Chef Rob McDaniel is general manger and executive chef at SpringHouse restaurant at Russell Crossroads on Lake Martin in Alabama. He is passionate about his grandmother’s cooking, supporting local farmers, and preserving Southern cooking methods. Chef McDaniel practices his incomparable skills and knowledge of Southern traditional cooking and presents exceptional products from local producers in a modern way. After graduating from Auburn University in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in hotel and restaurant management, Chef McDaniel headed to Vermont where he studied at the New England Culinary Institute. Before leaving NECI, he moved to Florida and worked for Chef Johnny Earles at Criolla’s in Grayton Beach. In 2004, Chef McDaniel returned to the South, where he worked as sous chef for Chris and Idie Hastings at their Birmingham, Ala., restaurant, Hot and Hot Fish Club. In 2007, Chef McDaniel left the Hastings to continue his culinary path as a chef with Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q. Two years later, he was offered the position at SpringHouse. He is a founding member of The Front Porch Revival, an organization committed to promoting the arts in Alabama.