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Mayor
Duggan
talks
with
Louisiana
Creole
Gumbo
owner
Joe
Spencer
and
daughter
Stephanie
Spencer,
marketing
director
for LCG
Foods.
(Photo
by HB
Meeks/Tell
Us
Detroit) |
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Authentic
Creole
Restaurant
Opens
New
Location
in NW
Detroit
By Karen
Hudson
Samuels/Tell
Us
Detroit
DETROIT
-
Louisiana
Creole
Gumbo,
the
well-known
restaurant
that
first
introduced
metro
Detroit
to Cajun
style
cooking,
celebrated
the
grand
opening
of its
second
restaurant
recently
with a
ribbon
cutting
ceremony,
remarks
by owner
Joe
Spencer
and
congratulations
from
Detroit
Mayor
Mike
Duggan.
Expanding
from its
location
on
Gratiot
is “The
ultimate
test of
Detroit’s
come
back”
said
Mayor
Duggan
who told
well-wishers
that
“There
are
opportunities
for
people
who stay
here
like
restaurant
owner
Joe
Spencer.”
The
journey
to the
new
location
at 13505
W. Seven
Mile in
Detroit
is one
navigated
by
Spencer’s
own
drive to
tap into
what he
called
the
“ecosystem”
of
programs
and
grants
designed
to
create
economic
growth
through
small
business
expansion;
he has
participated
in the
Goldman
Sachs
10,000
Small
Business
program
that
assists
companies
with
development
and
received
funding
from
Motor
City
Match.
Most
recently
Spencer
was
named
the
recipient
of a
$100,000
grant by
the New
Economy
Initiative
Small
Business
Challenge,
“It will
fund our
expansion
into the
mobile
food
truck
business”
with
service
to begin
at the
end of
the
first
quarter,
2017.
The
trucks
will
package
the same
restaurant
food
items
taking
them to
neighborhoods
and
business
areas
all over
the
city.
In
thanking
the
Mayor
and his
staff
for
their
support
Spencer
said
that
before
the
paint
was dry,
his
first
customer
at the
LCG’s 7
Mile
location
was
Duggan
and
Council
member
Andre
Spivey.
The
Mayor
said the
food was
fantastic,
“I
didn’t
need to
eat for
two
days!”
For
Spencer
whose
careers
spans
time as
a local
TV
executive,
the path
to the
restaurant
business
began in
1983
with a
coin
toss
between
good
friends.
“I
wanted
to get
into the
real
estate
business”
as an
investment
but good
friend
Doug
Morison
suggested
looking
at a
little
restaurant
as an
investment.
Losing
that
coin
toss led
to the
purchase
of
Louisiana
Creole
Gumbo
from
Joseph
Strafford,
including
recipes,
secret
sauces
and a
special
blend of
spices.
Today
Spencer
says LCG
has a
full
menu of
authentic
New
Orleans
cuisine
starting
with
five
different
kinds of
gumbos,
from
seafood
to
vegetable
and hot
and
spicy
gumbo;
four
different
types of
creoles,
four
types of
jambalayas
and red
beans
and rice
that can
be
customized
with
chicken,
green
onion,
sour
cream.
“We also
have a
delicious
line of
southern
dishes,
the
things
like
what you
mother
made
your
grandmother
made”
said
Spencer.
That
would
include
baked
chicken,
barbeque
chicken;
smoothed
pork
chops,
rib
tips,
mac and
cheese,
collard
greens.
The
trend of
people
not
wanting
a lot of
fat in
their
diets is
something
Spencer
said LCG
is tuned
into.
Their
vegetables
are
cooked
with
spices
but no
meat or
pork.
And
Spencer
said
they
have the
best
lemonade
you will
taste
anywhere
in the
country
and a
delicious
line up
desserts.
“When
you come
here
you’re
going to
be well
fed.”
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