New cafe at Desporte’s in Biloxi has fresh-off-the-boat seafood and MS Coast specialties

The new Desporte’s Seafood shop has been open for a few weeks now, but the cafe, Desporte’s Seafood Café, has just opened.

Chef Tony Lov and manager Pamala Guidry have teamed up again and are putting out some of the best seafood in town.

You can’t miss their location on Caillavet Street, just look for the big wooden water tower.

The café and seafood market operate side by side, with beautiful custom tables, supported by wooden barrels and lacquered wooden tabletops. There is also a handsome wooden bar, with six stools, that will eventually become an oyster bar. There are also a few tables on the front porch, perfect for lunch on a fall day.

The menu is concise, featuring seafood and burgers. As you might suspect, the shrimp po-boy is the bestseller, followed by the oyster and fish po-boys. Other seafood specialties include three baskets, shrimp, fish and oyster, that are served with hush puppies and French fries.

Baskets range in price from $8.95 to $10.95. There are three seafood sandwich options, all on a bun, again, fish, shrimp and oysters, and a killer good cheeseburger for $8.50.

To fill out the seafood options, there is seafood gumbo, served with rice and crawfish etouffee. Both come in half cup and bowl options.

Sides on the menu include spicy French fries, coleslaw, potato salad and hushpuppies.

Although not on the menu, you have got to try the shrimp potato salad, made with potatoes cooked in shrimp boil. Look for additions to the menu soon, as Chef Tony is still breaking in his brand-new kitchen. The bar with eventually become an oyster bar, something much needed in the very center of old Biloxi.

I really like the combination of seafood shop and café. You just know you are getting the freshest fish and seafood, with deliveries right off the boat every day. How often can you sit down to a seafood meal and ask where and when the shrimp you are eating came from?

The cases are loaded with local fish, shrimp and oysters, as well as housemade crab cakes. You will also find Deer Island oysters, coming from off-bottom oyster reefs less than a mile away.

A new addition are beautifully marbled steaks, and a freezer loaded with specialties, like crab legs, spinach and artichoke dip, stuffed chickens and Cajun sausage.

Desporte’s Seafood and Desporte’s Seafood Café are located in a part of Biloxi that is growing fast, with new shops opening. In the not too distant future, this part of town, including the newly refurbished Vieux Marche, will again claim its title as the center of town.

It’s the perfect spot for a seafood shop and café.

Desporte’s Seafood Café

Where: 197 Caillavet Street, Biloxi

When: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday

Phone: 228-400-9100

This story was originally published November 10, 2020 at 5:50 AM.