8/1/14
It was a Friday, and we had spent all day at the Blue Bayou water park in Baton Rouge. We knew we wanted something good for dinner, something local, something Louisiana.
Kenner, if you’re not familiar, is a city that is northwest of New Orleans, and Kenner Seafood has been serving locals and travelers (like us) alike for 18 years.
In addition to being a restaurant, it’s also a seafood market… if you want to buy the little critters and take them home and cook them yourself.
Let me take this opportunity, right off the bat, to say how friendly and accommodating the staff is. We were walking around looking for potential photo angles and we ended up telling the hostess that we were food bloggers. Immediately she announced it to her coworkers and ushered me behind the counter and behind the glass so I could get this beautiful shot. I felt like royalty…
The space, to us, is just right… neither too big nor too small.
It can accommodate slightly larger parties, but you won’t get lost coming back from the bathroom. Also you don’t want your neighborhood seafood market to be huge; you want it to be somewhat intimate… maybe even a little, dare I say, exclusive, if you’re a borderline food snob… or full-blown food snob for that matter.
The menu offers what you’d expect from a seafood market in south Louisiana, plenty of fresh seafood. I’m not sure what you’d be doing here if you weren’t into seafood, but if that’s the case, they also have plenty of other offerings: burgers, red beans and rice, spaghetti and meatballs, eggplant parmesan, etc.
We started off with a cup of gumbo. It was pretty solid. Maybe not the absolute best we’ve ever had, but definitely worth ordering. Also let me add that it is seafood gumbo… no chicken or sausage or any of that unwanted stuff in here. On a side note, they do offer chicken andouille gumbo, if you’re into that. Anyway, this little cup was emptied quickly.
For our entree, we decided to split a seafood platter complete with…
-Fried shrimp
-Fried fish
-Fried frog legs
-Stuffed crab
-Mac-n-cheese
-Cajun potatoes
Everything was fresh and very tasty. We loved the variety, and it was just the right amount of food.
One of my new-found favorite foods is frog legs. We seriously at first glance thought they had brought us chicken legs. Look at this thing! Nikki doesn’t care to try them, so that works out for me, as I adore them. That’s not a child’s size fork either.
Maybe you’d expect a restaurant with such solid seafood offerings to sit on its laurels when it comes to dessert… maybe sneak in a frozen cheesecake or store-bought pie… not at Kenner Seafood. This was some of the best bread pudding either of us has ever had. And the rum sauce is too good to leave any on the plate!
There’s a reason why their Urbanspoon score is so high and they earn honors like this one from the Gambit.
If you’re in the New Orleans area and are craving fresh seafood in a family-friendly setting, we highly recommend Kenner Seafood. And it’s less than half an hour from downtown! You won’t be disappointed.
KENNER SEAFOOD
3140 Loyola Drive
Kenner, LA 70065
504-466-4701
a regional pairing 