Ordering a seafood boil for a party in Los Angeles

Order the set, then adjust

The sets exist because sizing a mixed boil by the pound is genuinely hard. Pick the set for your head count, decide about crawfish, and add by the pound from there if you know your table. Every set is finished in the same garlic butter, and you set one salt level and one heat level for the order.

One heat level for the room

Heat runs from no heat to LA Inferno and it applies to the whole order, so pick for the least brave person at the table rather than the bravest. The seasoning is on the shell, not injected into the meat, so a milder boil is easy to make hotter at the table and a hotter one is not fixable in the other direction.

What the delivery costs

Delivery is $15 for every 15 miles from our kitchen measured from the kitchen at 8705 Cranford Ave in Sun Valley — the road actually driven, not a flat fee. Orders over $600 deliver free, which the larger sets clear on their own. Worth checking before you split an order in two.

Time it against the boil, not the guests

Nothing is cooked in advance, so the clock starts when the order is confirmed rather than when the driver leaves. For a party that means ordering against the moment you want food on the table, with the drive from Sun Valley on top. If the timing is tight, call — the kitchen can tell you what is realistic today better than any form can.