Meat Fight Fun-lanthropy
How Cheap Bastard Alice Laussade turned a backyard BBQ into a big-dealfundraiser
Meat Fight founder Alice Laussade. You may know her name from her wildly popularCheap Bastard column in the Dallas Observer.Photo courtesy of Meat Fight
Fighter Jeana Johnson, formerly of Acme F&B.Photo courtesy of Meat Fight
Fighter Jeff Bekovac of Neighborhood Services.Photo courtesy of Meat Fight
Aaron Franklin of Franklin Barbecue in Austin is among the seven judges.Photo courtesy of Meat Fight
Longtime Meat Fight supporter and 2012 judge Daniel Vaugh, a.k.a., BBQ Snob.Photo courtesy of Meat Fight
The cast of The League in Meat Fight shirts, from the Meat Fight Tumblr site.Photo courtesy of Meat Fight
Alice Laussade is no event planner. At least she wasn’t until a few months ago, when Meat Fight, the sold-out November 4 multiple sclerosis fundraiser, started to get, well, big.
By her own admission, Meat Fight started off as a selfish endeavor. In 2010, Alice and her husband, Mike, were invited to a friend’s house for brisket. “It was the most beautiful brisket I’d ever had,” says Alice, a.k.a., the Cheap Bastard in the pages of the Dallas Observer. “I understood in that moment why you don’t need sauce.”
Later that night, when they were “jonesing for that brisket,” the Laussades remembered they had other friends who knew how to cook stuff, so they invited them over for a party in their backyard. They called it Meat Fight.
“It’s so nice to have people who are excited to be a part of it,” Alice says. “We were hoping for four chefs. We have 12. Not one chef said no to us.”
That first year, they made cups and had a keg for about 40 people. A couple of friends and Alice’s dad judged the meat: brisket, pulled pork, sausage and ribs. Mike won for his pulled pork.
In 2011, Alice invited some local celebrity judges — Jack Perkins of Maple & Motor, Jill Bergus of Lockhart Smokehouse, Diane and Justin Fourton of Pecan Lodge, Brian C. Luscher of The Grape, BBQ Snob Daniel Vaughn — so she could charge at the door and raise some money for MS, a cause she supports passionately.
The barbecue showdown was still in her backyard. In addition to brisket, pulled pork and ribs, there was a pie competition and some T-shirts for sale. And another keg, of course.
I attended last year, as a guest of one of the judges. I had only just met Alice; we were introduced through a mutual friend. But we bonded immediately. MS is a cause near and dear to me as well, because my sister suffers from it.
During Meat Fest part deux, Vaughn took one look at Alice’s dad’s brisket and said, “That’s the winner.”
Turns out, Vaughn was right. Alice’s dad took top honors for brisket, Rob Shearer won for ribs and her husband won for pulled pork — again. Everyone joked that it was rigged. More important, the Laussades raised $2,000 for MS, through ticket and T-shirt sales.
Alice says they had no plans to make Meat Fight any bigger. “But every person at the event was like, ‘You’re dumb.’ So here we are.”
Alice predicts there are two groups of Meat Fighters: the hardcore BBQ fans and the foodies. “It’s going to look like Lee Harvey’s threw up on Dean Fearing,” she says.
Where they are is a 350-person event no longer confined to her backyard. This year’s venue is the Sons of Hermann Hall in Deep Ellum, where the city’s top chefs, split up into teams of three, will compete for bragging rights for the best brisket, pork, sausage and one wild card.
“It’s so nice to have people who are excited to be a part of it,” Alice says. “We were hoping for four chefs. We have 12. Not one chef said no to us.”
Those who didn’t say no include Luscher, Perkins, Chad Houser, Jeffery Hobbs, Matt McCallister, Tiffany Derry, Randall Copeland, Jeff Bekovac, Cody Sharp, Jeana Johnson, Eric Hansen and Omar Flores.
Luscher is captain for team Meatallica. Houser is leading the Cool Arrows. Perkins’ team is called Limp Brisket.
“We are stunned by the names we have,” Alice says. “We were hoping for three judges, and we have seven — and one of them is Aaron Franklin.” Yeah, the guy from Franklin Barbecue in Austin.
Alice predicts there are two groups of Meat Fighters: the hardcore BBQ fans and the foodies. “When you say ‘Aaron Franklin,’ they’re like, ‘barbecue Jesus!’ When you say ‘Matt McCallister,’ the foodies shit their pants,” she says. “It’s going to look like Lee Harvey’s threw up on Dean Fearing.”
Joining Franklin at the judge’s table are Vaughn, Tim Byres, Will Fleischman (Lockhart Smokehouse), Justin Fourton, Stephen Joseph (Riverpoint Bar-B-Que) and Nick Pencis (Stanley’s Favorite Pit BBQ).
“We’re trying to rethink fundraisers,” Alice says. “People want to have a good time. That’s what this is about. It’s so cool, and it doesn’t have to be about charity, but it is.”
The list of sponsors is equally impressive. Among them are Deep Ellum Brewing Company, Local Yocal, Whole Foods, Pop Star and Oh!Brownie. Alice got even more phone calls from potential sponsors after the tickets sold out, which happened in an hour and 10 minutes.
In addition to ticket sales, Alice and team are raising money for MS through T-shirt sales (limited quantities of four new designs by Magnificent Beard), meat calendars, and silent auction items that range from brunch with Tiffany Derry and a “dream date” with Randall Copeland to a meat tornado pillow Alice found on Etsy.
A more legit silent auction item is a round of golf on an exclusive course with local PGA Tour golfer Hunter Haas. All proceeds go directly to the Lone Start Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Despite the social media frenzy — there is a Tumblr site dedicated to people wearing Meat Fight T-shirts, and the chef teams have engaged in virtual trash-talking via video on Facebook — Alice is quick to point out that Meat Fight is about the cause.
She uses the word “fun-lanthropy” but adds she’s almost embarrassed to say it. “We’re trying to rethink fundraisers,” she says. “People want to have a good time. That’s what this is about. It’s an event that’s so cool, and it doesn’t have to be about charity, but it is.”
Alice broke down and hired some help for the day of the event, so she could actually enjoy it. “It’s like my meat wedding,” she says. “My goal is to eat at Meat Fight.”
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Meat Fight is Sunday, November 4, 2-6 pm, at Sons of Hermann Hall. The event is sold out, but CultureMap Dallas is giving away two tickets on our Facebook page. To help raise money for MS, you can purchase a Meat Fight T-shirt online or make a donation to the MS Society.
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