Chef Joe Randall

Chef Joe Randall was born on July 23, 1946, in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, to Margaret and Washington Glascoe. He was raised by Dr. Joseph A. Randall and Laura M. Randall, his aunt and uncle who adopted him in 1954. Randall attended William Penn High School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and received restaurant management certificates from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Davis.

As a teenager, Randall worked for his uncle Richard Ross at his restaurant, Ross’s, in Large, Pennsylvania, before enlisting in the Air Force, where he worked in flight line kitchens. In the 1960s, Randall apprenticed under Robert W. Lee at the Harrisburg Hotel and Frank E. Castelli at the Penn Harris Hotel, both in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In 1989, he opened the Restaurant at Kellogg Ranch, a training restaurant, at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, as part of its Collins College of Hospitality Management. Randall founded the African American Chefs Hall of Fame in 1993 as part of the Taste of Heritage Foundation. In 1995, he launched Chef Joe Randall & Associates, a culinary consulting firm. In 1998, Randall and Toni Tipton-Martin published the cookbook A Taste of Heritage: The New African-American Cuisine. Randall became a founding member of the Southern Foodways Alliance in 1999. That same year, he became director of food service for the Savannah College of Art and Design. In 2000, Randall opened Chef Joe Randall's Cooking School in Savannah, Georgia. In 2012, he founded the Edna Lewis Foundation in Savannah. In 2016, he was featured in the National Museum of African American History and Culture alongside chefs Edna Lewis, Patrick Clark, Leah Chase, and Hercules Posey. In 2017, Randall became the restaurant consultant and executive chef at Good Times Jazz Bar & Restaurant in Savannah.

Randall has cooked in over fifteen establishments across the country, including The Cloister in Buffalo, New York, and The Fishmarket in Baltimore, Maryland. Randall also has taught in several institutions, including the Fremont School for Adults, American River College, Baltimore Culinary College, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and Cheyney University.

Randall has served as the sergeant at arms of the American Culinary Federation, president of the United Culinary Association, chairman of the Edna Lewis Foundation, and member of the American Academy of Chefs.

Randall has been the recipient of numerous awards, including a Lifetime Leadership Award from the Culinary Institute of America’s Black Culinary Alumni, the President’s Award for Excellence in Mentoring from 100 Black Men of Savannah, the Culinary Historian Award from Culinary Wonders USA, the Beach Institute Education Award from the King Tisdale Cottage Foundation, the Milestone Award from the Chef Darryl E. Evans Foundation, and the Tom Macrina Presidential Medallion and Certificate from the American Culinary Federation-Chicago Chapter, and recognition for his contributions to Southern cuisine and culture from the president and faculty of Georgia Southern University. He is known as the “Dean of Southern Cuisine.”

Randall and his wife, Barbara Randall, live in Savannah, Georgia. They have three children: J. Christopher Randall, Kenneth A. Randall, and Cari Randall.

Joe Randall was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on November 16, 2021.