Safta, which means “grandmother” in Hebrew, is a personal project for New Orleans chef/restaurateur Alon Shaya; he opened his first restaurant outside of Louisiana at Denver’s Source Hotel in 2018. Inspired by his grandmother’s recipes and the cuisine of Israel, where he was born, Shaya has given the city a new taste of Mediterranean cuisine, with wood-fired pita bread, an expansive hummus menu, and a range of other dishes including kebabs, falafel and pomegranate-braised lamb shank.