For 20 years, Rendi's Mud Bugs has been bringing the heat to Hot Springs with its crawfish.
Operating seasonally, Rendi's, located at 115 Printers Place, is open Thursday through Saturday until June, when they move to Friday and Saturday.
Rendi Huchingson, who opened the business in 2002 with her father, Ron Huchingson, said the key to their success has "definitely been" the seasoning.
The seasoning is milled for Rendi's in Louisiana and shipped on pallets "and we're the only ones who can get it," she said.
"We can knock your socks off. We can make them really hot, but the way I like to make them, which is the way most people like to eat them, is like normal, which is where you still feel the burn at the end of the meat, but you still get the savory sweetness of the meat," Huchingson said.
Another thing that sets them apart is "probably the way we kind of clean and sort our crawfish, we're pretty particular with all of it," she said.
While she cooks Cajun food, Huchingson said she has no Cajun background. "None; was born and raised right here in Hot Springs. I graduated from Lakeside in '91. I don't have any kind of Cajun in me whatsoever," she said.
"So 20 years ago I was eating crawfish in Texarkana with my dad, and I'm a graphic designer, and I went to school to be a graphic designer at Henderson State, and while we were sitting there, getting ready to get our crawfish, I looked at dad and I said 'I think I can do this with graphic design on the side.' And he said 'Yeah, I've been thinking of that,'" she said.
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"He said 'I'll tell you what. If you get a concession trailer, I'll grow the crawfish and we'll go into business together.' Because he had 80 acres and a horse farm in Texarkana, and I said, 'Deal.' So five months later I was pulling home this concession trailer and then he was trying to grow crawfish," Huchingson said.
Their attempt to grow their own crawfish didn't go as planned.
"We put a thousand pounds of crawfish in his pond and they would go in one side and out the other, so we had to find a crawfish dealer, and that's how we got started," she said.
Rendi's doesn't have many items on its menu, but Huchingson said that is because they know what they are good at.
"Just loving to eat crawfish. Just knowing what you like, so that's why we only eat crawfish, corn, potatoes, sausage, boudin, mushrooms, because we don't have a whole lot on the menu because we do what we do, and we do it really well."
She also had some tips for people trying crawfish for the first time.
"So the thing about crawfish, a lot of people get wigged out because their heads are still on them, but little do they know, most of the time when you eat shrimp the heads are still on them too, they just take them off before you get them, so it's just a baby, miniature lobster, so it tastes sweet like crab meat, but it has the same texture as a shrimp," she said.
"Everybody always just twists the head away, you know, and breaks the first ring, but when you get really into it, you can do what they call a snap and peel, so you just push it in together, twist it out, and you can just eat it right out of the shell, so it's really easy that way," Huchingson said.
"So it's a complete seasonal business. They come into season when the weather starts getting cool, really cool, so we've opened up as early as November. I've had crawfish for Thanksgiving, and we usually shut down in June, first of July."
Huchingson said when they are open, they are popular.
"I've done it for 20 years and I mean it's pretty popular I think. They've been great. I mean a lot of people around here love to eat crawfish," she said.
Q&A with Rendi Huchingson
The following are excerpts from the interview with Huchingson, presented in a question-and-answer format:
Q: Favorite food of all time?
Huchingson: I would say crawfish, but that's not necessarily true. I burned myself out on crawfish 13 years ago when I ate 30 pounds of them when I was pregnant, so no, my favorite food, my by far favorite place to go in Hot Springs, is Colorado Grill and I love their steak fajitas.
Q: Favorite restaurant anywhere?
Huchingson: Colorado Grill
Q: Favorite part of working in Hot Springs?
Huchingson: I think knowing the people and growing up here, it's been pretty easy for me because of that. I just, everything about Hot Springs is home. I mean, I couldn't imagine doing this anywhere other than Hot Springs.
Q: Advice for someone doing their first crawfish boil?
Huchingson: Yes; always add butter to your pot. I know it sounds crazy, but it makes them slide out. It doesn't change the taste of them, but they slide out of their shells a lot easier. The second tip is a lot of people always talk about sucking the head, just so you know, you're only sucking the juice from the pot and it's butter and fat. You can't suck hard enough to get the brains and the guts out of there, but a lot of people don't realize that, but everybody's like 'Eww, no, I'm not going to suck the heads,' but my daddy always told me as long as you have enough money to buy the tails, you don't have to suck the heads.
Q: Go-to comfort food?
Huchingson: Bluebell ice cream.
The Sentinel-Record/Tanner Newton /caption: Crawfish are getting scooped up to be cooked at Rendi's Mug Bugs. HS Rendi-3 042822.JPG attached
Rendi Huchingson lifts a batch of crawfish from the pot while her mother, Jeanie Springer gets ready to put seasoning on them.