How a Home Economics Teacher Changed Alon Shaya’s Life
The pomegranate is symbolic in many cultures, representing the circle of life, fertility, abundance and resurrection. It’s an appropriate name for Chef Alon Shaya’s Pomegranate Hospitality Group, which includes Saba and Miss River restaurants in New Orleans, Safta in Denver and Las Vegas, and Silan in The Bahamas.
Born in Israel to an Israeli-Bulgarian mother and a Romanian- Israeli father, Alon Shaya’s family moved to Philadelphia when he was four years old. Adapting to a new home, country and language was difficult for the family. Alon’s parents struggled and eventually separated. His mother worked two jobs to support Alon and his sister. Alon was left alone a lot, but he remembers fondly being cared for by his Saba (Hebrew for grandfather) and Safti (Hebrew for grandmother), the latter who cooked for him and with him.
Bullied at school and often getting into trouble, Alon’s life could have taken another path if it were not for Donna Barnett, his home economics teacher, who gave him a guiding hand, leading him to enroll in the Culinary Institute of America and to pursue a promising career and life’s calling. Donna told us that beyond the tough boy exterior, she could see Alon’s potential and that he strong beautiful hands. She became a mentor and a lifelong friend.
Alon Shaya with Donna Barnett at Saba
Dining at his New Orleans restaurants are each unique experiences reflecting his own full-circle. Uptown on Magazine Street, Saba is an homage to Alon’s heritage and the culinary melting pot of Israel and the fertile crescent of the Mediterranean, Middle East and North Africa. At recent dinner for the Shaya Barnett Foundation, Chef Shaya served some menu highlights, including his signature hummus, one topped with blue crab with lemon and the other with a soft-cooked egg with harissa and pickles, whole roasted pompano with tahini, raisins and pine nuts and roasted lamb loin with tzimmes, citrus and parsley salad.
Hummus topped with egg, harissa and pickles
Whole roasted pompano with tahini, raisins and pine nuts
Miss River at the Four Seasons Hotel is his love letter to New Orleans and many of its beloved dishes served with Alon’s inspired twist, from whole fried chicken served with clay pot dirty rice and duck egg, to redfish court bouillon stewed with oysters, crawfish and shrimp. It’s a restaurant to enjoy a quiet dinner (like we did), celebrate a New Orleans Saints victory, enjoy a weekend jazz brunch, or sip a spritz with a wood-fired pizza.
Court Bouillon Redfish stewed with oysters, crawfish and shrimp at Miss River
Bread pudding with blueberries at Miss River
Since we last interviewed Alon in 2015, he has become a father to two children, age 3 years and 3 months, with wife Emily, written a memoir/cookbook in 2018, established Pomegranate Hospitality and has expanded his restaurant imprint and launched his foundation. Giving back and giving it his all remains a priority, but he has also learned to give his children the family time that he often missed in his youth.
Alon Shaya with high school culinary students and staff members from the New Orleans Career Center at Saba.