COOKING IT UP

Lake Martin diners will see a familiar face in the SpringHouse kitchen this summer, as former Willow Point Chef de Cuisine Pete McKenny was named executive chef at the premier hilltop restaurant Memorial Day weekend.

As chef de cuisine in charge of Willow Point’s Camellia Room 12 years ago, McKenny honed the classical training of his career-start in Ohio. He ventured to Washington state after that, and opened a food truck there, as well as holding the position of chef de cuisine at a mountaintop resort. From Washington, he moved to Winslow, Arizona, joining a Ford resort there as well. He was chef de cuisine at a Vermont resort when Chris Doggett, the new corporate director of food and beverage for Russell Lands, invited him to take the position at SpringHouse.

McKenny’s early training at a Mobil (nor Forbes) four-star restaurant in Ohio focused on French cuisine. When the restaurant owner sent him to Portugal for an internship, McKenny caught the industry travel bug.

“The more you see, the more you know,” he said.

He moved to Willow Point and worked under thenExecutive Chef Doggett there because he had never been to the South and wanted to see the country and find out what Southern hospitality was all about. “In Arizona, I adapted French sides and sauces with Southwestern cuisine and the native influence. There were spicy peppers and chiles, and having access to them was very interesting. In Vermont, it was the maple,” he said. “There were different techniques of cooking, developing a flavor profile and manipulating the food with the ingredients

Lthat were available. In Washington, we foraged for morales mushrooms; here, it’s chanterelles.” While his mission will be to build on what former Executive Chef and General Manager Rob McDaniel built at SpringHouse, McKenny said he looks forward to sharing the influences of his experience. “We’ll keep the vegetable plate. Those ingredients are just coming into full season, and I am excited about going to the market to see what’s available. These vegetables are nothing like what you find in the grocery store. They are all certified organic, cultivated by hand,” he said. “But we’ll also do some things in a different style, like a machaca – a breakfast dish with Southwest flavors. “Take the fried quail recipe in this month’s Lake magazine (see page 80). It can be made with a spiced maple glaze and served with fried Brussels sprouts, but we’ll also do it sometimes with a bourbon glaze.

The vegetable plate is among the most popular dishes at SpringHouse

STORY BY BETSY ILER & PHOTOS BY KENNETH BOONE

The fried quail could be an appetizer or on a salad or used as the start of another dish.”

McKenny said he chose cooking as his future because it didn’t feel like work and he loved the mindset of experimenting.

When he’s not in the kitchen, McKenny loves dogs and being outdoors – hiking, bike riding, gardening and kayaking.

Doggett, now in the recently created position as corporate director of food and beverage for Russell Lands, will oversee operations at all Russell Lands restaurant locations, including an upcoming casual dinner at Russell Crossroads and two new ventures that will be par to The Heritage development. After 14 years as executive chef at Willow Point, Doggett said he looks forward to building on Russell Lands’ tradition of excellence and helping to take the company’s dining experiences to the next level, where the Lake Martin area will compete with other top resorts.

“Resort properties are what we’re chasing right now,” Doggett said.

His initial efforts will be aimed at restaurant staffing, which is a nationwide issue in the wake of COVID-19. To develop qualified chefs, Russell Lands will launch an American Culinary Federation apprenticeship program.

“People will be able to come here, learn from our chefs and get paid while they are learning,” he explained. “The program offers different levels of education – a six-month, two-year or three-year certification. There will be online classes, but most of it is hands-on work.”

The two-year program will train to the level of certified culinarian; the three-year program certifies apprentices as sous chefs. Similar apprenticeship programs are available at Jefferson State Community College and in Mobile.

“We want a pipeline of young skilled cooks coming through our restaurants,” Doggett said. “Apprenticeship has always been an active part of the culinary world, and with a resurgence in vocational training, this is one of the ways of dealing with staff shortages.”

Any high school graduate or anyone seeking a second career is eligible. Anyone interested in the apprenticeship program is encouraged to contact Doggett at cdoggett@ russelllands.com or fill out an application at ACFchefs.org to register. “We will interview them, and if they are accepted in the program, they will rotate through all of our restaurants. Russell Lands is growing so quickly now, and through this program we are preparing for our future needs. We can offer a free education for people who are getting paid while they are learning.” While staffing will be his primary concern in the new position, Doggett said he also would work on streamlining inventory and increasing purchasing power between the corporation’s restaurants. “Each entity has it’s own unique identity, and we’re not going to dictate to each identity; that needs to be tailored to each location, but we can improve communications between department heads and facilities and create efficiencies to inventory and purchasing,” he said.

Doggett gained his initial culinary education at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, North Carolina, and worked in Texas prior to joining Russell Lands at Willow Point in 2007.

“We were able to build a good, long-lasting team at Willow Point, and I miss being around them as much as I used to be. But they are in the very capable hands of my former sous chef now,” he said.

Michael Celmar has taken the lead as executive chef at Willow Point. Celmar joined the staff there in 2009.

Director of Food and Beverage for Russell Lands, Chris Doggett will launch an apprenticeship program for anyone who is interested in learning to be a chef