Make New Friends: A LA Carte Food Making a Splash in Downtown

This year’s Western Foodservice & Hospitality Expo came with more than a few surprises. Ideas DTLA may have never thought of were on full display. Mixed within numerous booths of innovations, state of the art technology, and knowledgeable guests, were food products the likes event attendees had never known…

Downtown Weekly LA spoke to Karl Turner, owner of A La Carte Specialty Foods (ALC Foods) about his organic line of sea foods. Our line of questioning took longer than most, however, as our questions were purposely meant for stalling, inviting answers that took long enough for us to fill up on his never ending samples of fried oysters.

“What are those?” We asked.

But it was plain to see. Karl’s assistants were setting out dozens of samples; Homestyle Breaded Oysters direct from the fryer, each bursting with flavor with every bite.

These golden brown sea heroes rescue chefs across the country from whatever time it takes to shuck, mix flour bats, and combine the perfect seasoning.  Since they are pre-breaded, par-cooked and flash frozen, a restaurant can quickly prepare them from the freezer to the plate in 3 minutes.

Best yet, these juicy aphrodisiacs were spiced right, from New Orleans, stored here in Vernon and sold by the case to local chefs everyday.

Attendees came by and took samples as they walked on. Some talking to Karl’s assistants, some placing orders. We kept Karl’s attention as we waited for the next batch … seemed we had more questions.

What type of Oysters are they? We asked.

“These are Boudreaux’s Gourmet, Gigas Oysters, farmed raised using rope mariculture in the blue crystal waters off the coast of the China Sea.” Karl told us.

That was a lot of information to take in but we needed to know. We needed more time to understand.

“So, what’s the best way to serve these delicious sea tourist?” We asked while sampling the next batch.

“Let your imagination run wild.” Said Karl.

Karl was always ready with the right answer! He had “Paid the cost to bring the sauce.” And had sauces available as well.

“We’ve seen restaurants serve them very similar to the way they serve Buffalo Wings, fried with a variety of sauces. Drizzle them with Thai Sweet Chile Sauce, Buffalo or Ginger Sesame Sauce. They are also served baked. Other than an appetizer, they go well topped on a salad with honey mustard vinaigrette. Po’Boy sandwiches sprinkled with blue cheese and bacon brings the experience to a whole other level.”

It felt like it was starting to get obvious, we were timing each question around the arrival of another batch, but Karl’s team didn’t mind.    

Over the course of the three day event, his company must have given away thousands of delicious bites and they welcomed us to more. 

We eventually filled up, but as the days went by we researched ALC Foods on www.alcfood.com only to find the combined stories behind, not only oysters but shrimp bites and shrimp poppers. Stories that just kept getting better and better.

We’ve got plans to feature articles on any company in DTLA serving these products. If that’s your eatery, feel free to reach out. Investigative reporting never tasted so good. @alcfood

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