Joey Altman makes cooking look fun. His natural cooking flair, easy-going, entertaining teaching style or his witty sense of humor, watching Altman cook is almost as enjoyable as eating his food. This celebrated chef trained across the country and in France to develop his own unique, multi-cultural cooking style that has been described by critics as “bold,” “colorful,” and “sophisticated yet whimsical.”

Altman developed a large and loyal following with his three-time James Beard Foundation award winning San Francisco based food television show, Bay Café. In addition to his local television, Altman hosted two series on Television Food Network; “Appetite for Adventure,” a show where gourmet cooking meets the great outdoors and “Tasting Napa” a culinary travelogue through Northern California’s wine country. He now serves as the Chef Spokesperson for Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines as well as a consultant for the restaurant industry.

In his spare time, Altman appears at many benefits and food-related events in the Bay Area and nationwide with his guitar in hand, along with the other members of the Backburner’s Blues Band. A group made up of Bay Area chefs and veteran musicians. The group plays at local benefits and can often be found performing their famously delicious “Gumbo Jam’ at Bay Area clubs where they make gumbo on stage while they play and then feed it up to the audience.

Altman lives in San Francisco with his wife and three children.