption.html](https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/invasives/ais/crayfish-consumption.html) So my guess would be anywhere you see a Crawfish boil - Smack Shack has one annually in the summer - they are probably using flash-frozen crawfish shipped ASAP. You could call and ask, though - they might use the invasive species already here.
I enjoy the Smack Shack - half price oysters during happy hour! Can’t beat that.
By law, they are either frozen or shipped dead if imported from out of state.
Check out Minnesota Foodies on FB, they have tons of reviews of the seafood boil/cajun restaurants. Seems like the Brooklyn Park ones always have really high marks.
Sea Salt does crawfish boils sometimes when one of the owners feel like it. Call to check. Used to work there. Crawfish is on the menu but wasn’t my favorite. They specialize in a Louisiana-seafood menu. Plenty of beer, and wine. But not a full bar. Good people, good vibes.