Pearland’s Boiling Dragon finds area of interest with ‘Asian-Cajun’ delicacies

“The cuisine trail I think is a great idea. It’s helping the Pearland food scene by making it into an activity to go try new restaurants.”

Boiling Dragon serves creative Asian Cajun-inspired dishes from garlic butter and Thai basil crawfish, shrimp and snow crab to fried catfish filets, bulgogi fries, baos, fried rice and garlic noodles.

“Our menu is a true fusion, and I would say one of the most creative menus in the area,” he said.

Wong, who grew up in Alief, was a chef for more than 20 years in Houston and has more than 30 years of experience in the restaurant business, he said, “if you count me helping at my folks’ restaurants since I was in middle school.”

When Wong moved to the Shadow Creek neighborhood of Pearland about 15 years ago, he became involved in community benefits and activities.

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“I’ve been wanting to open a restaurant in Pearland for six years so I can be more active in my own community, but Pearland being one of the fastest-developing suburbs in the nation attracts big corporate chains,” he said. “Big corporate chains make landlords raise rent and that makes it harder for mom and pops to get in the door.”

Wong opened Boiling Dragon “smack at the beginning of the pandemic” in early 2020.

“The lockdown started in March and things were just nuts,” Wong said. “No one knew about us, and we were only catching the back end of crawfish season. It was definitely scary, but we made it through, and now business is especially busy because it is crawfish season.”

However, like many restaurants, Boiling Dragon remains short-staffed.

“Right now, on the weekends my wife and I are still prepping at the restaurant until 2 and 3 a.m. trying to catch up on prep work,” he said.

Despite the challenges, Wong continues to build his business and support fellow restaurant owners.

“I’m actually working on a project with some other local restaurants to launch a Pearland Restaurant Week,” comparing his idea to Houston Restaurant Week, which reportedly raised almost $18 million in the past 18 years to combat hunger.

“It’s a great cause. HRW is for all of August, so I was thinking of September,” said Wong.

Boiling Dragon serves creative Asian Cajun-inspired dishes from garlic butter and Thai basil crawfish, shrimp and snow crab to fried catfish filets, bulgogi fries, baos, fried rice and garlic noodles.

“Our menu is a true fusion, and I would say one of the most creative menus in the area,” he said.

“Harold Wong is great at representing the Pearland culinary scene,” said Rebekah Burns, the marketing manager at the Pearland Convention and Visitors Bureau, which launched the foodie trail March 11 to promote Pearland as an international culinary destination.

Don Maines is a freelance writer who can be reached at donmaines@att.net