This week I reached out for a Crawfish Po'Boy, part of the 3rd annual Crawfish Festival at Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, the No. 2 chicken chain, with 2,000 restaurants across the U.S. and 'round the world. (Editor's note: Closest locations: Harrisburg or North East, Md.)

It's been a few years since Popeyes changed its name to "Louisiana Kitchen," but it will always mean chicken and biscuits to me — spicy Cajun fried chicken and hot buttermilk biscuits, to be precise. But this Crawfish Festival is making me flexible on my Popeyes picks.

The Crawfish Festival consists of four headliners: Crawfish Tackle Box (crawfish, a side and a biscuit), Crawfish Po'Boy, Crawfish Traveler (a snack-size portion of crawfish) and Crawfish Etouffee (a big, 16-ounce bowl).

The dish I'm stuck on is the Po'Boy. Here's the blueprint: breaded and deep-fried crawfish tails, lettuce, pickles and creamy horseradish sauce on a crusty French roll.

Total calories: 600. Fat grams: 40. Sodium: 2,165 mg. Dietary fiber: 5 g. Carbs: 72 g. Manufacturer's suggested retail price: $4.99.

This sandwich is all that, and let the good times roll. We'll start with the main ingredient: the crawfish, or mudbugs, or crawdads, or yabbies or whatever you want to call these tiny, lobster-looking critters.

Despite crawfish being synonymous with Louisiana bayou cuisine, Popeyes imports its farm-raised freshwater crawfish from Asia. Popeyes explains that Louisiana just can't meet Popeyes' gigantic demand for product during Crawfish Festival time. Crawfish from Asia is more plentiful — and cheaper — than crawfish from Louisiana.

Popeyes dips the crawfish tails in fine flour and seasoned batter, then deep-fries them in beef tallow. Tallow is rendered animal fat. That screeching noise you just heard is the Diet Warning Whistle.

The crawfish is fried extra-crispy and golden brown. Popeyes puts 3 ounces of crawfish — about an ice-cream scoop's worth — on each po'boy sandwich. Shredded lettuce, pickles and creamy horseradish sauce (there goes that whistle again) complete the sandwich fixin's. If you want to lower the calories and fat grams, substitute cocktail sauce for the creamy horseradish sauce.

The bread puts this Crawfish Po'Boy over the top. It's a mini French baguette, just like the "poor boy" streetcar workers in 1920s New Orleans ate. The bun is crusty on the outside but a real softie inside, like Sue Sylvester on "Glee," only less annoying. Popeyes gets its bread from a national distributor, so it's consistent from coast to coast.

Popeyes' Crawfish Po'Boy is as authentic a Cajun favorite as you'll find at a national chain. It's packed with calories and fat, but if flavor is your thing, it's worth the danger. Proceed with caution. I had ONE — it was fantastic.

The Crawfish Festival ends Nov. 27, so the clock is ticking.