When Marin-County native Aaron Salit first visited New Orleans 12 years ago, he was deep in the bustle and grind of restaurant consulting. As someone who has always enjoyed live music and food, the city’s crawfish boil culture drew him in instantly. Before he knew it, he was returning year after year to attend boils, eventually making crawfish boils a birthday tradition of his own, bringing friends and family together for the same communal experience he had come to love in Louisiana.
“I would be going to these crawfish boils in New Orleans or in Louisiana, and you know there’s live music going. People are standing with their friends. You can’t pick your phone up when you have crawfish all over your hands, so there’s just an automatic presence that is required,” Salit said. “So there’s this energy of eating crawfish with people at a table with music that was really addicting to me, and so through going there and learning more and doing my own boils, that’s where that’s where Second Line Pleasure Club was born.”
Salit is the chef and founder of Secondline Pleasure Club (SLPC), a pop-up aimed at bringing Louisiana-style crawfish boils to the West Coast. In New Orleans, during a celebration the main parade — known as the first line — is often followed by the community, a band of people cheering, dancing, singing and waving handkerchiefs. This group is known as the Second Line…