Will Rogers Memorial Center
Waylon Cornelius
The city teased us a little when announcing a new chef at Will Rogers.
“If there was ever a perfect place for a chef named Waylon, it’s at Fort Worth’s Will Rogers Memorial Center,” a spokeswoman said.
True that.
Say howdy to Waylon Cornelius, named by Craft Culinary Concepts, the preferred food and beverage provider at Will Rogers Memorial Center, as executive chef of the center’s catering and concessions.
A native of Mansfield and 2003 graduate of AIMS Academy of Culinary Arts in Dallas, Cornelius is shifting the expectations of the center’s guests from a typical “BBQ and beans” menu to a bill of fare “satisfying both the palates of the world’s greatest horsemen and DFW’s most discerning gala planner.”
“We always have fajitas ready to go, but we also make a beautiful Beef Wellington or baked salmon with a pink salt crust” for a social event, said Cornelius.
For consumer trade shows and horse shows, Craft and its partners Caribou and Taco Heads offer more choices for the thousands of guests who attend events at WRMC annually.
“Some of our equestrian guests are away from home and here for several days, and they need more than popcorn and hot dogs,” Cornelius said. “Our concessions offer biscuits and gravy, burritos made in-house, strawberry salad, fruit and yogurt cups.”
Cornelius grew up helping in a farm-to-table kitchen. He was raised on a farm with his mother, grandmother, and grandfather — a Vietnam veteran who enjoyed vegetable gardens and raising hogs and chickens.
Cornelius studied computer science after high school and holds an associate degree in Cultural Resource Management and Policy Analysis from Tarrant County College.
The allure of the kitchen was too much. (He who is without sin?)
While training as assistant executive sous chef at the AAA four-diamond Grand Hyatt DFW, he was mentored by Executive Chef Sutti Sripolpa. He also learned from Chef de Cuisine Eric Dryer, who went on to be Oprah Winfrey’s personal chef. He also worked with Executive Chef Jean-Claude Plihon, who honed his French cooking skills.
As executive sous chef at the opening of Perry’s Steakhouse and Grille in Southlake, Cornelius had his first experience with volume. While at HG Suply Co. for two years learning about gluten-free items and other food allergies, he crossed paths with Chef James R. Schell III.
Schell, now Craft’s general manager at WRMC, recruited Cornelius to Fort Worth’s 120-acre entertainment and equestrian complex this summer.
“James said he needed someone who can hit moving targets, push the culinary team to be more avant-garde and use locally sourced, seasonal ingredients. So here I am,” said Cornelius. “Culinary is a small world.”
Said Schell: “I want people to say, ‘When we were in Fort Worth, you won’t believe what we got at Will Rogers!Even the celebrities who perform [in the auditorium] are surprised. When Chicago played here recently and we served dinner backstage, they said they felt treated like the Rolling Stones.”