White Center has a remarkable variety of ethnic dining choices but now it has something completely different.

Be Nguyen, owner of Be's Restaurant in the West Seattle Junction since 1986 has formed a partnership with her long time friend Brandon Vo in a unique arrangement at her location in White Center at 9826 16th Ave. s.w.

During the day, opening at 7:00 a.m. Be's in White Center which opened in 2008, offers high quality but standard breakfast fare from omelettes to pancakes. After 25 years in her West Seattle location she has the knack of making a great breakfast for a great price. She keeps going on through lunch with burgers and sandwiches but at 3:00 pm the restaurant changes.

It transforms into the Crawfish Grill featuring full on cajun flavors with crawfish, Dungeness crab, and a lot more bringing the authentic taste of New Orleans to White Center. Those flavors, and in fact the crawfish themselves, come straight from New Orleans, shipped in fresh every day, courtesy of Vo who already owns a Crawfish Grill in Renton, near the Ikea Furniture store.

Vo, who has known Nguyen for more than 11 years, is from New Orleans where he learned as a boy how to eat crawfish, and there is a special way to eat them. There's even a poster on the wall to guide first timers. "Growing up in New Orleans we go through crawfish quite quickly. If you don't learn to eat them fast you go hungry," he said laughing. "You pop the head off, suck the head because that's where all the juice and flavor is then pinch the back of the tail to separate the meat from the back and grab it with your two front teeth."

The "boils" as they are called are served in authentic style too, blended in a pot with corn the cob, potatoes, sausage and plenty of spice, it's drained and put in a plastic bag then spread out on the table that is covered with butcher paper. It's not dainty eating. You are meant to be messy at the Crawfish Grill. "You make the mess, we clean up the rest," said Vo.

"Our clientel is mainly asian," Vo offered," so it just made sense for us to get in here." It makes sense for Ngyuen too since she can share expenses and offer something unique in the area.

"We come in at 3:00 pm and stay open until 11:00 pm on the weekdays and later on the weekends. The space is large enough to permit one side to be used for regular dining and the other side to be used for watching sports on the 4 brand new flat screen monitors (they will add four more soon). Karaoke is featured every night, unless it's a big sports event.

The Crawfish Grill serves beer and wine, including authentic New Orleans Abita Amber beer.

They also offer a variety of Po Boy sandwiches made with Fried Shrimp and are adding more to the menu soon with smoked meats to be prepared on the premises.

Crawfish are eaten all over the world of course but have become something of an art form in New Orleans. Vo's life experience and love of seafood are what got him into the restaurant business.

"We are trying to do what I've done all my life. Bring friends and family over to have a good meal, relax and enjoy," said Vo.