Yummy Crab Seafood brings Cajun-flavored experience to Spokane

For William Furches, getting a new Cajun seafood boil restaurant off the ground in Spokane has been something of a cultural exchange.

Yummy Crab Seafood, located at 1723 N. Division St. in a 4,000-square-foot space formerly occupied by Burger King, offers Cajun-style seafood boils along with fried menu options like hush puppies, deep-fried balls of dough made from cornmeal and seasoning.

“I’ve just learned that people up here don’t know what hush puppies are,” said Furches, one of the managers at Yummy Crab Seafood and a native North Carolinian. “That’s really nice when I go to a table and they’re like, ‘What is a hush puppy?’ ”

Yummy Crab, which started as a chain around 2019, also has locations in North Carolina, Michigan, Iowa and Illinois. Owner Lee Zhang decided to open a Spokane location upon finding that Spokane lacked the create-your-own, Cajun-flavored seafood boil experience that Yummy Crab offers, Furches said.

The Spokane location navigated a wage issue prior to opening Jan. 9, as servers were given the impression that they would only earn $4 per hour plus tips despite Washington state law, which sets minimum wage at $15.74 an hour plus tips, KREM reported. Characterizing the issue as a miscommunication that was quickly corrected, Furches said prior management had incorrectly applied a rate equivalent to what tipped employees make in other states like Idaho and North Carolina.

Yummy Crab’s ingredients mostly come from New Orleans, Florida and the Washington, D.C., area, Furches said. Customers can pick a combo meal or they can mix and match proteins and sides from a menu that includes three different varieties of crab, clams, mussels, shrimp, crawfish and lobster.

The next step is picking a flavor – which ranges from Cajun, lemon pepper and garlic butter to all three combined in a house sauce – and a spice level, from non-spicy to extra hot.

Seafood boils and sides come out in an enclosed plastic bag that customers can shake to mix up the flavors. Orders come with a bib, plastic gloves and hand wipes, while dine-in seating is equipped accordingly with paper tablecloths, Styrofoam plates and a bucket for shells.

“You name it, we probably have it,” Furches said. “Your dining experience is typically between 45 minutes to an hour and a half. There’s nothing fast about even the individual crab boil. It’s meant to be relaxed.”