By Derek Morris
Today I got the chance to review one of my favorite restaurants in Baton Rouge, Dempsey’s. Dempsey’s is a small café located on Coursey Blvd that offers home-style poboys and authentic Louisiana cuisine.

On today’s visit, I started off my meal with one of Dempsey’s favorite appetizers: Fried Mushrooms. This was my first time trying the fried mushrooms.  The mushrooms are served in a basket that could feed at least 6-8 people as an appetizer.  They were excellent and featured a nice seasoned flavor instead of that soft shroomy taste that can sometimes be a textural nightmare. The mushrooms also came with a ranch and remoulade sauce for your dipping pleasure.

Dempsey’s offers amazing daily specials that are usually very reasonably priced. Today I decided to go with the special: Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya with Fried Catfish. Where else can you select two main entrees on one plate?

I first laid into the catfish. Yes Saaaaaaa! Excellent. The fish was very fresh and fried in a nicely seasoned batter that was perfect.

Next I took my first bite of the jambalaya that was piled high on the plate. The jambalaya was a little bland, but was very meaty and had that good homemade jambalaya taste. After shaking a few drops of Tabasco sauce in the jambalaya, it was ready to eat with a nice little kick. Spiciness may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but when it comes to Cajun food, the hotter the better for me.

As a side note, another favorite of mine is the Cup and a Half. It comes with your choice of a cup of soup or gumbo and a half order of one of their poboys. This gives you a taste of two of Dempsey’s most popular items.

Food Rating:

Service
The service was pretty good today. We were easily seated and got our meals out quickly. The waitress was friendly and service was prompt.

Service Rating:

Atmosphere
Dempsey’s is a nice little café that has definitely outgrown itself.  The atmosphere inside is cute and clean, but is very cramped and a little loud. While I was there I had to scoot the table back a little to be able to get into my chair. The entire meal, I was back-to-back with the table behind me and could never really hear myself talk.

Atmosphere Rating:

Dempsey’s Poboys
13580 Coursey Blvd # F
Baton Rouge, LA 70817
 (225) 752-1199
www.dempseyspoboys.com‎