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Chef Adrian joined City Post Chophouse in 2021 with 30 years of high-end restaurant experience. He is hands-on in the kitchen and the dining room, making a point of interacting with guests as often as possible.
If someone said “celebrity chef” in the early 90’s, you might think of Julia Child or Emeril Lagasse. In 2002, you could add Anthony Bourdain to the list, but it wasn’t until 2011 that Food Network became a top-ten cable network, cooking became celebrated as an art form, and chefs became television celebrities. It seemed everyone wanted to be a chef, except maybe Adrian Corkill … and that is the beginning of a beautiful story.
Adrian went to work at 16 to pay for the ‘79 Chevette his dad had bought for him. Starting as a dishwasher, he eventually landed as a line cook under Chef Troy Tuft at Brook’s Steakhouse in Denver. This is where he discovered that most people consider a perfectly cooked, medium-rare steak one of life’s true pleasures. You see, Adrian had grown up only having had steak cooked well done and was not a fan. That all changed when Chef Troy made a family meal of steak tips and fries for the staff. Adrian says, “That medium-rare steak was absolutely delicious,” and that was the moment his eyes were opened to the possibility of becoming a chef himself.
Adrian’s newfound passion led him to Del Frisco’s and Vasilis Euro Cafe before getting a call from Chef Troy asking him to join Cool River Cafe in Denver as their Sous Chef. That position led to a 20-year career with CRO (Consolidated Restaurant Operations) restaurants in Austin and Houston before taking on the role of Chef Proprietor for III Forks Chicago. Fast forward to late 2020, and it was time for another twist in Adrian’s story.
After nine challenging months during the Covid 19 pandemic, Adrian was ready to make a change that would allow him to grow, be creative, and refuel his passion … and he wanted to get back to Texas. Meanwhile, as the hospitality industry was scrambling to deal with COVID-19 restrictions, Kevin Cummins was scrambling to figure out how to open a brand-new restaurant in a historic post office. What would become City Post Chophouse began as a U.S. Post Office and, you can imagine, a building constructed in the 1930s brought its challenges.
As Kevin and the team tackled renovations, he asked his newly hired GM to take on the job of finding someone to lead the kitchen. As fate would have it, that GM’s first thought was of his former colleague, Chef Adrian Corkill. One call later and Adrian, with his 30 years of high-end restaurant experience, was on a plane from Chicago to Austin to interview for the Executive Chef role at the post office-turned-steakhouse. Little did Adrian know, his interview would take place under a single light bulb in the dusty basement of a nearly 100-year-old building.
Chef Adrian came on board as Executive Chef at City Post in January 2021 and added the GM role to his job description in November of the same year, just before the restaurant officially opened its main dining room to the public. He says his biggest challenge has been the transition from being the person in the kitchen creating perfectly crafted meals to the person hiring, training, and developing the City Post team while making sure to instill attention to detail and maintaining the standard of excellence he and Kevin expect.
That standard of excellence doesn’t just apply to the staff, but also to the dishes Chef Adrian creates and serves. Designing City Post’s menu was a long creative process in part because both Adrian and Kevin wanted to be sure it included approachable dishes of the highest quality that guests would enjoy. When creating a menu, Chef Adrian asks himself, “What would I want to eat?” The answer is almost always, “a dish bursting with flavor without relying on heavy seasoning.” City Post achieves this by using the freshest ingredients sourced from local Central Texas vendors whenever possible.
With all of the love and effort that has gone into the City Post menu, it can be hard to know where to start, so we asked Chef Adrian for his recommendations:
Chef Adrian and his team are excited to share a Texas Formal experience at one of the best steakhouses in Central Texas with you. Make your reservations now online or by calling the restaurant. We look forward to serving you!
