Meet Our Executive Chef

Russell K. Svoboda

Russell K. Svoboda was born in Great Falls, Montana to a Hungarian/Austrian-heritage father and Spanish/Native American-heritage mother. Growing up in the early 1980s, one of his chores was to plan and prepare family meals and his mother's Spanish influence became central to his culinary understanding.

While attending a music program at Cortland State College in New York, Russell continued to feel the call of cooking and found himself imagining the limitless possibilities of the culinary arts. In 1994, he finally yielded to the cooking call, pulling together all of his savings to enter the Baltimore International Culinary College as a full-time student. While completing his degree, he trained under Peter Zimmer at Joy America Café in Baltimore. Peter had received the coveted four star, four diamond rating at the Inn of the Anasazi in Santa Fe, New Mexico before venturing to Baltimore. As Russell says, his two years as an understudy of this culinary visionary proved more valuable than his college study. "This was where I learned that food not only fills the stomach, it also feeds the soul."

After receiving his degree in 1995, Russell moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he began experimenting with the legendary cuisine of the American Southwest. In the fall of 1999, he opened Rock Resort's new flagship, La Posada de Santa Fe, as Executive Chef. He developed both his culinary and restaurant-business acumen over the next several years, including tenures at Alexandra's at Turf Valley and Baltimore's best vegan restaurant, Great Sage.

Russell is returning as Executive Chef for Alexandra’s Restaurant in order to bring Howard County its newest version of Modern American Fusion - fresh, local, ingredients handled at their peak ripeness, prepared simply and purely with culinary mastery.