Alta Adams’s executive chef Keith Corbin didn’t attend a culinary academy to earn his cooking stripes—instead, the Watts native spent hours on end whipping up dishes in prison while serving out a seven-year sentence for armed robbery. When he got out, Corbin entered the food scene with an entry-level job at Locol (Daniel Patterson and Roy Choi’s restaurant), where he quickly worked his way up and gained the attention of Patterson himself. Fast forward to October 2018, and Patterson and Corbin are cutting the ribbon on Alta Adams, a West Adams soul food restaurant with upscale eats for down-home prices. Where Locol failed, Alta (and the adjoining Adams Coffee Shop) aims to fit in amongst both the locals, with average incomes around $40,000 per year, and the Angelenos who travel from further afield. They’re off to a good start. Drip coffee at the adjoining cafe costs a mere $2 a cup, while cornbread off the “snacks” menu goes for $4.
