Chef Karlos learned the food traditions of South Louisiana by watching his mom Rose, his grandmother Emily, and all of his aunts cooking the mandatory-to-attend Sunday dinner at his grandparents’ home.  Etouffees, Gumbos, Jambalaya, Shrimp Creole, Fried Catfish – something was on the menu every week to entice the extended family to drive to the community of Bayou Portage to get together. Louisiana’s seafood was on the menu at the most special of these occasions – you could always count on Christmas Eve crawfish bisques, Good Friday crawfish boils, and Mother’s Day seafood gumbo.  Often his Uncle Lambert would issue an ultimatum for fried fish or he would not make the drive in from Baton Rouge that week.  Karlos’ Grandfather Dorsey always managed to catch enough fish to ensure Lambert would make the drive.

Karlos enlisted in the Army as a Cavalry Scout and was deployed to Germany for six years.  He and his wife and son traveled broadly while in Europe and they were amazed by the locality of European cuisine and beverage.  Wherever they traveled they observed that both food and drink evolved together locally there.  When he returned to South Louisiana, he and his family opened Bayou Teche Brewing in Arnaudville, with a plan to create beers that pair with South Louisiana’s cuisine, traditions, and lifestyle. The only problem was at that time a Louisiana brewery could not open a restaurant. 

After years of work and lobbying, in 2019 Louisiana allowed its breweries to add food to their menus.  Karlos and his wife/coconspirator Stephanie opened the Cajun Saucer restaurant at the brewery.  Focusing on Cajun-Inspired Italian fare, their wood-fired oven cooks pizzas mainly topped with Cajun toppings.  Continuing the childhood lessons learned at those mandatory Sunday dinners, on special occasions Karlos puts Louisiana seafood on the menu – his Neapolitan-style Crawfish Etouffee, or Seafood Gumbo pizzas (with a scoop of Louisiana rice in the middle are customer favorites.