Authentic Specialty, based in Grand Prairie, Tex., makes tortillas, tortilla chips, salsa, cheeses and sauces under the brands Calidad, La Victoria, La Monita, Tortilla King and Alamo Street.
Digital printing does allow for the cost-effective replication of old hand-painted patterns on fabric, sites like eBay occasionally yield finds, and authentic specialty items can be found on the Web.
And the only one of these consolidators to go public so far, Authentic Specialty Foods of Grand Prairie, Tex., illustrates the potential for investors when such companies achieve critical mass: Earlier this month, DESC agreed to acquire Authentic, a tortilla- and salsa-making roll-up, for $17 a share, more than double what investors paid in Authentic's initial offering last August.
"Your shirt needs to be changed after you've eaten our product," joked J. Gary Shansby about Authentic Specialty Foods, which was assembled from five small companies by his Shansby Group, San Francisco investors who buy, build and sell specialty-food, pharmaceutical and other brand-product companies.
That shift may have reached a tipping point with the recent arrival of Larb Ubol, where the chef Ratchanee Sumpathboon delivers authentic Isan specialties like papaya salads and grilled pork jowl.
4. Kabab Cafe +++ (718) 728-9858 25-12 Steinway Street Astoria, Queens $ Cash only The minty, spicy aroma alone is reason enough to visit the tiny Kabab Cafe, one of the few restaurants in the city to serve authentic Egyptian specialties like melokhia, a soupy stew made from the green melokhia leaf, which turns grassy and slick when cooked.
The minty, spicy aroma alone is reason enough to visit the tiny Kabab Cafe in Astoria, one of the few restaurants in the city to serve authentic Egyptian specialties like melokhia, a soupy stew made from the green melokhia leaf, which turns grassy and slick when cooked.
Excellent, authentic Mexican specialties include beef, chicken and seafood fajitas and soft tacos filled with a juicy and tender beef cutlet.
Authentic Mexican specialties are served at family-run El Farolito (2737 W. Pico Blvd., 731-4329), which prepares birria (goat stew) and menudo on weekends.
