Flavorful twists on Southern & gourmet food. New restaurant opens in Byron

Allegra Lowe started ABC Catering, LLC with a black cooler with wheels and aluminum pans from the Dollar Tree on Dec. 19, 2019.

The self-taught chef catered a private dinner in Atlanta for a gentleman who planned the special evening to propose marriage to his girlfriend.

Oct. 15, 2021, Lowe, who’s known for her flavorful twists on Southern and gourmet dishes, hit the road with a food truck by the same name.

Sept. 27, Lowe celebrated the grand opening of her long anticipated ABC Catering, LLC restaurant at 315 Ga. 49, Suite B, in Byron.

“It’s surreal,” said Lowe, a veteran who left teaching to pursue her passion for food full time in April 2021. “It’s very exciting.

“It makes me feel like the hard work has come to fruition. It feels worth it.”

‘We sold out of everything’

At the grand opening, Lowe sold out of everything on the cafeteria-style serving line about 30 minutes before closing.

Lowe ended up cooking to order her garlic butter steak bites, which were not on the menu for the day, for her remaining guests.

The menu for the grand opening included bourbon chicken and rice, seafood stuffed salmon, oxtails and rice, Philly cheesesteak alfredo, green beans, broccoli, homemade desserts and lemonade.

“We sold out of everything, and we had people still coming even after we closed,” she said.

The restaurant reopened Thursday with its regular operating hours.

On her sole soft opening day the Saturday before the grand opening, Lowe also sold out about 35 minutes before closing. The soft opening day came on the heels of the back-to-back Food Truck Roundup in Warner Robins on Thursday and the Food Truck Friday in Perry.

“I got like only three hours of sleep,” Lowe said. “But it was worth it.”

The restaurant’s cuisine

The restaurant is an extension of the food truck that’s rolled up all across Middle Georgia for all sorts of events and standalones at subdivisions, doctor’s offices, apartment complexes, churches and schools.

Lowe also mobilizes the food truck for catering events when the location does not offer a commercial kitchen. She’s catered weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers and family reunions.

Diners at the restaurant can expect plates that she serves up from the food truck as well as some new dishes. The day’s menu is posted on a TV screen on a wall behind the serving line as well as on the ABC Catering, LLC Facebook page.

Among her most popular dishes are the garlic butter steak bites over homemade garlic mashed potatoes. Add-ons include peppers, onions, mushrooms, shrimp and a parmesan crust.

Her No. 1 seller is oxtails and rice. Salmon, shrimp and grits are also popular. A new dish is Philly cheesesteak alfredo. Lowe also is experimenting with dishes that are popular on Facebook and TikTok such as red hot chetch boudin balls, but with her own twist.

“They’re super popular with the younger generation,” she said. “But ... my generation, we’ve taken them and we’ve kind of created something a little different with them.”

Lowe uses her risotto rice with vegetables, sweet tri-colored peppers with onions and then adds a protein such as salmon, steak, crawfish, shrimp or Philly cheesesteak, then coats it with the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and deep fries the balls.

The lemonade Lowe serves she affectionately calls C’s Lemonade after her 13-year-old son Christian, who combined peach, pineapple and mango flavors with the original lemonade one day at an event when Lowe asked him to fix her something to drink.

Family ties

The “ABC” in the name of Lowe’s business comes from the letters of her first name, Allegra, her youngest son’s first name, Baisden, 5, and her oldest son, Christian.

Her husband, Darius Lowe, a Frito-Lay truck driver, encouraged her to not renew her teaching contract in June 2021 and instead pursue her passion for cooking full-time. He also helped her launch the restaurant. Her eldest son also helped out on the soft opening day.

Allegra Lowe also has developed her own seasonings and flavors. Her secret recipe “love sauce” is incorporated into many of her dishes because it enhances the flavor of so many foods.

“Since we love it so much,” said Lowe, who first taste tested the sauce on food she served her family, “I’m going to call it love sauce because I literally put this stuff on everything.”

Lowe developed a love for food and cooking when helping her grandmother, the late Florine Billue, and her mom, Carol Billue, prepare meals for their family. Lowe started cooking at age 11.

Stepping inside the restaurant

The dining area, which can seat 56 people, is sectioned off to direct patrons to the cafeteria-style serving area. Once they have their food, diners can pay and dine-in or they can take their meal home with them.

At the front entrance of the restaurant, Lowe has created a display with a short biography, photos of her family and other memorabilia. Photos of other family members, including one of Lowe and her grandmother Billue, also hang in the restaurant.

Numerous plaques also hang on the restaurant walls with encouraging messages, with many displaying Lowe’s faith in God.

“I still remember the days I prayed for the things I have now,” reads one.

For Lowe, who’s served in the U.S. Army, taught, and coached cross country, opening the restaurant has been the toughest thing she’s ever done.

“I’ll be honest, this process was not possible without my faith in God because it got tough ... It was a lot of tears ... a lot of I don’t know if I can do this,” Lowe said.

The restaurant’s opening was delayed for months due to various challenges with the interior remodel and other unexpected developments such as having to replace a gas line.

“Just praying and believing and, you know, just keeping my faith in God, and that’s what got me here,” Lowe said. “Honestly, that’s what got me through the days that felt like it wasn’t going to happen.”

Restaurant hours & more

Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and then 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on only the first and second Sundays.

Lowe chose those hours to allow her to keep her vision of not only being a successful business woman but also a successful wife and mother and to continue operating the food truck and do catering.

Lowe also has decided to let some of her employees operate the food truck while she’s at the restaurant. She can be reached at 478-363-6396 or through the ABC Catering, LLC Facebook page. The new spot is in the former Prominent Bar and Restaurant location.

This story was originally published September 26, 2025 at 6:00 AM.