Westport’s Blanc Burger to become Dempsey’s Burger Pub

Bon voyage, Westport Blanc Burgers + Bottles. Hello, Dempsey’s Burger Pub. The Lawrence burger restaurant is putting its first KC outpost in the heart of Westport in mid-July. 

Ernesto Peralta, co-owner of two Blanc Burgers + Bottles in the metro, announced today in a press release that he has reached a deal with Steve Gaudreau, owner of Dempsey’s Burger Pub, to take over the Blanc location at 4120 Pennsylvania. Peralta opened that restaurant in February 2014. He and his wife, Jenifer, will continue to own and operate the Blanc in Leawood.

The press release says that the deal “will allow Blanc to focus on their flagship Leawood location, as well as other projects.”

Dempsey’s, formerly Dempsey’s Burger Stand, started in 2008 as a collaboration between Lawrence chefs Robert Krause and Simon Bates; they later moved the Burger Stand to the Casbah Bar, on Massachusetts. Bates co-owns that business with his wife, having bought out Krause, who now has no connection to the Burger Stand.

When the Burger Stand moved out, Gaudreau saw it as an opportunity to turn his Irish pub into a burger restaurant of  his own. He hired chef Matt Lawson (now opening steakhouses in Saudi Arabia) to create the first Dempsey’s menu.

“Over the years, we’ve gotten closer and closer to becoming a one hundred percent scratch kitchen,” Gaudreau tells me. “We make almost everything we can in-house, including the ketchup and mustard.” The Westport location will be his fourth Dempsey’s Burger Pub. (In addition to the Lawrence restaurant, he owns venues in Wichita and Lincoln, Nebraska.) 

“I have always wanted to be in Westport,” Gaudreau says. “When I was in college, we would drive up to Kansas City just to go to Westport, which was always exciting. I’ve watched the transition and changes over the last 25 years and honestly, I don’t think there’s a better time to be in Westport. The food and bar scene is very vibrant, very cool. There’s so much talent there offering great food and craft cocktails. It’s where I need to be.”

Ernesto Peralta was unavailable for comment.