The restaurant serves various fried fish and fried shrimp combination plates. ($7.49-$12.49)[/caption]

Vince Thai opened 7Spice Seafood Kitchen in Missouri City in 2012 as a new concept with a focus on serving quality Cajun seafood to customers in search of a quick meal.

With his restaurant, Thai said he strives to combine the quality of food found at a fine dining seafood restaurant with the efficiency of a fast-service eatery.

"In the seafood world there are high-end restaurants and then you have a step down, but there are no in-betweens like a fast-service, casual restaurant," he said. "That is what we consider ourselves. People can come in and have good food and [get it] fast."

Thai said 7Spice Seafood Kitchen prides itself on the homemade recipes he has developed over the last three years. Each menu item is cooked from scratch and incorporates traditional Cajun spices and ingredients, such as onions, bell peppers and celery, which is also known as the Cajun holy trinity.

7Spice Seafood Kitchen also imports its shrimp from South America due to the larger size and texture of the shrimp, Thai said. When compared to shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico, South American shrimp sizes and textures are more consistent and provide additional flavor.

"The thing about Gulf shrimp is it is inconsistent, and the size and the taste vary," he said. "Since we are trying to make our food as uniform as possible, we use Ecuadorian white shrimp. It is farm raised, but the texture and the consistency is very good."

Customer favorites include the fried fish and fried shrimp combos as well as the gumbo, etouffee and jambalaya. With crawfish season in full swing, the restaurant also serves Louisiana-style crawfish, seasoned with butter and garlic and served with spiced corn and red potatoes. However, Thai said his restaurant has built its reputation around the fried food.

"We are known for our gumbo, the etouffee, the jambalaya and the fried food," Thai said. "That is what we live on. The gumbo is the hardest thing to make, and everybody comes in and they compare it to their family's recipes."

The eatery cooks and prepares some of its menu items in large batches to maintain a certain level of consistency, Thai said. After each batch is ready, the food is sealed and preserved in a freezer to prevent spoiling.

Thai opened a second 7Spice Seafood Kitchen location in August at 11013 Fuqua St., Houston. He said the location functions as a second diner as well as a production site to streamline food preparation for the location in Missouri City. The second location is used to prepare and bag different cuts of fish and includes a machine that peels and cuts batches of shrimp to the correct portion, he said.

"We make [the food] in large batches, but we do not take any shortcuts," Thai said. "The one thing that makes us successful, especially as a restaurant, is keeping the food consistent. The No. 1 thing we focus on is the quality, and we do the best we can."

After opening a second location eight months ago, Thai said he is looking forward to opening additional locations of 7Spice Seafood Kitchen as his concept continues to grow.

"It is an ongoing process, but it seems right now the food we have is good," Thai said. "I feel we could definitely expand."