Dempsey’s Steak and Seafood

Coast Cuisine - December 2023

​If you find yourself headed to Dempsey’s Steak and Seafood for lunch or dinner and you haven’t been to the Kiln restaurant ever or often, you may want to take a look at the menu online before you get there.

- by Lisa Monti

It’s not unusual to look over the menu and change your mind a few times before you actually place your order. Dempsey’s menu is packed, from the appetizers to seafood (fried, boiled, broiled and grilled) and steaks (hand cut filets to hamburger), and a variety of sandwiches, soups, salads and sides. 

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​If you are waffling between the seafood and steak, you can do both! Pick from some creative combos, like topping your juicy ribeye with fried oysters, adding shrimp to a fresh salad, or covering your broiled fish, shrimp, or oysters with Dempsey’s cheesy crab sauce, if that’s what you’re craving.

Whatever you finally order, there is a high likelihood you will be taking leftovers home. Dempsey’s portions are as generous as the menu is packed. That’s part of the reason for its success, drawing in diners since opening its first location Coleman Avenue in Waveland. After Hurricane Katrina, owner Diane Hennessy eventually relocated to Lower Bay Road and then settled into the current location in Kiln more than a dozen years ago.
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Inside the roomy dining area, which Diane describes as rustic with Cajun accents, the tables are usually full, and the wait staff keeps the service humming, handing out menus, platters of food, large yellow beverage glasses, and to-go boxes.
 
“We’re very family oriented,” she said, adding that regular lunch customers include employees from local utility companies and other nearby businesses. Travelers find their way to Dempsey’s, thanks to the favorable online reviews and mentions on “best of” lists.
 
Diane, who comes from a Louisiana restaurant family, says Dempsey’s food is Gulf Coast cuisine, with plenty of local favorites like their famous mac-n-cheese, plus dishes like frog legs that you can’t find just anywhere.
 
Dempsey’s is also known for serving up large portions of its customer favorites, all made from scratch with fresh ingredients. “My daddy always said people eat first with their eyes, and he said never change anything that works,” Diane said.
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Dempsey’s kitchen leans heavily on New Orleans-style favorites such as calamari, eggplant fries, muffulettas, and flounder stuffed with shrimp and crabmeat dressing. Dishes added by popular request include shrimp and grits and tripletail, both blackened and panko-crusted and fried. “We also have king crab, Dungeness crab, lobster, snow crabs, grouper, salmon, and snapper in panko,” Diane said.
 
If customers request a dish, she tries to add it, depending on what’s in stock. “I don’t like to tell anybody no,” she said.
 
It’s easy to see why the half-and-half platter can help those who can’t decide on a main dish. The dish comes with two seafood selections stacked up in a generous heap, fried and seasoned to perfection. My shrimp and oysters came with fresh green beans seasoned with bacon. A couple of golden hushpuppies add a bit more crunch to the platter.

On a recent lunch visit, the Christmas decorations were up, and Santa was due to visit guests in the dining room later that day. The tables were all filled - couples, families, workers in uniforms on their lunch breaks - and just about everybody carried out their leftovers in clamshell containers.
 
The lunch menu ribeye was lightly sauced with garlic and butter and served with a slice of crisp Leidenheimer garlic bread and those tasty homestyle green beans. If you are partial to Dempsey’s  fresh seafood but are looking for something different, this is a delicious alternative.
 
“We serve prime-cut only, 12 ounces to 32 ounces,” Diane said of the steak selections. On Thursdays, Dempsey’s offers a 2-for-1 steak special at dinner, served from 4 pm to closing.

Besides lunch and dinner service, Dempsey’s also offers catering. Not surprisingly, the catering options are plentiful. Stop in and check out the menu to find your favorite.
 
Dempsey’s
6208 Kiln-Delisle Road, Kiln
(228) 255-2043
Wed - Thurs 11 am - 8 pm; Fri - Sat 11 am - 9 pm; Sun 11 am - 2 pm
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