The Band Leader

Inside the home kitchen of Joey Altman, host of the James Beard Award–winning cooking show Bay Cafe.

What advice would you give the home cooks of the world?
Don’t cheap out. The $3 more that you could spend on butter will give you four or five meals that are just so much tastier.

What can we expect to find in your new book, Without Reservations?
I use music as an analogy: the role of ingredients in the dish to the instrument’s role in a song. You wouldn’t want a song that’s got seven guitars or seven drums, just as you wouldn’t want a dish with seven herbs that are competing for attention. I try to convey that most of the time, simpler is better.

Home-cooking style versus restaurant-cooking style?
Since I don’t have a cadre of minions to do my prep, cooking at home is a little simplified but definitely as flavorful. I can’t go too simple, especially when I’ve got the guys [from the Back Burner Blues Band, in which Altman plays guitar] coming over—they’re brutal. We’ll whip up anything from Romanesco broccoli sautéed with capers, chile flakes, garlic and olive oil to porcini-braised pork shoulder with fontina polenta—that’s my favorite dish.

What is the luxury of cooking at home?
It’s meditative. There’s no staff I have to keep my eye on. I’m by myself, doing my thing, half-listening to the radio, half-listening to the sauté pan, half-listening to the voices in my head and just getting into it.

Philips Senseo Pod Coffee Maker $65; Target, 133 Serramonte Ctr., Daly City, 650-755-2393	Waring Pro Stainless Steel Blender $150; Bed Bath & Beyond, 555 Ninth St., 415-252-0490

What advice would you give the home cooks of the world?
Don’t cheap out. The $3 more that you could spend on butter will give you four or five meals that are just so much tastier.

What can we expect to find in your new book, Without Reservations?
I use music as an analogy: the role of ingredients in the dish to the instrument’s role in a song. You wouldn’t want a song that’s got seven guitars or seven drums, just as you wouldn’t want a dish with seven herbs that are competing for attention. I try to convey that most of the time, simpler is better.

Home-cooking style versus restaurant-cooking style?
Since I don’t have a cadre of minions to do my prep, cooking at home is a little simplified but definitely as flavorful. I can’t go too simple, especially when I’ve got the guys [from the Back Burner Blues Band, in which Altman plays guitar] coming over—they’re brutal. We’ll whip up anything from Romanesco broccoli sautéed with capers, chile flakes, garlic and olive oil to porcini-braised pork shoulder with fontina polenta—that’s my favorite dish.

What is the luxury of cooking at home?
It’s meditative. There’s no staff I have to keep my eye on. I’m by myself, doing my thing, half-listening to the radio, half-listening to the sauté pan, half-listening to the voices in my head and just getting into it.

Philips Senseo Pod Coffee Maker $65; Target, 133 Serramonte Ctr., Daly City, 650-755-2393	Waring Pro Stainless Steel Blender $150; Bed Bath & Beyond, 555 Ninth St., 415-252-0490

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