The Story
The Founder
I'm Aaron — a Bay Area native, chef, restaurant consultant, and music lover who fell hard for New Orleans the first time I visited, about ten years ago. I'd been around San Francisco's underground energy my whole life. Venues and bars where weird wasn't a costume. New Orleans felt like that same thing turned all the way up.
Parade season, brass bands, costuming, krewes — and this unmistakable sense that you're seen as a full human being. No judgment, just joy. I've been back every year since. I go to eat, to listen, to watch how people gather. And I've been trying to bring that same feeling to the Bay ever since.
The Name
A second line is a New Orleans tradition. After the main parade — the first line — the community follows. Dancing, waving handkerchiefs, joining the music just because it feels right. Citizens and visitors alike fall in without permission.
That's the spirit this project is built on. Collective joy. Second Line Pleasure Club isn't a catering company or a pop-up food brand. It's a gathering. A standing invitation to join something joyful, communal, and delicious. No background required. No dress code. No age limit.
The Sacrament
Every boil starts with the crawfish and works outward from there. We source local, we spice from scratch, and we let the season dictate what's on the table. No two boils are the same. That's the whole point.
The backbone of the season. Signal crawfish from the Sacramento River Delta — sweeter and often slightly smaller than their Louisiana cousins, but undeniably local and wild. This is what's in the pot from spring through summer.
Come August, we transition to California-grown red crawfish — the same species as Louisiana's red swamp crawfish, raised right here. Meatier, familiar, and a fitting close to the season. A true California story.
House-smoked andouille from our Livermore butcher partner. Dense, porky, deeply smoky. Goes in the pot and comes out transformed. Every bite carries the whole boil.
Our custom spice blend, built in partnership with Oaktown Spice Shop in Oakland. The public recipe doesn't exist. It changes slightly every time and gets better every season.
Lots of them. The boil is a living thing. We add, we adjust, we go by feel. Every boil is a little different — come enough times and you'll start to notice.
What's in the pot with the crawfish changes boil to boil depending on what's good, what's fresh, and what Aaron's feeling. Come along on the journey. That's the whole invitation.
Every boil is an experiment. Show up curious and hungry — you'll leave satisfied and coming back for next time.
The Format
Grab your ticket before you show up. Choose your portion — from a solo haul to a full family spread. Walk-ins are welcome while supplies last, but pre-orders guarantee your crawfish. A sample menu is available to browse options before you arrive.
View Sample Menu →Bringing your crew? Reserve a parchment-lined table for your group. We dump your crawfish hot when you're ready. The table pour is the most communal way to eat — everyone goes in at once, hands everywhere, conversation mandatory. It's the most affordable way to haul big too.
Communal tables. Newspapers on the surface. Cold beer. Hot spice. Your order comes out hot, by name, in a bag or in the pour. Every ticket includes a free snack, and at select events a beverage discount from our venue partners. First-timers get the full peel-and-eat walkthrough.
Live music is woven into every event. Brass bands, zydeco, jazz, funk, soul — the lineup is always intentional and always rooted in the New Orleans tradition of using music as a communal thread. Plan to stay long after the crawfish are gone.
What We're About