The Observer's very own Alice Laussade, who for years put her cast-iron stomach on the line as The Cheap Bastard to bring you reviews of Dallas' low-cost lunch spots, was named a finalist in the humor-writing category of the 2013 James Beard Foundation Awards, which is like the Oscars of food and food journalism, except with no cheesy musical numbers.
Alice was nominated for The Cheap Bastard's Ultimate Guide to Eating like a Total Cheap Bastard in Dallas, a story that is about exactly what its headline says it's about. Plus, it's funny. You should read it.
See also: -- The Cheap Bastard's Ultimate Guide to Eating like a Total Cheap Bastard in Dallas
The is the second time Alice has been a finalist in the prestigious James Beard Foundation's writing awards. In 2011, she was nominated in the humor category for "OK, Who Put Food in My Beer?", which was about fried food at the State Fair of Texas. She didn't take home the top prize that time around, a result that has absolutely nothing to do with any shameless bribes or sexual favors the judges definitely did not receive from the eventual winner, despite any contrary rumors you might read here.
"Holy shit! And my kid has pink eye! Best day ever," Alice wrote in a text message after we called her to let her know about this year's nominations, which the Beard Foundation live webcast and Tweeted this morning.
Sadly, while The Cheap Bastard occasionally makes a return appearance on City of Ate, Alice no longer produces the column regularly, having recently moved on to writing about parenthood and Dallas culture on our culture blog, The Mixmaster. Her Alice Column pops up there weekly, and she writes The Parent Crap whenever she remembers where it was she last left her kid.
Also nominated in the Beard's humor category this year were Lisa "I Hate Puppies" Hanawalt (Lucky Peach) and Michael "Let's Eat Horses" Procopio (Food for the Thoughtless).
