One way or another, Chef Keith Corbin has been cooking almost his entire life. At age thirteen, Corbin learned to cook crack, and had gotten so skilled that he’d be flown across the country to cook for drug operations in other cities. Once his criminal enterprises caught up with him, Corbin spent ten years in some of California’s most notorious maximum security prisons. Witnessing the resourcefulness of other inmates, he developed his own culinary palate and ingenuity, creating “spreads” out of the normally unbearable commissary diet, and experimenting during his shifts in the prison kitchen. After release, Corbin began to cook professionally, and eventually, went on to open Alta West Adams with Daniel Patterson, who, along with Roy Choi, gave him an early career break. At Alta, he trailblaized his own path, honoring the spirit of his Granny's favorite dishes through "California Soul Food”.