New York seafood boil eatery opening ‘a place to get ... messy with your food’ in JoCo

Hook & Reel, a New York-based chain specializing in Cajun seafood boils, is expanding to the metro with an Overland Park restaurant.

“This is not a serious place. It’s a place to get a drink, get messy with your food. It’s a place to relax,” said Pamela Raskin, spokeswoman for Hook & Reel.

It is taking the 9,807-square-foot former Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom spot at 11721 Metcalf Ave. It plans to open in 2021, sometime after February.

At Hook & Reel, customers can customize their boils by selecting from a variety of ingredients including snow crab legs, clams, crawfish, black mussels, shrimp, lobster tail, calamari and scallops. They have a choice of six house-made sauces: original Cajun, plain, garlic butter, Old Bay only, lemon pepper and its house-blend. Spice levels are mild, spicy and fire.

They can then add potatoes, sausage, corn on the cob, hard-boiled eggs, noodles and/or rice.

Hook & Reel has three specialty bowls and also offers mini boils with a half-pound of seafood. Appetizers include steamed oysters, wings, coconut shrimp and crab meat fries. Other menu items include soup and salad, baskets, po’boys, and seafood spaghetti marinara.

Customers are encouraged to eat with their hands so disposable gloves and bibs are passed out.

It currently has 40 locations. Its 41st location is scheduled to open in Crestwood, Illinois, on Thursday, and five more locations also are scheduled to open in October.

The locations have 35 to 45 employees depending on the size of the restaurant.

The Metcalf Old Chicago closed in late 2016 after more than 13 years of operations.

This story was originally published September 30, 2020 at 5:00 AM.