Cheddar's Shannon LaNier met with Alvin Clayton, founder of Alvin & Friends in New Rochelle, New York, to talk about black-owned businesses. 

On the Scene: Celebrating Black-Owned Businesses at Alvin & Friends

And all month long we've been highlighting black owned businesses to celebrate black history and our very own channel appears on the scene in new rochelle to help us do just that Good morning. Good morning. I'm pouring a glass for you. All right here, get in the morning, started the right way. We're at Alvin and Friends and New World Shell to talk a little bit more about black owned businesses. So I want to bring in the owner and founder of Allen and friends. Alvin Clayton himself. So Alvin, before we get into all this amazing food you have here, talk to us about the unique way of financing. You went about opening this restaurant. Well, it's called Alvin and Friends and part of it is because I have friends involved in the opening of the restaurant and um, most of the money that went in was mine. But what I wanted to do was like to have a captive audience as soon as you open. So if I have one person myself, I could do 10 friends if I have 10 friends that have 10 people, that's 100 people. So that was the concept of getting them in. So it's almost like almost like a club investment type thing. So from the day that we were open, we had all all these people invested in wanting this to succeed. And that was like, you know, the group made it a big success. We'll definitely work. People are raving about this food and it's more of a caribbean soul infusion. Right. Talk to me about some of the food will taste it because you know originally I was a partner in a restaurant in Los Angeles called Georgia, which was a southern restaurant, which was part owned by Denzel Washington brad johnson and a few people like that. So, and then this is the best oxygen tri state area. I'll put that to anyone serious money on that customers that come in from all over. Tell us that all the time. But so I wanted to put my caribbean roots into this as well. So we have the caribbean flavor and then we have um, you know, the southern flavor. Plus we have like dishes for everyone. We actually wanted a few restaurants that are caribbean and southern that actually feature vegan op. Well I'm very happy for that because a lot of times when you go into a restaurant of this caliber people so you can put this side together, that side together here, we actually pay attention to every guest that walks into the restaurant. I go to all the tables, fried chicken, which Westchester magazine had touted us as having the best fried chicken and I'll let you be the judge of it. Well, you know, that's what I say to people when I go to the tables and they were like, they said, you know, I heard you guys have the best fried chicken said, well if you feel you make the best fried chicken at home, do something else because your mom or your grandma is not in my kitchen, but so we have a way that we do it. So we basically the, it's in the fryer literally for like five minutes, we parboiled and and then we marinate it in the Louisiana, hot sauce and buttermilk and then we do this food is just as impressive as the artwork seen around the restaurant. Talk to me a little bit about the artwork as we walk this way, I want to show a little bit more of the artwork because you're actually the painter behind this. Yes, so I'm I'm I'm a self taught painter um matisse inspired, but I'm influenced by a lot of other african american art as well. Uh Jacob Lawrence and people like that. And so this is like my, my passion, I paint every day. I'm actually with the Maki Sister twins gallery in Mount vernon, I represent my work, my work has appeared in the Best man Holiday, the second installment I did the artwork for that movie, um you know, it's been at the Smithsonian, a lot of celebrities collect my work and so this is my passion. I paint every day, I leave the restaurant at night and I go into my studio until 23 in the morning and you you can attest to that definitely is always paint and there's a wonderful opportunity for us to come here and enjoy amazing food and amazing art. So definitely if you can check out Alvin and friends right here in New Rochelle.