Fungi News

Fort Worth's Black Cat Mushrooms crops up at all the right restaurants

'Shrooms from Black Cat.

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A Fort Worth startup is putting mushrooms on the plate at some of the area’s most interesting restaurants. Called Black Cat Culinary Mushrooms, it's a grower and supplier of mushrooms, available in Dallas-Fort Worth to both chefs and foodies alike.

Black Cat Mushrooms was founded in 2020 as a fun project by John Zaskoda and his son.

Zaskoda, whose day job is production manager for Billy Bob's in Fort Worth, would give the mushrooms he grew to chef friends, and it quickly grew from hobby into a full-fledged business, servicing restaurants such as Tokyo Cafe, Eazy Monkey (the new restaurant from chef Andrew Dilda), Hao's Grocery & Cafe, and garden-to-table favorite Heirloom.

The startup is now fully owned and operated by Zaskoda (whose son is 17 now and "too cool" for mushrooms, Zaskoda says) out of a storefront at 2808 Shamrock Ave. #108, where he grows, stores, and sells mushrooms.

Zaskoda attributes his success to the supportive community of chefs who are interested in what he grows on a weekly basis.

He grows up to 20 varieties, particularly gourmet options such as oyster, lion's mane, chestnut, and shiitake, producing a different number of mushrooms every week. He keeps a subscriber list (blackcatmushrooms@gmail.com) and sends out a weekly update with information on what varieties are available to purchase that week.

His shop also sells gear if you want to grow your own including ready-to-grow kits, sterilized bags, and grain spawns.

You do not need to be a gardener to grow mushrooms at home. The process that Black Cat uses at their storefront is the same that anyone with a kit could use: Mushrooms are grown in small batches in a room that receives central air, at an ideal temperature of 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, but isn't overblown. You need a cool place to place the spawn, heat to speed up the process, and soil to place over the spawn once it is in position.

Avoiding moisture buildup is key, as it guarantees a chance for molding. This process yields a bed of mushrooms ready to be molded.

But being able to buy them grown in such a variety is a plus, whether you're a restaurant chef or adventurous home cook.

The shop's hours are Sunday-Tuesday, with Mondays and Tuesdays are designated for Chef pick-ups.

Mushrooms have enjoyed a big boom in popularity, fueled by the pandemic.

Mushrooms are also a big favorite among vegan chefs who capitalize on their hearty, meat-like texture, using them as a stand-in in recipes for chicken and beef. They're also thought to have big health benefits in areas like warding off cancer, encouraging healthy bacteria, and supporting the immune system.

Zaskoda, who's also a former touring guitarist with Fort Worth band Dirty Pool, describes his passion for growing mushrooms, saying, "I don't just grow mushrooms because they are delicious, I grow them because they are art."

"Chefs get to take it and make art from it, I’m giving them their clay," he says.

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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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