Sundance Square News

Fort Worth restaurant Reata settles on interim address in its relocation saga

Reata is leaving Sundance Square.

Facebook/Reata

Fort Worth restaurant Reata Restaurant, which is leaving its longtime location at at 310 Houston St. in Sundance Square, is moving to a new interim location nearby: According a release, it'll return to its original location at 530 Throckmorton St. in July 2024, where it will reside until it moves into a more permanent home still TBD.

The restaurant will be situated on the ground floor of the northeast corner of The Tower building. They're moving because their lease expires in June 2024; they'll continue to operate from their current location until June 30.

The release says they conducted a comprehensive exploration of Tarrant County, before deciding to remain in downtown Fort Worth.

And they already have history with The Tower, says Reata president Mike Micallef.

"23 years ago, an F3 tornado devastated our community, making our original Fort Worth location uninhabitable and forcing our relocation in 2001,” Micallef says. "Like Fort Worth, Reata is a testament to resilience and rebirth. Together, we will continue to create unforgettable experiences, regardless of geography."

The Tower was purchased in June 2022 by SADA Tower LLC of Texas and SADA Capital Partners LLC, an Illinois based real-estate holdings group and has already secured corporate headquarters for Fort Worth-based Dickies.

“With Reata Restaurant and Dickies’ corporate headquarters relocating to The Tower, SADA has had an inspiring entry into the Fort Worth community," says SADA Tower LLC managing Saad Sindhu in a statement. "Working together with homegrown stakeholders like Reata and Dickies will help us achieve our goal of bringing more and better opportunities into the great city of Fort Worth."

Reata was founded by Al Micallef, owner of the CF Ranch, who opened the first Reata Restaurant in Alpine, Texas in 1995. The Fort Worth location opened in 1996, then relocated to its Houston Street address in 2002.

Reata also operates three satellite locations during the annual Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo – Reata at the Rodeo, Reata at the Backstage and La Espuela.

"Reata transcends physical boundaries,” Micallef says. “It's not just about the walls that house us, the western artifacts that adorn us, or the plates and cutlery that serve us. Reata embodies the spirit of Fort Worth. What truly defines us is our community. Our location may change, but the soul of Reata – the people – remains constant.”

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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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