Pie News

Sweet new Dasher Pie Co. shop opens in Arlington's favorite Christmas store

"What goes better with Christmas than coffee and pie?" owner Kristin Black says.

Photo courtesy of Dasher

A longtime decor store in Arlington that specializes in Christmas items is adding a festive new perk: an in-house pie shop.

Called Dasher Pie Co., it's opening inside Decorator's Warehouse, a store at 3708 W. Pioneer Pkwy. that's been selling Christmas decor and lighting in Arlington for 30 years.

"This was a company my parents David and Kathy Hanson started 30 years ago in their garage," says owner Kristin Black. "Everything we've done has been based on service, and I think that's why we're flourishing at a time when the retail world is having trouble. We thought Dasher Pie Co. would be a fun offering, to go along with everything else we do."

Once upon a time, the store did have a tea room. When that moved out, Black says they saw they could fill that space with a complementary concept.

"Christmas is what we do, and what goes better with Christmas than coffee and pie?" she says. "We love pie, and we'd see customers come in with drinks from other coffee shops. We thought, why don't we provide that?"

They're working with Gold Ribbon Confections, an Arlington bakery that's creating exclusive pies for Dasher, with fun names like the Dasher — a snickerdoodle buttermilk pie — and the Rudoph, a white chocolate-cherry cheesecake.

Other pies include coconut cream, caramel apple streusel, chocolate-pecan, plus seasonal pies such as pumpkin cream cheese with a gingersnap crust.

Dasher will also offer cookies and mini cider doughnuts, which are so hot right now. "We think it goes with Christmas, and we have cider on our menu," Black says.

They also have a collection of what she calls their "Fa la lattes" — espresso drinks in flavors such as coconut and white chocolate, cinnamon and caramel, peppermint mocha, and white chocolate mocha. They're also doing chai tea, and a customizable cocoa you can get in white or milk hot chocolate with choice of topping such as whipped cream, marshmallows, and cinnamon sprinkles.

The shop has about 40 seats, occupying a nook with a Christmas tree mantle; TV streaming Hallmark movies; and everyone's favorite, an instagram-ready wall with seasonally appropriate motifs.

Decorator's Warehouse sells some items themed for fall, but it is primarily a Christmas store that somehow manages to stay open year-round.

"We do close for 12 weeks at the beginning of the summer, then re-open in July," Black says. "Part of our success is in our pricing. We offer discounts during off season. But we've been around so long that there's a level of anticipation. When we re-open in July, we've just received all of our new merchandise, and it's not been picked over. Customers who've shopped with us for a long time know they can come in July to get the best selection."

"We are a destination where people spend their day shopping, and would like a place to sit down," she says. "There's a big club of people who love Christmas."

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Chef News

Fort Worth's Will Rogers Memorial Center welcomes bright new chef

FortWorthtx.gov

Will Rogers Memorial Center

There's a new chef in town: Waylon Cornelius, named executive chef of catering and concessions for Craft Culinary Concepts, the food and beverage provider at Will Rogers Memorial Center.

Will Rogers Memorial Center is the 120-acre entertainment complex anchoring Fort Worth’s Cultural District, owned and operated by the City of Fort Worth. Cornelius will oversee menus for trade shows and other events at the center which bring in more than 2 million visitors a year.

Craft Culinary Concepts is headquartered in Glendale, Arizona, and manages food and beverage programs for entertainment, sports and cultural facilities.

Chef Waylon Corneliusfortworthtx.gov

According to a release, Cornelius joined the team this summer and is already shifting the expectations of guests from a typical “BBQ and beans” menu to a bill of fare satisfying every kind of palate.

“We always have fajitas ready to go, but we also make a beautiful Beef Wellington or baked salmon with a pink salt crust,” Cornelius says in a statement.

For consumer trade 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 says. “Our concessions offer biscuits and gravy, burritos made in-house, strawberry salad, fruit and yogurt cups.”

A native of Mansfield, 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. He studied computer science after high school and holds an associate's degree in Cultural Resource Management and Policy Analysis from Tarrant County College.

He's a 2003 graduate of AIMS Academy of Culinary Arts in Dallas where he was mentored by a number of great chefs. While training as assistant executive sous chef at the AAA four-diamond Grand Hyatt DFW, he worked with Executive Chef Sutti Sripolpa, chef Eric Dreyer (who went on to be Oprah Winfrey’s personal chef), and Chef Jean-Claude Plihon, under whom he honed his French cooking skills.

As executive sous chef at the opening of Perry’s Steakhouse and Grille in Southlake, Cornelius gained expertise with volume. While at HG Sply Co., he learned about gluten-free items and other food allergies.

HG Sply is also where he crossed paths with Chef James R. Schell III, Craft’s general manager at WRMC, who recruited Cornelius to the complex.

"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," Cornelius says. "Culinary is a small world."

“I want people to say, ‘When we were in Fort Worth, you won’t believe what we got at Will Rogers!’” Schell says. “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.”

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