Alon Shaya

Coming Up

Culinary Institute of America gave Alon Shaya the base work of the trade: knife control, heat management, timing, repetition, precision. The first professional test came as an intern at Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, where pace and volume demanded clean organization and steady execution. Chef-partner at Besh Restaurant Group until 2017, Shaya moved into the part of the job that extends beyond the line: holding consistency, shaping direction, and maintaining a room’s identity over time. His work reached a wider audience when he served as a judge at Top Chef, placing his point of view in public view without changing the fundamentals behind it. Chef-owner roles at Pomegranate Hospitality since 2017, Saba since 2018, Safta since 2018, Miss River since 2021, and Safta 1964 in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2024 map an expanding practice across cities and formats. The throughline is Middle Eastern fare, with each opening functioning as a different way to handle story, place, and menu.

Where They Are Now

Middle Eastern fare remains the center of Shaya’s work at Pomegranate Hospitality and Saba in New Orleans. The point is not to freeze the cuisine into a set formula, but to keep it responsive to place and product, allowing the local landscape to inform the plate. Local sourcing and inherited technique meet in his own framing of the work: “We have the chance to use these really incredible local products, prepared with a chef’s touch and a grandmother’s soul.” The line points to a kitchen that values polish without losing warmth, where ingredients are handled with technique and the final read still carries domestic memory. Restaurant-making, in Shaya’s practice, is also a way of building narrative. Across Pomegranate Hospitality, Saba, Safta, Miss River, and Safta 1964 in Las Vegas, Nevada, the work ties culinary identity to story rather than treating the room as a neutral container.

Signature

Alon's signature dishes include Jelleaux. In a kitchen language built around memory and place, a signature dish like this becomes a compact reference point for the chef’s method. It stands as one named example of how his work translates intention into a recognizable plate.

In Their Words “We have the chance to use these really incredible local products, prepared with a chef’s touch and a grandmother’s soul.” “When we approach opening a restaurant, we like to tell a story.”

Recognition

Alon Shaya has received Liberty's Kitchen, Youth Advocate Award.