In 2000 Mark Cornish was hired as executive sous chef to open Minute Maid Park (then Enron Field) when the Houston Astros moved over from the so-called eighth wonder of the world, the Astrodome. A University of Houston Conrad Hilton graduate, he gained that position after having spent a number of years in local fine dining at the Rivoli, Houston Country Club, and American Golf, with a few other short stints along the way. Considering Minute Maid was considered state of the art at its time, this was no doubt the most prestigious position of Mark’s career.

In fact, Minute Maid set an attendance record for the Astros, attracting some three million-baseball fans each year, making the Astros a hot commodity. With its 45,000+ seats and 60 corporate suites, there was plenty of action and volume. What more could you want?

Well, in Mark’s case he was given the opportunity to finish up the events remaining in the Astrodome—such as the world’s biggest rodeo—and then open up Reliant Center and Reliant Park, home to the newly formed Houston Texans. Another retractable roof stadium, Reliant seats upwards of 70,000 fans for football and has 200 corporate suites. Now the executive chef, Mark told me the food runs the gamut. Each game day he cranks out 70,000 to 100,000 hot dogs for the main stadium while fixing sushi, Beef Wellington, orzo, etc. for 200 suite holders hosting and seeking to impress clients. With six days to prepare each week for a Sunday event, chef told me this gets to be somewhat routine!

On the other hand, he’s been getting psyched for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, which starts the end of January. That’s 20 consecutive days of full-blown madness. But at least he has the experience of being through four previous rodeos. It’s a logistical challenge to be sure. He’s already made vendor agreements to have several frozen-refrigerated semis of food held on the stadium grounds for the three weeks to facilitate all out food production.

All this is an interesting combination of both grit and finesse, in my opinion. Yet I’m saving Chef Mark’s (and Aramark’s) best for last, One summer afternoon in 2005, Mark was packing up for a three-day week end of R&R when his boss called him to the Astrodome stadium floor. “Cancel your plans. We have to be ready to serve 4,000 people breakfast at 5 AM tomorrow. Then you need to plan on 6,000 for lunch and 12,000 for dinner. Our friends from Louisiana need our help. I told the Red Cross we could do the job.”

In what he told me was both his most challenging and gratifying experience ever, Mark, with plenty of help from fellow Aramark chefs and staff pulled off that first day and then kept serving 30,000 meals a day for three weeks straight. That was at the old Astrodome, and he still had to do his regular job at Reliant!

How often do you find a chef ready for baseball season, football season, and, most critically it turns out, ready for hurricane season? When Katrina blew into the Gulf Coast, Mark answered the call big time. That, my friends, is not just a chef, but also a man for all seasons!