Daniel’s earliest and most cherished memories are snapping green beans with Grandma Rowe and rolling pastry dough with Granny Hinton. By the time he was four, Mom was pulling up a chair next to her by the stove so he could cook his own eggs. 

Raised by women who taught him to roll up his ‘apron’ sleeves, it was at their side he learned that food is family.

Daniel trained as a classical ballet dancer from the age of seven until he was twenty-three. For better or worse, this training instilled in Daniel a tireless discipline, a relentless attention to detail, and a love for those moments of the sublime we can create through nuance. He has spent over a decade applying these bone-deep lessons to his culinary practice. 

Daniel studied at the French Pastry School in Chicago, completing both L’ Art du Gateau and L’ Art de la Patisserie. He completed an internship under Pastry Chefs Sarah Kosikowski and Patrick Fahy at Sixteen.

Drawn to the beauty of traditional techniques and interesting flavor combinations, Daniel found a niche in preserving, and in the fall of 2015launched Hinton Cannery. For the last two years, he has served as the director of food and beverage service at the iconic Chicago theater, Steppenwolf. 

In May of 2020, during the heart of the pandemic, Daniel began regularly hosting large, extravagant, multicourse, themed formal dinner parties... for the two other people in his social bubble. These Bubble Romps, as they came to be called, provided a much-needed creative outlet, and became a way to show his closest friends, through thatvery dark time and down to the last curled zest atop the Duck a L’Orange, that for him—food is family. Incidentally, Daniel learned he was quite good at orchestrating elaborately refined events, and truly enjoyed doing it.