The Box

A First Look at Kessler Park Eating House

By Scott Reitz
Apr 7, 2015

If you stop by the Erdeljac's new Kessler Park Eating House and don't order the pierogis, you're doing it wrong. They're listed on the menu with the other appetizers like there is nothing special about them, but there is. They should be listed in a bold font, maybe five to...
We Gave Carnival Barker's a Big Box of Crap and They Made Us This Hot Dog Ice Cream

By Alice Laussade
Aug 12, 2014

We gave Aaron Barker of Carnival Barker's Ice Cream (at the Truck Yard) a big ol' box of crap and asked him to make us hot dog ice cream. He said, "OK." Every ingredient from The Box had to be used, and he could choose to either split the items...
We Gave Carnival Barker's This Box of Crap and Made Them Make Us Hot Dog Ice Cream

By Alice Laussade
Jul 8, 2014

We all know that Dallas chefs are great at cheffing. So we thought it might be fun to give them a chance to show off their chef creativity and skills with a challenge we're bringing back, called "The Box." Once a month or so, we'll invite a new lucky soul...
The Box: Tesar Tesars the Crap Out of The Box

By Alice Laussade
Mar 28, 2013

Welcome to the return of City of Ate's The Box. Somehow, we got Spoon Bar & Kitchen's The Mr. Chef John Tesar to agree to take our The Box challenge. We even got Cafe Momentum's The Mr. Chef Chad Houser to help us pack The Box with the perfect, high-quality...
The Box: We Gave Lockhart Smokehouse a Box of Crap and They Smoked It.

By Alice Laussade and Nick Rallo
Aug 15, 2012

For this episode of The Box, we took our box of crap to Dallas Lockhart Smokehouse. Spoiler alert: It ended well. The Challenge: Create two delicious dishes using each of the ridiculous ingredients in The Box. You must smoke five of the nine ingredients, and each dish must include at...
Brian C. Luscher Punches Cody Sharp in The Box

By Alice Laussade and Nick Rallo
Jun 28, 2012

For this episode of The Box, we decided to try something a little different. We created the challenge, but instead of picking ingredients for the challenge ourselves, we enlisted the help of our first The Box victim: Chef Brian C. Luscher. And for this round, we decided to go vegetarian...
Here's All The Crazy Food of The Box in One Place

By Nick Rallo
May 18, 2012

The Box, if you haven't been following along, is the Cheap Bastard's brainchild, wherein chefs turn a box full o' crap and turn it into foodstuffs. Between Brian C. Luscher's weird-ass terrine of spam and quail eggs and the twinkie crowning inside a banana with homemade nutella, we've gotten some...
We Gave Good 2 Go Taco Chef Jeana Johnson This Big Box of Crap and She Invented The Best Hot Dog Evar

By Alice Laussade and Nick Rallo
May 9, 2012

Welcome to the return of The Box, the mean-ass game we play with chefs in town just because we like seeing these important-types give us the stink eye. Last time, Chef Chad Houser gave our The Box the stink eye and then made us fancy Easter Dinner out of Peeps...
We Gave Parigi Chef Chad Houser This Big Box of Crap and He Made Us Easter Dinner

By Alice Laussade and Nick Rallo
Apr 3, 2012

Welcome to the return of The Box. Last time, Craig Cottier turned the ingredients from The Box into radass St. Paddy's Day drinks. This time, we gave our big box of crap to Chad Houser, Cafe Momentum do-er and Parigi cheffer ("Parigi" means "fucking delicious deviled eggs" in French talk)...
We Gave NHS Tavern a Big Box of Crap and They Made Us St. Patty's Day Drinks

By Alice Laussade and Nick Rallo
Mar 5, 2012

Last week, we asked Neighborhood Services Tavern mixologist Craig Cottier to use the ingredients in our The Box (shown below) to make us three St. Patrick's Day-appropriate drinks that don't taste like Hulk splooge. Yep. Somewhere in those drinks is a russet potato, mint jelly and weird, carbonated melon drink...
Can Neighborhood Services Tavern Turn This Green Box of Crap Into Awesome St. Patrick's Day Booze Drinks?

By Alice Laussade
Feb 29, 2012

Welcome to the return of The Box. Last time, Matt McCallister turned the ingredients from the box into a bunch of awesome Super Bowl appetizers. This time, we gave our big box of crap to Craig Cottier, the surprisingly unbearded drink-mixer-man at Neighborhood Services Tavern. (Seriously, can you mix drinks...
We Gave Campo's Matt McCallister a Big Box of Crap and He Made Us 14-Layer Dip

By Alice Laussade and Nick Rallo
Feb 3, 2012

Once a month or so, we invite a new lucky soul to attempt to conquer The Box. Their challenge: To create something awesome out of whatever ingredients are in the box. It's like Chopped plus Punk'd, only less terrible. This month, Campo's Matt McCallister attempts to make some Super Bowl...
Can Campo's Matt McCallister Turn this Big Box of Crap into Awesome Apps? Probably.

By Alice Laussade
Jan 31, 2012

Welcome to the return of The Box. Last time, Trailercakes turned our big box of crap into two delicious cupcakes. This time, Chef Matt McCallister of Campo will get a chance to turn a box of chips, hot dogs and wine coolers into something that's actually edible. Here's the challenge,...
We Gave Trailercakes a Big Box of Crap and They Made Us Two Glorious Cupcakes

By Alice Laussade
Jan 11, 2012

Once a month or so, we invite a new lucky soul to attempt to conquer The Box. Their challenge: To create something awesome out of whatever ingredients are in the box. It's like Chopped plus Punk'd, only less terrible. This month, Trailercakes attempts to save Katy Perry and Russell Brand's...
Can Trailercakes Save Katy Perry and Russell Brand's Marriage? Probably.

By Alice Laussade
Jan 5, 2012

Welcome to the return of The Box. Last time, The Grape's Brian C. Luscher turned our box of crap into a badass quail egg terrine. This time the cupcakers at Trailercakes will get a chance to turn a box of WTF into something wonderful. Here's the challenge, as I sent...
We Gave The Grape's Brian Luscher a Big Box of Crap and He Made Us a Quail Egg Terrine

By Alice Laussade
Dec 14, 2011

We all know that Dallas chefs are great at cheffing. So we thought it might be fun to give them a chance to show off their chef creativity and skills with a new challenge we'll be calling "The Box." Once a month or so, we'll invite a new lucky soul...