April 12, 2025 • 13 mins
Chef Noah Clark, the torchbearer of this family-founded legacy, has assumed the reins. Noah is driven by unwavering determination to uphold and evolve his family's culinary tradition. Together with his dedicated team, Noah is actively shaping and infusing life into the BOX Chicken fast-casual concept in the vibrant city of Los Angeles, California.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know, this is a young man we met gosh
was it back in May almost a year ago?
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Maybe?
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Was that the event the Manhattan Beach h Food event.
But his name is Chef Noah Clark. Not only is
he a handsome bastard, which is a good reason to
hate him, but then on top of that, he's an
amazing chef. He has a smile that can light up
a room, and the energy and excitement passionate about his
(00:26):
food to match. But on top of that, his story
is one that everyone loved to hear. And when we
got to release as to some stuff that you guys
were doing, we thought, oh, this would be great if
you guys had time to pop on because I've got
my friend Brian Olsen from The Bugman here is our
(00:47):
guest taster, and I'm like, okay. So we had two
new ones that we hadn't tasted before that came and
we tasted them and this is one of our favorites
from last year and beyond. And you get to set today,
so bring us up to speed about your upbringing the
two lovely ladies with you, and give a recap of
(01:09):
your story.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah, so pretty much. I'm half black, half Japanese. So
I grew up in a blended household, also to family household.
My mom and my aunt are the core women in
my life. Call my aunt Maggie my Yoda, and I'm
her Luke. She's kind of like you know, so she's
taught me pretty much everything I know about being in
a kitchen. I grew up in a kitchen at a
really young age, like eight years old. Wow, so very
(01:32):
familiar with all the recipes I had growing up that
we are serving to you guys today. And really it's
her all her. This is she created when you're eighteen, right,
eighteen years old? In Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Ten years ago.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah, we moved to Atlanta to open a restaurant when
I was young, and then we had a nice run there,
sold our steak in that company there. Moved here to
open another concept, very very similar menu. We just knew
we had a good product and we could do it
again here. So that's what brought me to La brought
us back home because that's where they were born and raised.
So and here we are now. We got to meet
(02:10):
you a couple of months ago, and I was.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Just blown away. I mean this simply you had it
in the form of a taco when we met, and
it was one of those bites that you're like, holy hell,
that's something special. And you know, seeing the family, I'm
a sucker for families. I think that generational knowledge is
like a snowball. It gets bigger and better and stronger
(02:35):
through it's through the purity of it being passed down.
You know. So you you say you're black and knees
or are you?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
It's actually it right black? And I said a whole
lot black, and.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Because I didn't know if you were you know, African American. Okay,
well I wasn't.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Sure that.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Uh as a as a half breed myself. I was
joke about that too, and I'm like, oh, that's hot,
says my white side. But yeah, but it is in
your case having an African American father brought in soul
food options and a Japanese mother brought in you know,
(03:18):
Japanese options. And you know, I remember growing up, uh,
you know, having friends from different cultures and backgrounds. When
you go over to their house for dinner or something,
all of a sudden you'd eat, you know. I had
my first egg roll at a friend's house and I'm like,
holy hell, what is this an out come? I'm just
tasting it now, you know. So having you know, a
(03:38):
family like that and bringing it to this what what
would you say? Why do it in chicken form? What
was the purpose? Why go towards chicken?
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Yeah? I was actually just talking to her about this earlier.
How I was. I didn't realize how spoiled I was
growing up because I ate her food my whole life.
And then the first time I realized that it was
a little different, I went to a friend's house and ate,
and I was like, what is this like? It was disgusting,
to say the least. And I was like, oh my gosh.
It was like I was probably eighteen the first time happened.
(04:07):
I was like, this is I've been spoiled my whole life.
We always had people at our house eating, and it
was because of what she was making. So I just
didn't realize how good we had it.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Do you want to call out the parent?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
I have one specifica in my mind too. I'm not
gonna call him out.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
No, I don't mean to be rude, but this hamburger
needs an EF.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Some salt man, some salt, you know, salt, garlic, so
little Yeah, well you know that's why different cultures exist.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
All right, we come back, we're gonna taste some of
the food. I'm excited for my friend Brian here is
our guest taster to try it as well. But looking
at it and just bringing back memories of the of
how much it stood out. So we'll come back and
talk more. The place you need to go and you
need to look at when it comes to box Chicken
is very simple. Eat box chicken dot com, Eat box
(05:01):
chicken dot com, Eat chicken dot eat box chicken dot Now.
Now now everybody's singing that in their head at the earworm.
Right now, we are enjoying about to get into box Chicken.
They brought their food. My buddy Brian Olsen, he's the
CEO and president of the Bug Man. You hear me
(05:21):
talking about them all the time. And I invited him in.
I say, come be a guest taster today, and I
think I heard the phone hit the ground and the
entire spin out. And so we've been having fun having
him here with us. Right, thank you. We've had some
good stuff. Okay, now it's an extra incredible right and
(05:42):
not like your typical fried chicken.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
No, it tastes incredibly fresh and it's not all battery.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah, you taste the chicken, it's it's wonderful. Thank you,
Thank you have some of that goat ranch, get some
of that on there time. Yeah, it is, Uh, it
is something special. And we had box chicken on We
had chef Noah Clark. Uh. You know it says on
his website, and I think it's cool. The torch bearer,
you know, of the found the family. You have this
(06:14):
legacy through your auntie, through your mom and through your family.
He mixed race flavors. But you grew up, like you said, spoiled.
You were raised on great food until you were invited
to your names and you're like, why am I eating this?
And what is it? What? What's what's your go to
(06:37):
when you have to center yourself? What's the food that
centers your reminds you of home and brings you back.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Oh man, we call it poverty on rice. It's my childhood,
is what I grew up on. It's just ground beef
that is seasoned in tedioaki sauce on a bed of
rice with an over easy egg on top. And it's
like the person delicious, the perfect breakfast for me. So
(07:03):
it just hits every spot and it just reminds me
of my grandma most importantly, and just the trickle down effect.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
And well she had drunk because that sounds like, don't
that sound good?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Woman never drank anything in her life.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Take a sip of beer turned bright red?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
The name does it translate? Well? But it just kind
of stuck in the family.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Yeah, you know, I'll tell you though, but those are
the most memorable sometimes because they're simple and they speak
to your your stomach and your heart. It's like, this
is what I It doesn't have to be fancy. You know.
I love when my son, who's eight, asks for those
types of things. You know, Can I have a daddy dog? Yeah?
(07:51):
That's you know, that's a hot dog and a tortilla. Yeah,
that's what a mixed breed eats.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
You know.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
It's like, you know, uh, wave Conweni's got up an
angular or something. Yeah. Those are the things that you
know that bring a smile to your face. Yeah. So
what do you want people to know about what's going
on with you? Guys? How they could utilize Get in
touch with your food? You know, I know you're catering.
(08:17):
That's huge, So tell us a little bit about box
Chicken and what's going on.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Yeah, I mean we've been opened since July, but this
is kind of like our coming out party, I guess,
you know, just that we have a really good product
on our hands and we want everyone to try it
because it's delicious. Yeah, and if you want to order,
just eatbox chicken dot com. Like the song earlier, Yeah
(08:43):
you know it's yeah, it's our jingle. But you know,
just like through all the Uber eats platforms all that
kind of stuff too. If you're on the West side,
just give us a try. You I really wouldn't be disappointed.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
No, it really is one of those things that I
have zero fear of someone Ye tasting your food and
going wasn't what it's used.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Super rare. It does happen because you can't please everyone,
but it's super rare when it does. And I automatically
don't trust that person when they say that.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
I like, you probably hate dogs and joy and ice
cream and children. Yeah exactly, go back to killing joy. Yeah,
thank you delicious cancer coming in here with all the hate.
I am having rice and potato salad, and I will
(09:33):
tell you I have never had rice and potato salad together.
Like this.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
I've never mixed them like great combination. Yes, And that
potato salad I also grew up on that.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Potato salad is bombe great there. It is absolutely perfect
in every way, even the size of the potatoes, you
know how you.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Have some texture to yeah, or.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
They're so big, the chunk is so big that halfway
through you go, goodness, goodness, way through you go potato potatoes,
potato with no with nothing on it, not even potatoes straight,
just potato, unseasoned potato, unseasoned potato. And yeah, it drives
me nuts. I want I want that perfect mixture. And
(10:15):
you know, size of those things are important.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
You guys have the perfect bites going. But grab a
little bit of that salad.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
And what are you what are you saying? You're telling
me to eat a salad saladin? My mom and my
wife are on the phone right now. Why don't you
have some of that salad? So tell us a little
bit about the salad. I see that it's got the
chicken in there.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
This is Asian sesame tahini dressing. Oh my rom and
that will make you eat your salads. That will make
you eat salad with wable.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
It made a kid who did not like salad like salad.
Oh yeah, I was that kid from Neil Brian That
boy was me. That is excellent now so sesame to heini.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
So that's just a double punchayeah pretty much?
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (11:15):
H where's what? What's that heat? A little bit of the.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
That was probably the spicy tender?
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Yeah, chicken there.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Oh, so you can eat it. We have side so
out obviously, but it's really good with chicken on it,
like obviously.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
But wow, it's got in here. Wow.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
And just to counteract that side, I'm happy, we have
a cookie as well.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
And what is this?
Speaker 3 (11:40):
This is our our MF cookie and it stands the
fun cookie. Yeah you want me to get me thrown off?
Stands from my favorite cookie. Yes, that's the only thing
that m F stands for. But it's actually my grandma's
original recipe. But we've kind of updated it since then,
(12:01):
so it kind of goes back to what you said before.
My siblings have they're great bakers, and they kind of
added a whole bunch of new stuff to it, Like
there's mochi in it, there's miso in it, just a
lot of other flavors. Yeah, wow, Grandma's Cookie was a.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Spot on I said this last time you were on
this show, just everything was excellent. You folks are adorable
and I love I mean that in the best way
possible that I just love when people are connected with
one another. And that's what family, and sometimes their family
we choose. Sometimes we're lucky enough to be born with them.
But ultimately all that love shows and the food here.
(12:38):
So check them out Box Chicken, eat box chicken dot com,
eato dot com, eat box Chicken dot com. Check them out,
go see Chef Noah Clark's big o' smile on there.
And if you've got an event, I know the holidays
will be here sooner than you think. And you're setting
(12:58):
up something with work, whatever it is, a party, I
highly recommend what they do.
You know, this is a young man we met gosh
was it back in May almost a year ago?
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Maybe?
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Was that the event the Manhattan Beach h Food event.
But his name is Chef Noah Clark. Not only is
he a handsome bastard, which is a good reason to
hate him, but then on top of that, he's an
amazing chef. He has a smile that can light up
a room, and the energy and excitement passionate about his
(00:26):
food to match. But on top of that, his story
is one that everyone loved to hear. And when we
got to release as to some stuff that you guys
were doing, we thought, oh, this would be great if
you guys had time to pop on because I've got
my friend Brian Olsen from The Bugman here is our
(00:47):
guest taster, and I'm like, okay. So we had two
new ones that we hadn't tasted before that came and
we tasted them and this is one of our favorites
from last year and beyond. And you get to set today,
so bring us up to speed about your upbringing the
two lovely ladies with you, and give a recap of
(01:09):
your story.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah, so pretty much. I'm half black, half Japanese. So
I grew up in a blended household, also to family household.
My mom and my aunt are the core women in
my life. Call my aunt Maggie my Yoda, and I'm
her Luke. She's kind of like you know, so she's
taught me pretty much everything I know about being in
a kitchen. I grew up in a kitchen at a
really young age, like eight years old. Wow, so very
(01:32):
familiar with all the recipes I had growing up that
we are serving to you guys today. And really it's
her all her. This is she created when you're eighteen, right,
eighteen years old? In Los Angeles.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Ten years ago.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah, we moved to Atlanta to open a restaurant when
I was young, and then we had a nice run there,
sold our steak in that company there. Moved here to
open another concept, very very similar menu. We just knew
we had a good product and we could do it
again here. So that's what brought me to La brought
us back home because that's where they were born and raised.
So and here we are now. We got to meet
(02:10):
you a couple of months ago, and I was.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Just blown away. I mean this simply you had it
in the form of a taco when we met, and
it was one of those bites that you're like, holy hell,
that's something special. And you know, seeing the family, I'm
a sucker for families. I think that generational knowledge is
like a snowball. It gets bigger and better and stronger
(02:35):
through it's through the purity of it being passed down.
You know. So you you say you're black and knees
or are you?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
It's actually it right black? And I said a whole
lot black, and.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Because I didn't know if you were you know, African American. Okay,
well I wasn't.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Sure that.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Uh as a as a half breed myself. I was
joke about that too, and I'm like, oh, that's hot,
says my white side. But yeah, but it is in
your case having an African American father brought in soul
food options and a Japanese mother brought in you know,
(03:18):
Japanese options. And you know, I remember growing up, uh,
you know, having friends from different cultures and backgrounds. When
you go over to their house for dinner or something,
all of a sudden you'd eat, you know. I had
my first egg roll at a friend's house and I'm like,
holy hell, what is this an out come? I'm just
tasting it now, you know. So having you know, a
(03:38):
family like that and bringing it to this what what
would you say? Why do it in chicken form? What
was the purpose? Why go towards chicken?
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Yeah? I was actually just talking to her about this earlier.
How I was. I didn't realize how spoiled I was
growing up because I ate her food my whole life.
And then the first time I realized that it was
a little different, I went to a friend's house and ate,
and I was like, what is this like? It was disgusting,
to say the least. And I was like, oh my gosh.
It was like I was probably eighteen the first time happened.
(04:07):
I was like, this is I've been spoiled my whole life.
We always had people at our house eating, and it
was because of what she was making. So I just
didn't realize how good we had it.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Do you want to call out the parent?
Speaker 3 (04:19):
I have one specifica in my mind too. I'm not
gonna call him out.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
No, I don't mean to be rude, but this hamburger
needs an EF.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Some salt man, some salt, you know, salt, garlic, so
little Yeah, well you know that's why different cultures exist.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
All right, we come back, we're gonna taste some of
the food. I'm excited for my friend Brian here is
our guest taster to try it as well. But looking
at it and just bringing back memories of the of
how much it stood out. So we'll come back and
talk more. The place you need to go and you
need to look at when it comes to box Chicken
is very simple. Eat box chicken dot com, Eat box
(05:01):
chicken dot com, Eat chicken dot eat box chicken dot Now.
Now now everybody's singing that in their head at the earworm.
Right now, we are enjoying about to get into box Chicken.
They brought their food. My buddy Brian Olsen, he's the
CEO and president of the Bug Man. You hear me
(05:21):
talking about them all the time. And I invited him in.
I say, come be a guest taster today, and I
think I heard the phone hit the ground and the
entire spin out. And so we've been having fun having
him here with us. Right, thank you. We've had some
good stuff. Okay, now it's an extra incredible right and
(05:42):
not like your typical fried chicken.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
No, it tastes incredibly fresh and it's not all battery.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah, you taste the chicken, it's it's wonderful. Thank you,
Thank you have some of that goat ranch, get some
of that on there time. Yeah, it is, Uh, it
is something special. And we had box chicken on We
had chef Noah Clark. Uh. You know it says on
his website, and I think it's cool. The torch bearer,
you know, of the found the family. You have this
(06:14):
legacy through your auntie, through your mom and through your family.
He mixed race flavors. But you grew up, like you said, spoiled.
You were raised on great food until you were invited
to your names and you're like, why am I eating this?
And what is it? What? What's what's your go to
(06:37):
when you have to center yourself? What's the food that
centers your reminds you of home and brings you back.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Oh man, we call it poverty on rice. It's my childhood,
is what I grew up on. It's just ground beef
that is seasoned in tedioaki sauce on a bed of
rice with an over easy egg on top. And it's
like the person delicious, the perfect breakfast for me. So
(07:03):
it just hits every spot and it just reminds me
of my grandma most importantly, and just the trickle down effect.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
And well she had drunk because that sounds like, don't
that sound good?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Woman never drank anything in her life.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Take a sip of beer turned bright red?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
The name does it translate? Well? But it just kind
of stuck in the family.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Yeah, you know, I'll tell you though, but those are
the most memorable sometimes because they're simple and they speak
to your your stomach and your heart. It's like, this
is what I It doesn't have to be fancy. You know.
I love when my son, who's eight, asks for those
types of things. You know, Can I have a daddy dog? Yeah?
(07:51):
That's you know, that's a hot dog and a tortilla. Yeah,
that's what a mixed breed eats.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
You know.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
It's like, you know, uh, wave Conweni's got up an
angular or something. Yeah. Those are the things that you
know that bring a smile to your face. Yeah. So
what do you want people to know about what's going
on with you? Guys? How they could utilize Get in
touch with your food? You know, I know you're catering.
(08:17):
That's huge, So tell us a little bit about box
Chicken and what's going on.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Yeah, I mean we've been opened since July, but this
is kind of like our coming out party, I guess,
you know, just that we have a really good product
on our hands and we want everyone to try it
because it's delicious. Yeah, and if you want to order,
just eatbox chicken dot com. Like the song earlier, Yeah
(08:43):
you know it's yeah, it's our jingle. But you know,
just like through all the Uber eats platforms all that
kind of stuff too. If you're on the West side,
just give us a try. You I really wouldn't be disappointed.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
No, it really is one of those things that I
have zero fear of someone Ye tasting your food and
going wasn't what it's used.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Super rare. It does happen because you can't please everyone,
but it's super rare when it does. And I automatically
don't trust that person when they say that.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
I like, you probably hate dogs and joy and ice
cream and children. Yeah exactly, go back to killing joy. Yeah,
thank you delicious cancer coming in here with all the hate.
I am having rice and potato salad, and I will
(09:33):
tell you I have never had rice and potato salad together.
Like this.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
I've never mixed them like great combination. Yes, And that
potato salad I also grew up on that.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Potato salad is bombe great there. It is absolutely perfect
in every way, even the size of the potatoes, you
know how you.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Have some texture to yeah, or.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
They're so big, the chunk is so big that halfway
through you go, goodness, goodness, way through you go potato potatoes,
potato with no with nothing on it, not even potatoes straight,
just potato, unseasoned potato, unseasoned potato. And yeah, it drives
me nuts. I want I want that perfect mixture. And
(10:15):
you know, size of those things are important.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
You guys have the perfect bites going. But grab a
little bit of that salad.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
And what are you what are you saying? You're telling
me to eat a salad saladin? My mom and my
wife are on the phone right now. Why don't you
have some of that salad? So tell us a little
bit about the salad. I see that it's got the
chicken in there.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
This is Asian sesame tahini dressing. Oh my rom and
that will make you eat your salads. That will make
you eat salad with wable.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
It made a kid who did not like salad like salad.
Oh yeah, I was that kid from Neil Brian That
boy was me. That is excellent now so sesame to heini.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
So that's just a double punchayeah pretty much?
Speaker 3 (11:14):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (11:15):
H where's what? What's that heat? A little bit of the.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
That was probably the spicy tender?
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Yeah, chicken there.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Oh, so you can eat it. We have side so
out obviously, but it's really good with chicken on it,
like obviously.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
But wow, it's got in here. Wow.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
And just to counteract that side, I'm happy, we have
a cookie as well.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
And what is this?
Speaker 3 (11:40):
This is our our MF cookie and it stands the
fun cookie. Yeah you want me to get me thrown off?
Stands from my favorite cookie. Yes, that's the only thing
that m F stands for. But it's actually my grandma's
original recipe. But we've kind of updated it since then,
(12:01):
so it kind of goes back to what you said before.
My siblings have they're great bakers, and they kind of
added a whole bunch of new stuff to it, Like
there's mochi in it, there's miso in it, just a
lot of other flavors. Yeah, wow, Grandma's Cookie was a.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Spot on I said this last time you were on
this show, just everything was excellent. You folks are adorable
and I love I mean that in the best way
possible that I just love when people are connected with
one another. And that's what family, and sometimes their family
we choose. Sometimes we're lucky enough to be born with them.
But ultimately all that love shows and the food here.
(12:38):
So check them out Box Chicken, eat box chicken dot com,
eato dot com, eat box Chicken dot com. Check them out,
go see Chef Noah Clark's big o' smile on there.
And if you've got an event, I know the holidays
will be here sooner than you think. And you're setting
(12:58):
up something with work, whatever it is, a party, I
highly recommend what they do.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.