Gwenn Friss|Cape Cod Times
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Growing up in Dublin, David Dempsey remembers eating full Irish breakfasts — including eggs, potatoes, baked beans, a grilled tomato or mushrooms, soda bread, bacon and blood sausage.
But only on weekends.
“During the week, you’d have a boiled egg, tea and toast, maybe some cold cereal,” Dempsey says. “But on the weekend, you’d get the meats and have a fry-up.”
Dempsey and his wife, Margaret, who is from County Cork, recreate those Irish weekend breakfasts at the Keltic Kitchen restaurant they opened 27 years ago in a former swimsuit store on Route 28 in West Yarmouth.
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A proper Irish breakfast fry-up all week
The place is open for breakfast and lunch daily so, unlike in Ireland, you don’t have to wait for the weekend to get a proper fry-up.
“There is a large Irish community on the Cape and in Boston, a lot of people who appreciate a bit of home,” David Dempsey says.
Here, home comes in the form of restaurant-made brown soda bread and sweet raisin scones, as well as the imported Irish breakfast meats Dempsey ate growing up.
“We used to make our own sausages in-house, but we just couldn’t keep up with the volume,” he says.
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All things Irish in the Keltic Kottage shop
One thing Keltic Kitchen offers that you won’t find in Ireland is corned beef hash. ”We don’t have corned beef in Ireland … but the Irish adapted when they came to America because they couldn’t get boiling bacon.”
Now, if you want Irish bacon or blood sausage, you can walk from the Keltic Kitchen out through the parking lot and back to the Keltic Kottage, a gift shop-cum-grocery store the Dempseys opened 10 years ago in a converted two-car garage.
“There is chocolate and perfumes, Irish sweaters, tweed hats, Celtic jewelry,” Dempsey says. “The chocolate is imported from Ireland and it tastes a little different because they use different emulsifiers there.”
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Nearly everything on the shelves is imported from Ireland, from cereal, crackers, tea and bacon to the intricately textured fisherman’s sweaters and scarves from the Aran Islands off the country’s West Coast.
You won’t need those extra warm sweaters in the restaurant where everything is cozy, busy and bustling. Dempsey and two to three others are at the heart of things, cooking in the open kitchen.
“The open kitchen was a conscious choice. We didn’t have room for a private kitchen and some people like to sit at the counter and watch us make their breakfast,” Dempsey says.
The wait staff is experienced and efficient, answering questions about the huge menu and keeping coffee cups full. The menu has dozens of breakfast choices and just about a dozen sandwiches for lunch. The full menu is served all day, with meals averaging $10.
“You canget whatever you want — breakfast at 2 or a burger at 7 in the morning,” he says.
Dempsey likes to create flavor combinations — such as French toast with the sweetness of Fuji apples, and black mission figs balanced by the saltiness of creamy brie cheese. Most days, there are a dozen or so specials; the most popular earn their way onto the regular menu.
The 75-seat restaurant was so busy over the summer, Dempsey says, that Keltic Kitchen stopped doing takeout orders. “I was two or three people short in the kitchen and I was working 70 or 80 hours a week,” he says. "The kitchen couldn't keep up and it wasn't fair to people who stood in line to get a table." With the relative calm of the off-season, takeout is available again.
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Keltic Kitchen also feels like home because the dark wood walls are covered in memories.Twowalls display unit patches frommilitary units, and police and fire departments. Visitors are invited to leave a patch to add to the tradition that started with the Dempseys' oldest son, Billy, who was in the Navy Seabees.
Sports shots from Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School cover anotherwall; allof the Dempsey kids were three-sport athletes there and Dempsey was a volunteer coach from Pop Warner football through high school. For years, the D-Y football team came in every Friday to eat breakfast together.
The Dempseys' five kids — Amy, Billy, twins Denis and David Jr., and Barry — all worked at Keltic Kitchen at some point over the years.
"It's a family business. They still fill in sometimes. They knew we needed help so they would come."
Keltic Kitchen and Keltic Kottage
415 Route 28, West Yarmouth
508-771-4835;https://keltickitchen.com/
Hours: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily
