The Keto-Friendly Confines of Alt Kafe

The Keto Alternative

Fullerton, California

5 Scoops of Bosco

Editors Note:  The Alt Cafe closed on August 1.  However, Corey's Food Prep Business, The Keto Alternative, is alive and well.

Reviewed by Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

One of the challenges of adopting the Low Carb/low sugar/Keto lifestyle is finding good places to eat that support the lifestyle.  

I personally have adopted the mind-set that I can go in to any restaurant or diner and modify a menu to fit my low carb, low sugar lifestyle.  Over the years, I have gotten pretty darn good at it.  I am kind of proud of myself.

Except bakeries.  It's extremely hard to do Low Carb, low sugar or Keto in a bakery.  And I have always loved bakeries.

When I go to a bakery. I usually end up getting coffee. Black.  All the while taking in the wonderful bakery aroma.

All this menu modification can be mentally exhausting.  I really don't want to work that hard at it.  I have other important things to do.  Like eating.

So, I was thrilled to discover a few weeks back as I was on my walk of a section of the historic and iconic El Camino Real (AKA Harbor Blvd.)  through my hometown of Fullerton a quaint new diner, The Alt Kafe, The Keto Alternative. 

The Alt Kafe is actually a half block west from the El Camino Real (Harbor Blvd) on Chapman Avenue in Fullerton but totally worth the diversion from the walk.  I was already walking anyway.  So an extra half a block wasn't going to kill me.  But I digress.

The first time I went to the Alt Kafe, I was fortunate enough to run into Cody, the owner and chef.  Cody is originally from South Carolina so he has this infectious Southern Hospitality vibe which spreads to his entire staff.  So I fell instantly in like with Cody and his team.

The food is absolutely delicious.  All the items I have eaten so far are winners.  Cody has been involved with the keto lifestyle for a while and has been doing food prep and catering (and continues to have a thriving food prep service called the Keto Alternative) his Keto-Friendly fare before he opened up the Kafe as a brick and mortar.  He has crafted a wonderful menu to choose from.  He has been tweaking the menu at the Kafe ever since he opened in February so the original menu is evolving weekly.  Check online to see the latest offerings. The website is www.theketoalternative.com/alt-cafe but they are also on all the social media platforms as well.

So far I have tried and enjoyed the following: 

The Ollie Burger. A beef burger with pimento cheese, bacon and pickles usually on a low carb bun although I had this as a lettuce wrap. 

The Western Burger,  which is a beef burger with pepper jack pimento cheese, grilled jalapenos, bacon, spicy comeback sauce on a keto bun. 

Alt Kafe's take on the Nashville Hot Chicken sandwich is my favorite so far.  It is a  chicken breast  breaded in pork rinds and parmesan cheese with Nashville hot sauce topped with slaw and pickles.  Spoiler alert on the Nashville hot sauce.  It is very hot.  I wisely took it on the side.

Other items on the current menu include the Sammy (A crispy seared 6 ounce filet of salmon served over a veggie risotto made from mushrooms, cauliflower and spinach). My server on the return trip told me this along with the Thai Chicken Salad, Nashville Nuggies and Nashville-Cali Mac are the most popular items right now.

I mentioned earlier my love of bakeries and the challenge of eating low carb, low sugar bakery and dessert items in a diner or restaurant.   Alt Kafe comes to the rescue with a wide array of delicious Keto-friendly, low carb dessert and bakery options. My favorite so far are all of the scones, a Red Velvet Cheese cake as well as a German Chocolate cake.

Breakfast is served every Saturday morning and the breakfast menu includes a Western Omelette,  Biscuits and Sausage Gravy, and Bacon, Egg and Cheese Sandwich.

Enjoy.

How Smart Water Makes You Smarter

By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

I recently paid a visit to the local Mall.

I was thirsty so I got a bottle of Smart Water in the food court.

I paid $3.99 for a 20 ounce bottle.

After I drank the bottle Of Smart Water I realized that wasn’t a very smart thing to do since there are drinking fountains with free water.

So the take away is that Smart Water actually does make you smarter.

It's All Part of My Rock and Roll Fantasy

By Allen Bacon, The Daily Bosco

When I was eight years old, my second grade teacher, Mrs. Cahill, (shoutout to Richman Elementary in Fullerton, CA) gave us the assignment to write a story and then draw an illustration to go with the story.

My story was of a fictitious band called the Removers in which I was the frontman. My brother was the drummer and two of our relatives were the bass and lead guitarist.

I had a hard time drawing a guitar so I went to just putting tambourines in my hands. But you can tell it’s me because I drew myself with my signature crew cut.

I ran out of space so I ditched the fourth member of the group. I found out later, from my artist/art teacher wife that I actually made the right call artistically. It’s called “the rule of thirds”.

Plus my cousin wasn’t a great guitarist anyway.

So we became a power trio.

Check out our outfits. So Mod.

To make an already long story shorter... This crayon drawing ended up on the walls of the Muckenthaler Center. Each year they would highlight the "best" art from the grade schoolers in Fullerton.

To this day...I wonder how I got in that exhibit. Was Mrs. Cahill on the board that chose the winners? Look at this drawing...It's horrible! Now my neighbor friend Larry Dodson could draw and paint! He was an artist! Me....not so much....but I digress.

So, I ended up as the answer to a trivia question. If you want to win a bet and the question is. “Whose art was displayed at the Muckenthaler Center first? Is it Fine Artist Marta Bacon (whose had more than one of her pieces displayed over the years at the Muck) or her husband Allen Bacon? .... the answer would be me, Allen Bacon .

The Removers were a cover band. We played a lot of Monkees, Beatles, Buffalo Springfield and whatever else I was listening to on KEZY 1190 AM on my AM Transistor radio in 1967.

Now if I can just find my story. It’s somewhere in my garage.