Cornelius Lathan would like everyone to try his Cajun Alfredo stuffed turkey leg. Consisting of fall-off-the-bone roasted turkey leg topped with shrimp rice, braised shrimp and Cajun Alfredo sauce (not to mention a tangy sprinkle of shaved Parmesan), it is the chef’s kiss.
Chef Cornelius Lathan uses YouTube and social media to promote his private chef dining and catering businesses. - Photographs provided
But since Lathan’s skills as a caterer and private dining chef are available in limited quantity – there’s only so much of him to go around – he’s made a way for everyone to try his homage to the world-famous Turkey Leg Hut in Houston, Texas: his YouTube channel.
Titled The Bistro, Lathan’s channel offers around 130 recipes for popular foods people can at least try to make in the comfort of their own kitchens.
Is Taco Bell out of its popular Mexican Pizza again? No problem; The Bistro has a video of Lathan making his version.
In the mood for TikTok’s famous lasagna soup? Have a hankering for slutty brownies (his words, not ours)? Fire up your laptop and head to your kitchen.
Lacking a restaurant, or even a food truck, Lathan is using the internet to spread his passion for mouthwatering cuisine across the greater Chattanooga area and promote his catering and private dining chef businesses.
Lathan began his gastronomic endeavor with the launch of his catering company just before the pandemic took root in early 2020. In the midst of the ensuing shutdown, he landed on social media and YouTube as a delivery service.
“I was like, ‘I have to get this out there,’ so I started my YouTube channel,” Lathan recalls. “When we came out of the pandemic, people were booking my catering company back-to-back.”
Lathan says he’s utilizing YouTube to spread the gospel of cooking at home. Each video contains the fundamentals of food prep without getting technical and is aimed at giving people the confidence to fix dishes they believe are beyond their abilities.
“Anyone can cook,” Lathan insists. “I try to make my recipes easy to follow because I want people to see they can put together a really good meal.”
People are certainly watching. Lathan’s Cajun Alfredo stuffed turkey leg video has more than 47,000 views, while the episode featuring his Waffle House-inspired patty melt just topped 15,000 watches.
The cherry on Lathan’s sundae, however, is the 45-second TikTok video in which he demonstrates how to cut a bell pepper; to date, the skill-building bit has attracted just over 33,000 views. (Despite using TikTok as the platform for the video, he jokes that he didn’t dance while slicing the veggie, citing a preference for safety when using sharp implements.)
While Lathan has made his expertise accessible on his YouTube channel (and by extension, his Facebook and Instagram pages), food his hands have prepared have been a rare commodity available only to those who can secure his services for a small event.
However, there is good news for the local foodies who have been saving their calories for a taste of Lathan’s cooking. Lathan is now appearing at Food Truck Friday, a lunchtime event that takes place the first Friday of each month at the Kitchen Incubator of Chattanooga, located at 5704 Marlin Road in Brainerd.
Instead of a truck, Lathan can be found at a pop-up close to the incubator, where he prepares his dishes. The December event saw him bringing disposable pans of smoked chicken Alfredo out of the building and handing them to customers, many of whom also purchased bottles of his Bistro Punch.
One woman said Lathan’s punch (a blend of strawberry, kiwi and cranberry extracts, as well as a simple syrup he derives from pears) alone was worth the drive from downtown Chattanooga, where she works.
Lathan said he invented his popular concoction to provide an alternative to alcohol at catered events.
“I don’t drink alcohol,” Lathan explains, “so I put together various flavors I thought would give my clients a great experience.”
Lathan grew up in Chattanooga’s Highland Park community, where his Baltimore-born grandmother and Mississippi-raised father introduced him to a breadth of food.
Lathan began to cook at a young age as he helped to care for an uncle who was a quadriplegic. Through trial and error, he learned the essentials and began to experiment with creating his own recipes, which his uncle was more than happy to try.
“Cooking for my uncle built my confidence,” Lathan remembers. “It’s one of the reasons I do what I do today.”
Taking culinary classes at a precursor of the incubator convinced Lathan to go pro. However, cooking for local restaurants didn’t shape him into the professional he wanted to be.
To forms what Lathan calls his “culinary identity,” he began offering his services as a private chef.
“I was in the background bring someone else’s vision to life, and I wanted to create my own menus and dishes,” he remembers.
Lathan later set his eyes on batch cooking, or catering. To boost his skillset, he worked in cafeterias at schools and corporations.
Lathan’s development continued at the incubator, a LAUNCH Chattanooga program that granted him access to a professional kitchen, food-centric startup classes and small business support.
“I used to work for someone else,” Lathan says, “and now I own a business and can employ others who have families to support.”
Lathan plans to continue growing his business in 2023. A food truck that will transport his creations across Chattanooga is at the top of his list. He says these steps forward won’t be any easier than the previous steps he’s taken, but he’s ready.
“This is not an easy business,” he says. “You have to work hard, use every available resource and put yourself out there. Back in the day, working behind the scenes was cool, but with social media, you can show people what you have and take your career places you never thought it could go.”