Alta Adams is back. Chef and owner Keith Corbin closed his celebrated restaurant on February 26, 2026, only to reopen on May 27 with a reimagined Alta menu that represents his evolution as a chef. Alta is no longer solely Corbin’s brand of California soul, which incorporated his Southern and Los Angeles roots with West Coast ingredients and techniques. The chef’s recent international travels and life milestones influenced the change, and the results might surprise Alta regulars.
Alta’s new seasonal menu includes a delightfully citrusy hamachi crudo (he’ll use the freshest catch from the farmers market) with local honeysuckle and a milky coconut, lime, and ginger leche de tigre. The warm black-eyed pea salad feels light and slightly fiery with Fresno
chiles and dashes of lime. The fire-roasted cabbage uses a miso glaze Corbin has favored for years (previously highlighted in his marinated oxtail dish), while duck leg confit with black garlic mole arrives juicy and fragrant. Chicken tagine gets thrown onto the grill after being dredged with proprietary spices and a Nigerian suya sauce. (Corbin will also include roasted bone marrow doused with suya as well.) Alta’s blackened salmon, shrimp and grits, and traditional fried chicken might be made during brunch service in the near future. “We still have Southern aspects here,” says Corbin. “We’re still pulling from the South with storytelling, just not based around the same 10 to 15 dishes everyone knows.”
During my pre-reopening visit in mid-May, Corbin and his team were putting the final touches on the menu and space. New and longtime Alta staff in the front and back of house milled about, including bar director Madeline McQuillan, who sourced spirits from Black and underserved communities, including the distillery Loft & Bear, blocks away from where Corbin grew up in Watts.
Corbin has been in the midst of a self-described “recalibration” with subtle and considerable adjustments: new glassware, custom leather barstools, a refinished and lacquered bar, banquettes with new cushions, soundproofing, and bathrooms lined with a moody Consilia black wallpaper from the 1970s. Changes are still underway as Alta’s sidewalk dining area reconfigures to conform to city standards, while the beloved back patio will host a more communal layout. The cafe will have a retail area with a Now Serving collaboration selection of books. The restaurant’s interior, Corbin says, will showcase a rotating curation of Black artwork.
Corbin emphasizes how ready he was to break out of the old mold. “I might have a dish that has a West African spice, Japanese technique, and a California ingredient,” says Corbin. “Our West Coast oyster has a strawberry mignonette, lemon verbena, and is presented on sand from the Pacific Ocean.”
Seven years ago, I interviewed Keith Corbin for the first time. It became the first of many interactions over the years, and I got to know the Alta Adams chef, who has a compelling life. More importantly, I loved going to his West Adams restaurant, feeling the energy in the room, the diverse crowds, and savoring those otherworldly oxtails.
In 2019, he opened Alta with chef Daniel Patterson, landing with a bang in a then-early group of sit-down restaurants in West Adams, well before Tartine, Vicky’s All Day, and the museum-like pasta and seafood concepts from the Cento team. Alta’s approach has been an ongoing exploration for Corbin, one that started after his stint at Locol.
In the aftermath of an 11-year prison sentence for drug and gun possession, arson, and robbery, Corbin applied for a job at Watts’ groundbreaking restaurant Locol with Patterson and chef Roy Choi in 2016. His well-documented odyssey helped establish Alta as a pioneering Los Angeles presence as he authored a biography, earned a 2022 James Beard Foundation Best Chef: California award nomination, and became a celebrity hot spot. (Alta served as a key location in Issa Rae’s HBO show Insecure.) Patterson, who recently opened Jacaranda, and Corbin remain friends, though they are no longer business partners.
In 2023, Corbin received a coveted Certification of Rehabilitation from the State of California, a five-year process that restored rights and privileges taken for granted by most civilians. “My past no longer follows me everywhere. I feel 20 times lighter,” Corbin told me at the time.
After receiving the Certificate of Rehabilitation, Corbin secured a passport and took his family to Europe for the first time in 2025. Stops in London, Paris, Rome, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, and a winding trail in Italy became life-changing momentum for Corbin. He took time away from Los Angeles to cook with prominent Mexican chef David Castro Hussong at his Valle de Guadalupe restaurant, Fauna. (Keith bought the same plates used at Fauna by Mexican designer Saudara for Alta 2.0.) He also brought seeds back from Europe, which he handed over to Weiser Family Farms and Watts’ own Mudtown Farms to grow for Alta’s dishes. Both will grow squash, capers, San Marzano tomatoes, parsley, cilantro, and more. “I want to see how these seeds perform in California climates,” says Corbin.
Earlier this year, before the temporary closure, Corbin hosted chef’s counter dinners and tested out new dishes. He then participated in CBS’s cooking competition show with host Padma Lakshmi, America’s Culinary Cup. He was eliminated in the eighth challenge.
When asked if he’s worried about alienating his customer base with the new Alta, Corbin cites a deep commitment to his vision. “As a Black chef, I want to cook those traditional Southern dishes because I want to, not because I have to,” says Corbin.
Alta Adams is fully booked for now, but will reopen reservations on June 4. Hours are Tuesday through Sunday from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. at 5359 W. Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, 90016.
More for the table:
- I’ll be taking a group of friends to Jamaican-Chinese hot spot ABL Hollywood in June. It’s a new restaurant from the longtime operator of A Beautiful Life in Little Tokyo.
- Another soulful spot, Tev’s & Family Kitchen, always feels worth revisiting, whether in the original Vermont Square location or owner Tevin Love’s second outpost in Gardena, which opened in March 2026.
- Chef Jonathan Harris brought his personal diasporic menu to Los Angeles with Hollywood’s Linden. I visited the restaurant during a special night in 2024, which will remain one of my favorite dining memories in this city.
