Chef Alon Shaya Tries to Put Besh Behind Him With Two New Projects
Photo Caption: The spread at Alon Shaya's recently opened Safta in Denver Mike Thurk
Skift Take
Lawsuits behind him, Alon Shaya has started building his Israeli food empire, betting what worked in New Orleans will work in Denver and elsewhere.
What a difference (almost) a year makes.
Last September, award-winning chef Alon Shaya was fired by the Besh Restaurant Group after months of internal power struggles followed by revelations Shaya made to the New Orleans Times-Picayune about sexual harassment in Besh’s restaurants, including ones Shaya managed (Shaya's restaurants operated under the separate Shaya Restaurant Group banner, a subset of BRG). He subsequently lost a legal battle for the rights to his own name on the place that won a James Beard Award in 2016 as the country’s best new restaurant.
Now, he’s the proprietor of two new restaurants, Saba in New Orleans, and Safta in Denver, serving his upscale Israeli dishes, which feature locally available products. The names mean “grandfather” and “grandmother” in Hebrew.
[caption id="attachment_4514" align="alignright" width="300"] Chef Alon Shaya[/caption]
That Shaya would open again in New Orleans is no surprise. He’s cooked there for nearly 15 years,
