Holiday News

Fort Worth bar is one of 9 across the U.S. to host spooky Halloween pop-up

It's ooky and it's spooky.

Black Lagoon

A Fort Worth bar is one of the few bars across the U.S. chosen to host a special pop-up with a Halloween theme. Called Black Lagoon, it's an immersive Halloween pop-up bar concept that will hit nine cities across the U.S., and that includes Nickel City, the Austin-based neighborhood bar located at 212 S. Main St. in Fort Worth.

According to a release, Black Lagoon is a horror experience created by industry veterans Erin Hayes (Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles and Chicago's Lost Lake) and Kelsey Ramage (Trash Collective and Supernova, opening soon in Toronto). Here they are in a photo, looking very spooky Morticia.

They first debuted the concept in Toronto in 2021; it was subsequently crowned Best Pop-Up Bar in Canada, although that could also be that Canadians are easily impressed. Jury is still out.

The release says that Nickel City will be transformed into a wicked environment, with decor cues taken from goth culture and cult horror, such as House of 1,000 Corpses, including skulls and life-sized coffins. You're encouraged to wear costumes.

"Kelsey and I both love the metal/goth/horror bars and those spots really inspired Black Lagoon, but they are more beer-and-a-shot places," says Hayes in a statement. "With our background in the spirits world, we wanted to pay extra attention to make sure our [cocktails are] as tasty as they are blood curdling."

The drinks menu is built around Halloween hues with beverages that are blood red, the darkest black, and eerie orange, to include:

Screaming Banshee, with gin, Giffard L'Abricot, pineapple syrup and Greek yogurt
Lilith's Cup, with Mount Gay Black Barrel, Aperol, vermouth, passionfruit syrup, and glitter
Closed Casket, with Bruichladdich Classic, St. Remy, Giffard L'Abricot, passionfruit syrup, and miso ferlernum
Hellraiser, with Hornitos, Chairman’s spiced rum Cointreu, and spiced oat orgeat

Cocktails will be served in custom glassware, which is always a big thing with these pop-up bars. Said glassware will also be for sale, which is also a big thing with these pop-up bars.

Musically, the playlist will feature a subtle hardcore vibe, throwing in punk and metal along with a soundtrack of eerie noises.

Nickel City is a favorite DFW destination for holiday-themed pop-up bars, having previously hosted the very similar-in-concept Miracle, a Christmas-themed pop-up of national scope both in 2020 and in 2021.

"We wanted markets that have vibrant countercultures so patrons who are likely to enjoy our immersive vibe will come and feel right at home," says Hayes.

The full list of bars includes:

Chicago: The Dandy Crown in partnership with Hospitality 201
Portland: Hey Love
Los Angeles: Lost Property Bar
Dallas/Fort Worth: Nickel City
Denver: Yacht Club
NY: Our Wicked Lady
Montreal: 132 Bara Vintage
Vancouver: Butcher & Bullock
Toronto: Third Space

The pop-up begins in September and they're hosting a special preview on Sunday, September 4 which is open to the public from 6-10 pm.

Black Lagoon is about celebrating a spooky holiday but the pop-up is also about creating a safe space for those who may not feel at ease in every cocktail bar.

"We want this to be a space for the weird, for the misfits and the goths," Hayes says.

"As an adult, this concept embraces my inner goth metal kid who just loved Halloween," says her partner Ramage. "We just want to let people have fun and experience true freedom from judgment."

holidays nightlife

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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