Chef and co-owner Michael Bowling says The Hot Box will continue to serve its ramen as a monthly special. Photo by Joel Tracey

Beloved food truck The Hot Box Next Level Street Food is coming back, this time as a brick and mortar spot. The food truck’s founder and executive chef Michael Bowling and his former sous chef, Chris Young, are joining together to open The Hot Box inside of Southern Strain Brewing, a new brewery opening in Concord. Bowling, Young, and Jennifer Cubillos Young (who is married to Chris) are partners in the venture.

“We’ll be able to do everything we did on the truck plus more,” Bowling says.

The Hot Box’s menu was eclectic; Bowling recalls being the first folks in town to serve homemade ramen, which will be a special at the brewery space once a month. Hot Box regulars can expect most of their favorites to make a comeback.

“One of the things we were known for was our risotto fritters — they were served with a roasted pepper aioli; we’re going to bring those back,” Bowling says. “We’re doing Hot Box wings. We never did wings before from a lack of space, but we’re doing some smoked chicken wings now.”

The Reuben, one of the food truck’s most popular menu items, will return. Photo by Joel Tracey

There will also be a rib plate, grain bowl, some burgers, and the famed Hot Box Rueben on the menu. Desserts will be made by Jennifer, who is a pastry instructor at Central Piedmont Community College. Since the food truck shut down in September of 2017, the Youngs started Queen City Market, hosting pop-up and private dinners, while Bowling helped found Soul Food Sessions and cooks private dinners.

The restaurant will be branded separately from the brewery as The Hot Box at Southern Strain Brewing, but share a space. Diners will order at a window and a get a buzzer to take back to the their tables in the brewery. Bowling and Young will also create snacks for the bar, such as popcorn, and house-made sodas for the brewery to have non-alcoholic beverage options.

A late-night menu will be served after 10 p.m.; the brewery (owned by Ford Craven, Bart Roberts, and Jake Allen) is scheduled to be open until midnight on Friday and Saturday nights. Hot Box will serve food whenever the brewery is open. For now, they’ll serve the usual menu when the brewery opens at noon, but Bowling says they’ll likely add a Sunday brunch menu once things are running smoothly.

The transition to owner/operator of a restaurant means Bowling will likely have to step away from much of the role he recently took on with Alternative Chef NC.

“I want to be able to give some of my projects all of my attention,” he says. “We’re still going to be doing Soul Food Sessions, so that requires attention, and then the restaurant requires my attention because we’re going to be day to day operators. Me and Chris as chef/owners will be in shop every day; we’re going to work the line.”

Bowling hopes the brewery and restaurant will open in late May or early June, and we’re excited to see what The Hot Box can do when it’s not roaming around town. Bowling and Young are, too.

“To me, [this] is a really big deal, it was my brain child all those years ago and it’s just hard to run a food truck,” he says. “It’s better when you have a standing, solid location and people can find you and you’re not trying to find the people.”

With the rebranding of Hot Box to be a brick-and-mortar spot, Bowling and the Youngs hope to set the groundwork to be able to expand the concept into the upcoming food halls around town. —Kristen Wile