October 2, 2024 • 45 mins
Born in Israel, Chef Alon Shaya's parents moved to Philadelphia when he was 4, a hard adjustment for Alon. But home economics teacher, Donna Barnett, saw Alon's potential and encouraged him to enroll in the Culinary Institute of America. Shaya's Pomegranate Hospitality Group includes Saba and Miss River (New Orleans), Safta (Denver), Silan (Bahamas), and Safta 1964 (Las Vegas). Shaya and his former teacher cofounded the Shaya Barnett Foundation to provide resources to support culinary education.
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The Connected Table is broadcast live Wednesdays at 2PM ET and Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com).
The Connected Table Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests and not
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We
make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No
liability explicitor implied shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio
or it's employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should
be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing
(00:21):
W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Welcome to the Connected Table Live. We're your hosts, Melanie
Young and David Ransom. You're insatiably curious culinary couple. We
enjoy traveling the world to bring you the dynamic people
who were front and center and behind the scenes and wine, food,
spirits and hospitality. We love sharing their stories with you
(01:02):
because this is a people industry and we hope you'll
support them and visit their restaurants, hotels, wineries and whatnot.
We are broadcasting from our beloved adopted home, New Orleans
today and we're really excited to have the guests on
that we have known. He's been a guest in the past,
but We are bringing him back for many reasons to
(01:25):
share his story, and I'm going to set it up
this way. The pomegranate is a symbolic fruit in many cultures.
It means the circle of life, fertility, abundance, and resurrection,
and we know New Orleans is all of that right
many many ways, and so is the life of our guests,
(01:47):
Alan Shaia, who owns Pomegranate Hospitality Group, which includes restaurants
in New Orleans and Las Vegas, Denver, and the Bahamas.
Alan is based in New Orleans and he has two
amazing restaurants. They're very different and they're both fabulous, Saba,
which is an homage to his Israeli roots and his grandfather,
(02:09):
and Miss River, which is in the Four Seasons and
homage to the city of New Orleans and quite beautiful.
He joins us today, It's interesting Alan's life could have
taken a different course. Very true, and we were inspired
in an event we attended at Saba to learn about
this thanks to a teacher who took him under her wing.
(02:32):
He is the Manny is today and the success So Alanshaia,
welcome back to the Connected Table.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Thank you, thanks so much, really Glad to be back
with you guys and to be on your incredible show.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Well, we went back and looked in the files. It
was twenty fifteen and we had just started our show
when we interviewed you the last time, and you had
just been named Best Chef Southeast by the James Beard Foundation, and.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
We're on a roll. But it was a much different
time in your career. Why don't why don't you give our.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Listeners a little bit of a backstory about where you
grew up, how you grew up, and your first thoughts
about food and how that came into play.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yeah. I was born in Israel and my grandparents, my
Saba and my Softa on my mother's side, were from Bulgaria,
and they, you know, were kind of really a big
part of my life from the moment I was born,
(03:34):
and really you know, cared for me, and we were
like essentially like parents to me because you know, my
parents worked a lot, and so my my grandparents, my
Saba and my Softa were there for me. And when
(03:55):
I was two, my father immigrated to America, to the
Philadelphi area and began you know, working to save up
money and get an apartment and get a down payment.
On a on a car and all the things that
you know, you need to kind of do to settle down,
(04:18):
and and and he needed to get a job and
and started stocking shelves in a in a thrift in
a thrift shop on San Samsung Street in Philly. And uh,
when I was four, my mother and my sister and
I came to America. So, you know, two years later
(04:39):
we flew over actually on my fourth birthday and settled
down outside of Philly. When I was five, my parents divorced,
and uh, my mother was working two jobs, and so
you know, from the age of five to ten, I
(05:00):
you know, spent a lot of time on my own
in the kitchen or in front of a television or
wherever I felt most comfortable at the time. And my
Saba and my Softa would come and spend a lot
of time with us. They'd fly from Israel and come
to Philly. And life for me during that time obviously
was really kind of all over the place. I was
(05:23):
trying to learn English, I was settling into a brand
new country, and my parents had split up, and my sister,
who was five years older than I was, you know,
was out constantly, and so I was really alone a lot,
and and when my Saba and Softa came, things kind
of felt normal again. And my Softa would cook and
(05:45):
I would, you know, remember the house smelling like roasted
peppers and plants and sizzling Bulgarian kebabs and Bareka's flaky
pastry barreca stuff with feta cheese baking in the oven,
and and those smells and experiences with them. Really, I
(06:06):
think kind of just brought a sense of stability, you know,
emotional stability at the time, but at that age it
was just real, you know, identity crisis, constant identity crisis.
And as I got older, began really you know, getting
(06:27):
into a lot of trouble, uh, you know, making a
lot of really bad decisions and getting arrested for you know,
drug drugs and shoplifting and you know police chases and
all kinds of stuff. So I, you know, I was
really on the wrong side of the tracks. And I
(06:47):
was the person that my friend's parents were like, I
don't want you hanging out with that kid, And so
I had a hard time keeping relationships, you know, and
friendships because I'd find a way to no just through
acting out, you know, sabotage, and I really didn't have
a lot of mentorship or anyone that was really guiding
(07:10):
me much so when I joined the home economics class
at Harton High School when I was fourteen years old,
Donna Barnett was my teacher, and she really became the
one person that I looked up to and listened to
and she could connect with me. She got me my
(07:31):
first job at a restaurant. She helped me realize that
I could go to a vocational school for half the
day and begin you know, putting on a chef coat,
cooking in a kitchen, in a professional style kitchen. She
you know, drove me to my first day my at work,
(07:52):
made sure I was dressed right, made sure I showed
up on time. She helped me understand that I there
was a way to do something after high school as
far as furthering my education. It really wasn't an option
for us to go to college, or for me to
go to college. We really didn't have any money, and
(08:12):
there was really never any talk of it, you know,
at the house. But she said, you can go to
culinary school. And I was like, what, what's that? You know, Like,
she said you could go and cook and make a
career out of cooking. And I was like, all right,
let's do it, and she just grabbed me by the
collar and helped lead the way. I went to the
(08:35):
Culinary Institute of America, and you know, I graduated with
perfect attendance, and you know, top percentage of my I
was winning awards at the graduation ceremony, from my wine
knowledge and all kinds, you know, all these things that
I just never felt felt necessarily were going to be
a part of my future. And she's been a mother
(08:57):
to me, like a mother to me ever since. And
now fast forward all these years. We have a foundation
together called the Shia Barnett Foundation, and we work with
local vocational programs and culinary programs to try to make
a difference in people's lives the way that she did.
In mind.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
You know, along your story is a story of many
young children, not necessarily only children of immigrants, but children
who maybe grow up on the wrong side of the tracks.
As you speak, I think as some chefs we have interviewed,
and we know Barbara Lynch, Bobby Flay, there are many
who grew up and their lives could have gone another way.
(09:40):
They grew up, they were bullied, they had a rough crowd,
as they say that they hung out with absentee parents.
And there's always one person. I know, in the case
of Bobby, he always says Joe Allen, And there's always
one person that helps bring and lift that person up.
(10:02):
And I think more credit should be given to teachers
because Donna said to us when we met her at
the Shia Barnett Foundation event at SABA, she saw your
potential in your capable hands. And it's like she had
that vision and took you under the wings, under your wings,
(10:23):
and it's so incredible. What do you what do you
want to say to people about that, because teachers don't
get enough acknowledgment.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Yeah, well, you know, it takes a special type of teacher,
you know, and a special type of person, and Donna
is that person, you know. And I think she's made
a difference in many, many people's lives. And I know
that there's a lot of teachers out there that are
doing that every single day. And I think that, you know,
(10:53):
my advice to young people that are kind of looking
for direction is to know, accept the be open to
this opportunity, be open to the fact that like things
can actually improve and that you do have something that
you can contribute, and you know, whatever it is, you know,
(11:15):
it can be anything, but you whatever you're going to contribute,
you have to get behind it, and you have to
have someone that believes that you can do it. And
uh and when that person comes along, accept that into
your lives and you know, and and and build trust
uh in the fact that someone is looking out for you.
(11:38):
I think that's the hard part for a lot of
young people is that kind of a lot of examples
of broken trust throughout the years can can kind of
harden people to not be open to to help it
when when it is available, and that goes on for
the rest of your life. You know, it's a you know,
(11:59):
it's it's something that you can use your whole life.
This this idea that you know you're not in it alone,
and when those opportunities do come by, grab them and
do something with it, you know. And I I, uh,
it took a little bit of time to shake off
like the you know, rebellious energy that I had, but
(12:20):
eventually I did and and it it was, you know,
a life changing event. And I you know, by the
time I was twenty one, I was working you know,
many many hours a day and completely committed to my
craft and learning and becoming a chef and building my career.
(12:42):
And you know, I never really looked back.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
When we were at the event at SABA and one
of the students asked David and I for advice, and
we took it from different perspectives. Something that David said
that really reflects your career trajectory was go to work
in a hotel or casinos. Get into the system and
work those kitchens because the discipline is really important, and
(13:09):
it also can be your ticket to travel the world.
And you really talk about that in your book which
came out after we interviewed you, Shaya and Honesty of Food,
My Journey back to Israel. But you really, you know,
cut your teeth and a lot of food, working in
casinos in hotels. Talk about what you learn from that,
because that's important. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Well, I did my my externship from culinary school in
Las Vegas, and you know, I was nineteen years old
and it was just like being in culinary Disney World.
You know, it was like there was no boundaries. You know,
food costs wasn't ever talked about. The lobsters were like
(13:54):
twenty pounds. You know, there was ice carvings, and there
was all these incredible moments where I could go and
like just walk into an incredible Chinese restaurant on property
at the Rio and watch the chefs like cooking and
walks and expertly stir frying. And I could walk into
(14:17):
a Japanese restaurant and see people make sushi. And I
can go to an Italian restaurant and see, you know
what a meatball the size of a softball could be like,
you know, and and all of these things that just
kind of opened my eyes as well as like a
big corporate structure. But you know, the from a technical standpoint,
(14:40):
it was great. From a cultural standpoint, you know, I
really kind of began working under really tough, toxic people
from the very very beginning, and from at a young age,
you kind of feel like, hey, this is you know,
this is I guess the industry. This is what it is,
(15:02):
you know, And and I would say to other people
that you know, even if it's a big, glitzy, glamorous
casino or it's a small mom and pop shop, that
it's the what I would say, I would take back
and what I think I regret the most is surrounding
(15:25):
myself just around the great food and not necessarily around
the great people who could teach you how to you know,
be a be a good leader. And that is something
I just had to learn the hard way over the
years and today that's kind of my advice, you know,
(15:46):
is that like get you know, graduate high school, go
to culinary school if you can, it's it's definitely worth it, uh,
and then go and work for good people who in
respect and empowerment and people who want to build you
up and not push you down. So yeah, you know,
(16:12):
Donna was someone that pulled me up. She was the
kind of person that picked you up and put you
on a platform, lifted you. And I think we all
know the types of people out there that work on
pushing you down. And it's really important that young people
(16:32):
today look for the people that really want to pull
them up.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Well, you know, when you were young, you're bullied and
you had to get back up, and you're bullied in
the kitchen. It is toxic. And we actually actually look
very carefully when we go to restaurants now to see
make sure we're going to restaurants that have a reputation
for uplifting your people. We support those restaurants. It's very
important to us and should be part of what you
think about because we don't think restaurants should be sweatshops.
(17:00):
They should be It's the hospitality industry. It's a people industry, right.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
That's right. And if the people that are working there
don't feel like they're treated hospitably, they're you know, they're
not going to treat the guests hospitably, and so it's
a it's not only a good business decision, it's also
a good life decision and something that I think you
guys are doing the right move by, you know, ensuring
(17:26):
that you're supporting businesses that believe in that.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
It's really really important.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
It is very important because you know, you have when
that that toxicity is in the kitchen and in the
back of the house, as Alan said, it does transfer
at some point to the front of the house. If
somebody is having a bad day and they snap or
they're just in a bad mood, they're not going to
treat the customer like they probably should.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Right.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
Yeah, So.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
You know two things first before we get into Pomegrand Hospital,
we want to also give a nod to another woman
that has lifted you up and the charming story of
how you met your wife Emily, because she really has
also helped enable you to be the person you become.
She she was very generous with letting you pursue your
dream of going to Italy. She's been there by your side.
Talk to us about how you met and what does
(18:11):
she mean to you?
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Well, I mean she means everything to me. She's definitely
the reason that, you know, I'm able to to live
the life I always dreamed I wanted to live. And
you know, she, you know, from the very beginning, has
been just such an incredible support, not only in allowing
(18:39):
me to do things that I was passionate about doing,
but and really helping me do them the right way
and to and to serve as a partner in all
of the decisions, you know, and how and how we've
built Pomegranate Hospitality, how we are building our family. Without Emily,
(19:01):
you know, none of this would have ever come about.
So we met right after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans
at a young and Jewish and new to New Orleans
kind of mixer put on by the Jewish Federation. So
we're kind of like the poster child for like, you know,
(19:22):
the Jewish Federation's kind of young new, New Young, Welcome
to New Orleans a group that they have and so, uh,
you know, we we met there, we beat We were
friends for a while before we began dating, and and
then we began dating, and then I kind of picked
(19:43):
up and moved to Italy to go and apprentice out there.
Uh and she obviously, you know, supported me through that.
And you know we we now have a three year
old daughter named Ruth and a and a three month
old son named Ari, and uh, we you know, we
(20:06):
have our our company, Pomegranate Hospitality, and we've you know,
surrounded ourselves with incredibly great people. And our our team
uh is just you know, people that we respect and
look up to and learn from. Uh. And yeah, it's
(20:27):
you know, it's been. It's been quite the journey. And
and Emily has been kind of my my Shirpa throughout
the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
And you have her reppings and rice and the menu
at Miss River and then your books, so she's she's
important that way as well. You know who else met
it a Jewish mixer Sarah Beeth and Bill Levine. Yeah,
fun fact and my aunt novels Jewish mixers are great,
you know, Yeah, they work, they're they're small and wonderful.
(20:58):
So let's talk about pomegran hospitality. It's big, it's you know,
as we dug deep. You're all over the place, and
it's exciting. You have something in Las Vegas. You just
got back you so you returned to Las Vegas, but
your flagship is here in New Orleans and you kind
of went full circle to embrace your Israeli roots with Saba,
(21:22):
and I have to say it's some of the best
hummus I've ever had. We learned you put baking soda
in your hummus, which is like was new to me.
Like that was interesting. Talk to us about it, Talk
to us about this. What this restaurant means to you
and why you named it after your grandfather.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
Yeah, you know, Saba is really a culmination of, you know,
me making a full circle back to my roots and
embracing my heritage and and my grandmother, my Saba and
my Softa's support for me throughout my childhood. It was
(22:06):
really a way to honor my saba, you know, my
which means grandfather and Hebrew uh to to open a
restaurant uh with his, you know, in his image, and
also in Emily's granddaddy's image, you know, her her her
(22:27):
grandfather's pictures up on the wall there as well, and
it's it's kind of just like an homage to you know,
our families who have led the way for us UH
and a a way to celebrate the the incredible, incredibly
(22:47):
diverse and dynamic food of of Israel, of the Mediterranean,
of the Middle East in general. And so it's it's
just been really great. And then of course we have
an incredible team of people, everyone from our cooks to
our servers and dishwashers and managers that have all really
(23:12):
put their love and passion into that restaurant to create
a space that I think is very welcoming. It's kind
of like a neighborhood restaurant, which we really love. You know,
it's in a residential area. We really wanted the place
to feel like you were in, you know, a neighborhood,
and we get a ton of regulars that live up
(23:34):
down the street. You know, they walk their kids there
and their dogs there, and it's just it's a really
fun energy there.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
So for our listeners, it is in Uptown New Orleans
and a very beautiful residential area, a lot of fun
shops and little cafes around there. We like to spend
our Sundays walking around there and then going up to
Autumn Park, Yeah, for a nice walk around the park.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Yeah. It's a beautiful part of the of New Orleans. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
We encourage everybody who visits New Orleans to expand their horizons.
It's not just the French Quarter. We say that all
the time, love it, but expand. We love Middle Eastern food,
we love the Middle East. I went as I went
to Israel alone as a teenager. My grandparents, who are
Southern Jewish Jewish from Lithuania heritage, sent me to help
(24:25):
me develop a Jewish identity. I spend more time chasing boys.
But I'd like to go back with David one day.
I know it's not going to be anytime soon, give
the situation over there, but I hope that we can
go because it is a transformative experience for everybody who
does visit Israel. It really is.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Yeah, And I think you know that can be said
for you know so many you know, lots of countries,
you know, and throughout the Middle East. There's a lot
of great places to visit. When I go back to Israel,
I'm always reminded of kind of my childhood, you know,
(25:08):
my Saba and my Softa. It really reminds me of
them and the memories that I shared there with them,
and it always inspires me for cooking, because the food
scene there is not only rooted and such and a
lot of tradition, especially when it comes to the Arab
food there, like the hummus and the baba ganooche, but
(25:33):
also in kind of this very modern approach to the
melting pot of Israel, of the people that have come
there from all over the world and all over the Mediterranean,
and so you know, I'm excited to explore Georgian food
and Moroccan food, and Turkish food and Libyan and yemenit
(25:56):
in all of those and you know, Lebanese and Egyptian,
like all of those cuisines offer something that's just so
unique and so interesting. And then when they kind of
combine with a diverse group of people that are living
in the country and sharing tables together and sharing families together,
(26:17):
and the food becomes something that is very unique and
very interesting and constantly changing.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
We'd like to explore it too, and we were just
so happy that we have a restaurant like yours to
at least either dip our toes in. There's some very
good ones around the country, but not enough, frankly, not enough.
We'd like to see more because it is it's a
very healthy cooking as well, which we want to support
because it's not always easy to find in New Orleans.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Yeah, that's right, it's you know, after a few days
in New Orleans, like, a vegetable is not necessarily a
bad thing, and you know at Tsavo we try to
keep a lot of those on the menu.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Well, the Shia Barnet Foundation did the Force dish out
with this beautiful presentation of vegetables that I guess they
were lightly blant, but to me they were like it
was a bowl of jewelry. I was so excited about
that one dish because you don't really get a lot
of vegetables that beautiful here anymore. Ones usually they're like, yeah,
(27:17):
they're usually cooked to death, cooked to death or buried
in something else.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Yeah, things are Things are definitely developing and changing, and
there's a lot of incredible, incredible examples of of of
our our local resources being treated treated uh in a
light with a lighter touch now, so that's that's good too.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Well, we're glad to see that because we're feeling the
results of it after the six months.
Speaker 5 (27:45):
There is the traditional cuisine that's very butter heavy and
sauce heavy and things like that, but there are a
lot of the menus that we have seen lately, to
Alan's point, have really started to lighten up.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
They're offering salads, they're offering things like avocado and things
like that too.
Speaker 5 (27:59):
So it's it's they're they're looking towards health because they
know that people have to have that in their lives.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Well, there's a get that no on a program which helps,
but I think everybody is conscious of it, and I
think every restaurant knows now that to have healthy options
as well as you know, low alcohol or no alcohol
options and the beverages is just part of what you
must do now.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Yeah, and you're seeing you're seeing that. You know, there's
a lot of great restaurants that are that are embracing
that that we love to go to. And then also
in New Orleans there's just such a there's a beautiful
and strong Vietnamese presence here and we being locals here.
You know, we eat a lot of Vietnamese food because
it's just again, it just it's light, it's fresh, it's bright,
(28:45):
and very very delicious.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
We love Vietnamese food here. You know, as you've talked
about the Middle East being this incredible melting pot, which
it is in New Orleans is also this incredible melting pot,
and his you know, emerged through generations of immigration that
have come over here. So there's a kinship that's nice.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Really. Yeah, yeah, I can you know, definitely compare Israel
in America in a lot of ways, you know, in
Israel and New Orleans in a lot of ways too,
because of just the history of immigration and the combining
of those different cultures to create something super unique, you
(29:31):
know that doesn't really exist anywhere.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Else exactly exactly. So when you were approached to create
a concept at the Swinky Swinky four seasons downtown, how
did the concept from Miss River come Because it's a
completely different restaurant from Saba and in a different location.
It is for our listeners downtown in an area that
(29:55):
probably every tourist is going to go to, and it
is a beautiful hotel.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Talk to us about yeah, well, you know they reached
out to us about opening a restaurant at the Four Seasons,
and we were definitely excited about that because of the
you know, the the history of the Four Seasons brand
and the strength of their luxurious brand all over the world.
(30:24):
And so when they were like, well, what kind of
restaurant do you want to open? I was like, well,
you know, I think I would like to open a
restaurant that could be here in a hundred years and
could feel like it still belongs. And to me, that
was really just embracing the tradition of New Orleans dining,
(30:49):
of hope New Orleans dining, if you will. You know,
Emily and I have over the last twenty two years
of living here, you know, so many of our celebrations
have been at places like Brennan's and Gallatoires and uh
Commander's Palace and our Nodes and and all of these
(31:13):
restaurants that you go to and it just feels like
a celebration. It feels like you're in such a unique
place in the world. Uh. And so we wanted we
wanted Missus River to kind of be our our love letter,
uh to that experience. UH. And when we created the menu,
(31:33):
we really wanted to, you know, put all of our
effort into making delicious Louisiana creole uh cuisine. So that
that's what we've worked towards. And you know, we have
a lot of fun with it. It's pretty you know,
whimsical at times. We have a fried chicken, but it's
(31:54):
a whole fried chicken that we carve in the dining room,
and we make flaming espresso marks and we uh you know,
do a dirty rice and a in a clay pot
with a with a duck egg yolk and duck liver pate,
and so it's it's a kind of, I think, a
(32:14):
really fun uh way to celebrate New Orleans food. And
and the hotel is amazing, and the dining room is really.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Beautiful, and the probably one of the most beautiful bars
in the city, the Shandelier Bar.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Yeah absolutely, yeah, And so we with pomegranate also, you know,
contribute to the Chandelier Bar and cook all the food
for it and help you know, we we created the
kind of identity with it along with Miss River and
it's uh, it's just been a it's a great gathering place.
(32:51):
It's a great place to uh splurge if you want,
you know, on caviar and champagne and reserve you know,
bourbon and tequilas and stuff like that, or you know,
just have some beignets or cracklands and uh and uh
in a in a vida, you know, and just have
(33:12):
some fun and relax. But it's it's a great place
to kind of get started or finish the night off.
It's it's right on the steps of the French Quarter,
Central Business District, and the Warehouse District. All three of
those neighborhoods really kind of butt right up to Miss
River and the Four Seasons, So it's a great place
(33:32):
to to really feel like you're in New Orleans but
also be super comfortable.
Speaker 6 (33:41):
Well, we had that dirty rice. It was good. It
was really it had it had the liver and the egg.
It was it had so much oomammy going on. And
we love good dirty rice, but that was elevated.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
It was.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
And I love duck eggs too, so yeah, it was
nice to have that touch too. Remember when we lived
up the Hudson Valley Melanian, Well we used to get
ducas you used to get duck eggs down there. There
was this guy that lived a couple of miles down
the road from us, and he had a pen of
ducks and a pen of chickens in his backyard, and
he had a refrigerator full of of dozens of each
type of egg in his garage that was just open
twenty four hours a day for anybody to come in
(34:16):
and leave a couple of bucks in three bucks and
we would go down and we'd fight duck eggs all
the time from him.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
It was just great.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
You know what else we liked with the blue crab
Graton with those this is such a Southern thing, buttered
toasted saltees. That's like a very Southern It's like unbelievable,
and you don't get that in the North.
Speaker 4 (34:36):
It was.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
That was a lot of fun in the mushroom toast.
You know, you could just go there and nipple.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so there's you know, definitely the
New Orleans favorites on there with things that are that
are on the heavier side, but we also try to
really keep it light and do like some really great
salads and vegetable preparations there there as well.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
I don't know, the vegetable preparation we had was mushroom toast.
That was our vegetable that day we had we had
the black and Gulf shrimp. I think you have vegetables
with that, and then I had that, I had the
koubeon they called they spell at court Byond, but local
they called koubion and I can't pass one up. There
are not enough of them on the menus here in Nuance.
(35:23):
It's like a fish stew.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
It is. It's like a fish stew with crab, shrimped oysters, uh, redfish,
and we make a roo as you do with most
Louisiana dishes to prepare to get started. And we also
at Miss River have recently put in a wood burning
oven out in the courtyard and I've been making pizzas
(35:46):
out there, which has been a lot of fun. So
we're doing uh pizzas on the menu now at Miss River,
but like really fun kind of like you know, classic Peace,
but like in it with with with a lot of spritzes,
you know, a big sprits venu that goes along with them,
and that's been really great. And then we're also roasting
(36:08):
things like koshon delay in the wood burning oven as
well during the weekends and featuring that carved on the
chef stage. So we're we're doing dishes that I think
people that come to New Orleans really want to have.
You know, you want to have Beignet's, You want to
have oysters, barbecue, shrimp, gumbo, koshon delayd Alaska, like, these
(36:32):
are all things that are on our menu because you know,
if you're coming to New Orleans, you gotta you gotta,
you gotta have that stuff. That's the that's what New
Orleans is known for from a food standpoint, So don't
miss out on that stuff.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
And yet, and yet there's amazing p you mentioned pizza.
This is like a city that's going crazy on pizza
right now. Where do you go to get your pizza
when you're off duty?
Speaker 3 (36:55):
Well, I really like I like Pizza Delicious a lot.
I think that they do a really really great job
for like a New York style pizza and for like
a wood fired pizza. We've been we've we've been going
to Margo, which has been really great. And so yeah,
(37:21):
you know, we we love pizza too. You know, I've
made tens of thousands of pizzas in my lifetime.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
So yeah, we did work in Italy for a while,
so I think, you know, pizza.
Speaker 3 (37:31):
Yeah, and then I also, you know, I had opened
a couple of Italian restaurants in town prior to cooking
Israeli food, So the pizzas are super important to me.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
We never really ate a lot of pizza until we
came to New Orleans. For some reason, it seems to
be like a thing we do quite a bit with
a bring it home and crack open some bottle of wine.
So how do you celebrate the high holy holidays, which
you're like upon us right now? Do you have any traditions?
Speaker 3 (37:59):
Yeah? Well, yeah, cook, I cook a lot of food.
You know, we have friends over now that we have
our children. Our traditions I think are are shifting and
building as we speak. So it's great. We're gonna go
to temple and be with our community and come home
(38:21):
and cook and eat.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
That's what you're supposed to do. We were with a
young restaurantor chef. Actually we told him he must go
to Saba. His roots are Hungarian Jewish, Jerry Solomon. He
has a place called Aggie's Counter.
Speaker 3 (38:38):
We brought the book.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
We showed him the book when we saw him at
Turkey and the Wolf and today because we're really into heritage,
right now that Israeli connections because we really think the
food is amazing and there's so much rich heritage. But
from Eastern Europe into Israel to the South, I'm reconnect
(39:00):
with my own roots with it right now. It's really exciting.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
Absolutely. Yeah, I've never had the pleasure of eating his food,
but it looks delicious.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
Well, he was really he hadn't had the pleasure of
eating ers. We said, bline at the Sabah before you
leave really really important. So what are some mantras you
live by now? I mean, you really have come full
circle in your life. You are now, you are very
successful as a hospitality entrepreneur, and you have this amazing
(39:30):
foundation to enable and inspire young people. What do you
what do you live by today? Your mantra or a
quote that inspires you that you want to share.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
I think my mantra today is is be kind and
be supportive to two people that I respect and love
and uh and and that's and causes that I think
are important, not only in food but with everything that
(40:09):
that's really you know what I want to teach my children,
and I think that the lessons that I'm getting ready
to teach my three year old are really the lessons
that I'm constantly reminding myself of and and trying to
trying to champion, you know, be collaborative, be kind, support
(40:33):
things that are important, you know, so do more than
just your your craft, you know, and be a part
of your community. Uh. And that that I think is
my mantra right now.
Speaker 2 (40:47):
I think about your three year old Alan, and it's
just about when you were still living Israel but about
to have a life change coming to America, and that
was such a big change for you, you know, your
your child. Your children are lucky that they have a
stable home and a family that loves them, and they
they're here and you can teach them so much based
(41:09):
on what you've learned. It's really important, it is.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
Yeah, And I've I've really you know, made a self
commitment to myself and to my to my wife and
to my children to be present and to you know,
be there for those moments, you know, cook dinner for
them and uh, be be present as a as a father.
(41:34):
And I think that I'm very fortunate that I have
a good structure around me that I can that I
can do that that's.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
Really really terrific. We want to make sure we share
with our listeners before we go a couple of things.
Your website is Palmhospitality dot com. We can't wait to
go visit your place in Vegas. We were talking before
we were on the show about Vegas. Is like you
mentioned Vegas as a Disneyland and it still sounds like one.
We have to go and check it out. We met
(42:04):
some wonderful students from the New Orleans Career Center, which
is a beneficiary of the Shia Barnett Foundation. This is
a trade school we support. We honestly, everybody should have
a trade. Everybody needs to have a trade in their
life to fall back on or to pursue. And that's
NOLACC dot org. And then we want to encourage people
(42:26):
to check out the Shia Barnett Foundation as well. And
that website is why don't you tell us because I've
pulled it up.
Speaker 3 (42:36):
Uh, Shia Barnett Foundation dot org.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
Fantastic. Well, it's been really great to see you. We've
run into at a number of events, including the Bokus
door we were at the Shia Barnett Foundation. We hope
more wonderful, high profile programs and events come to New Orleans. Yes,
make of making that happen.
Speaker 3 (42:56):
Okay, Yes, Well what the New Orleans Career Centers do
with trade education and is a great step towards that.
And I definitely recommend people to support your local programs
that are are teaching trade and not just having kids
fill out little circles with number two pencils all day long,
(43:17):
because that, to me didn't work. It works for some people,
nor did it work for me. I'm not discounting it.
I'm not saying it's not important, but I think you
have to also balance it with being able to to
do a trade because you know, you could make a
killing as an electrician or a plumber. These days, you
know a contractor or an automotive repair or cybersecurity or
(43:44):
you know a lot of different things. That the school
is is being a part of education for our community.
So it's incredible.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
Absolutely if I went back to school, that's what I
would do. I'm telling you it is the way to
go to always have a trade in your back pocket.
Very important your front project. Ellen, It's been great talking
to you. Thank you so much. Thank you for all
you do to support aspiring young chefs and future chefs,
and congratulations on your success with the restaurants at pomegran
(44:15):
and Hospitality. The one table we haven't been to yet
of yours that we want is your Monday Night red
Beans and rice dinners. We hear their epic.
Speaker 3 (44:24):
They are great, they are great.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
Well will happen.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
It's occasion Sabbat we call it.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
We like that kind of Shabbat, right, Sabbat. Well, thank
you shaloone. We wish you and your family a wonderful
holiday and we will see you probably in one of
your restaurants sort of events soon in New Orleans. And
for everybody listening, come to New Orleans, support the restaurants,
(44:54):
get out of your French Quarter comp We love the
French Quarter, but expand your horizons and visit all the
wonderful neighborhoods that the city has to offer and you'll
have an amazing hospitality experience.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
Thank you, guys, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
You've been listening to The Connected Table Live with Melanie Young,
David Ransom and on Lawn Shia. Our guest has always
we encourage everybody to travel, taste, sip, inspire, and always
stay insatiably curious. Thank you,
The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests and not
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We
make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No
liability explicitor implied shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio
or it's employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should
be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing
(00:21):
W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Welcome to the Connected Table Live. We're your hosts, Melanie
Young and David Ransom. You're insatiably curious culinary couple. We
enjoy traveling the world to bring you the dynamic people
who were front and center and behind the scenes and wine, food,
spirits and hospitality. We love sharing their stories with you
(01:02):
because this is a people industry and we hope you'll
support them and visit their restaurants, hotels, wineries and whatnot.
We are broadcasting from our beloved adopted home, New Orleans
today and we're really excited to have the guests on
that we have known. He's been a guest in the past,
but We are bringing him back for many reasons to
(01:25):
share his story, and I'm going to set it up
this way. The pomegranate is a symbolic fruit in many cultures.
It means the circle of life, fertility, abundance, and resurrection,
and we know New Orleans is all of that right
many many ways, and so is the life of our guests,
(01:47):
Alan Shaia, who owns Pomegranate Hospitality Group, which includes restaurants
in New Orleans and Las Vegas, Denver, and the Bahamas.
Alan is based in New Orleans and he has two
amazing restaurants. They're very different and they're both fabulous, Saba,
which is an homage to his Israeli roots and his grandfather,
(02:09):
and Miss River, which is in the Four Seasons and
homage to the city of New Orleans and quite beautiful.
He joins us today, It's interesting Alan's life could have
taken a different course. Very true, and we were inspired
in an event we attended at Saba to learn about
this thanks to a teacher who took him under her wing.
(02:32):
He is the Manny is today and the success So Alanshaia,
welcome back to the Connected Table.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Thank you, thanks so much, really Glad to be back
with you guys and to be on your incredible show.
Speaker 4 (02:46):
Well, we went back and looked in the files. It
was twenty fifteen and we had just started our show
when we interviewed you the last time, and you had
just been named Best Chef Southeast by the James Beard Foundation, and.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
We're on a roll. But it was a much different
time in your career. Why don't why don't you give our.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
Listeners a little bit of a backstory about where you
grew up, how you grew up, and your first thoughts
about food and how that came into play.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yeah. I was born in Israel and my grandparents, my
Saba and my Softa on my mother's side, were from Bulgaria,
and they, you know, were kind of really a big
part of my life from the moment I was born,
(03:34):
and really you know, cared for me, and we were
like essentially like parents to me because you know, my
parents worked a lot, and so my my grandparents, my
Saba and my Softa were there for me. And when
(03:55):
I was two, my father immigrated to America, to the
Philadelphi area and began you know, working to save up
money and get an apartment and get a down payment.
On a on a car and all the things that
you know, you need to kind of do to settle down,
(04:18):
and and and he needed to get a job and
and started stocking shelves in a in a thrift in
a thrift shop on San Samsung Street in Philly. And uh,
when I was four, my mother and my sister and
I came to America. So, you know, two years later
(04:39):
we flew over actually on my fourth birthday and settled
down outside of Philly. When I was five, my parents divorced,
and uh, my mother was working two jobs, and so
you know, from the age of five to ten, I
(05:00):
you know, spent a lot of time on my own
in the kitchen or in front of a television or
wherever I felt most comfortable at the time. And my
Saba and my Softa would come and spend a lot
of time with us. They'd fly from Israel and come
to Philly. And life for me during that time obviously
was really kind of all over the place. I was
(05:23):
trying to learn English, I was settling into a brand
new country, and my parents had split up, and my sister,
who was five years older than I was, you know,
was out constantly, and so I was really alone a lot,
and and when my Saba and Softa came, things kind
of felt normal again. And my Softa would cook and
(05:45):
I would, you know, remember the house smelling like roasted
peppers and plants and sizzling Bulgarian kebabs and Bareka's flaky
pastry barreca stuff with feta cheese baking in the oven,
and and those smells and experiences with them. Really, I
(06:06):
think kind of just brought a sense of stability, you know,
emotional stability at the time, but at that age it
was just real, you know, identity crisis, constant identity crisis.
And as I got older, began really you know, getting
(06:27):
into a lot of trouble, uh, you know, making a
lot of really bad decisions and getting arrested for you know,
drug drugs and shoplifting and you know police chases and
all kinds of stuff. So I, you know, I was
really on the wrong side of the tracks. And I
(06:47):
was the person that my friend's parents were like, I
don't want you hanging out with that kid, And so
I had a hard time keeping relationships, you know, and
friendships because I'd find a way to no just through
acting out, you know, sabotage, and I really didn't have
a lot of mentorship or anyone that was really guiding
(07:10):
me much so when I joined the home economics class
at Harton High School when I was fourteen years old,
Donna Barnett was my teacher, and she really became the
one person that I looked up to and listened to
and she could connect with me. She got me my
(07:31):
first job at a restaurant. She helped me realize that
I could go to a vocational school for half the
day and begin you know, putting on a chef coat,
cooking in a kitchen, in a professional style kitchen. She
you know, drove me to my first day my at work,
(07:52):
made sure I was dressed right, made sure I showed
up on time. She helped me understand that I there
was a way to do something after high school as
far as furthering my education. It really wasn't an option
for us to go to college, or for me to
go to college. We really didn't have any money, and
(08:12):
there was really never any talk of it, you know,
at the house. But she said, you can go to
culinary school. And I was like, what, what's that? You know, Like,
she said you could go and cook and make a
career out of cooking. And I was like, all right,
let's do it, and she just grabbed me by the
collar and helped lead the way. I went to the
(08:35):
Culinary Institute of America, and you know, I graduated with
perfect attendance, and you know, top percentage of my I
was winning awards at the graduation ceremony, from my wine
knowledge and all kinds, you know, all these things that
I just never felt felt necessarily were going to be
a part of my future. And she's been a mother
(08:57):
to me, like a mother to me ever since. And
now fast forward all these years. We have a foundation
together called the Shia Barnett Foundation, and we work with
local vocational programs and culinary programs to try to make
a difference in people's lives the way that she did.
In mind.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
You know, along your story is a story of many
young children, not necessarily only children of immigrants, but children
who maybe grow up on the wrong side of the tracks.
As you speak, I think as some chefs we have interviewed,
and we know Barbara Lynch, Bobby Flay, there are many
who grew up and their lives could have gone another way.
(09:40):
They grew up, they were bullied, they had a rough crowd,
as they say that they hung out with absentee parents.
And there's always one person. I know, in the case
of Bobby, he always says Joe Allen, And there's always
one person that helps bring and lift that person up.
(10:02):
And I think more credit should be given to teachers
because Donna said to us when we met her at
the Shia Barnett Foundation event at SABA, she saw your
potential in your capable hands. And it's like she had
that vision and took you under the wings, under your wings,
(10:23):
and it's so incredible. What do you what do you
want to say to people about that, because teachers don't
get enough acknowledgment.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Yeah, well, you know, it takes a special type of teacher,
you know, and a special type of person, and Donna
is that person, you know. And I think she's made
a difference in many, many people's lives. And I know
that there's a lot of teachers out there that are
doing that every single day. And I think that, you know,
(10:53):
my advice to young people that are kind of looking
for direction is to know, accept the be open to
this opportunity, be open to the fact that like things
can actually improve and that you do have something that
you can contribute, and you know, whatever it is, you know,
(11:15):
it can be anything, but you whatever you're going to contribute,
you have to get behind it, and you have to
have someone that believes that you can do it. And
uh and when that person comes along, accept that into
your lives and you know, and and and build trust
uh in the fact that someone is looking out for you.
(11:38):
I think that's the hard part for a lot of
young people is that kind of a lot of examples
of broken trust throughout the years can can kind of
harden people to not be open to to help it
when when it is available, and that goes on for
the rest of your life. You know, it's a you know,
(11:59):
it's it's something that you can use your whole life.
This this idea that you know you're not in it alone,
and when those opportunities do come by, grab them and
do something with it, you know. And I I, uh,
it took a little bit of time to shake off
like the you know, rebellious energy that I had, but
(12:20):
eventually I did and and it it was, you know,
a life changing event. And I you know, by the
time I was twenty one, I was working you know,
many many hours a day and completely committed to my
craft and learning and becoming a chef and building my career.
(12:42):
And you know, I never really looked back.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
When we were at the event at SABA and one
of the students asked David and I for advice, and
we took it from different perspectives. Something that David said
that really reflects your career trajectory was go to work
in a hotel or casinos. Get into the system and
work those kitchens because the discipline is really important, and
(13:09):
it also can be your ticket to travel the world.
And you really talk about that in your book which
came out after we interviewed you, Shaya and Honesty of Food,
My Journey back to Israel. But you really, you know,
cut your teeth and a lot of food, working in
casinos in hotels. Talk about what you learn from that,
because that's important. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:30):
Well, I did my my externship from culinary school in
Las Vegas, and you know, I was nineteen years old
and it was just like being in culinary Disney World.
You know, it was like there was no boundaries. You know,
food costs wasn't ever talked about. The lobsters were like
(13:54):
twenty pounds. You know, there was ice carvings, and there
was all these incredible moments where I could go and
like just walk into an incredible Chinese restaurant on property
at the Rio and watch the chefs like cooking and
walks and expertly stir frying. And I could walk into
(14:17):
a Japanese restaurant and see people make sushi. And I
can go to an Italian restaurant and see, you know
what a meatball the size of a softball could be like,
you know, and and all of these things that just
kind of opened my eyes as well as like a
big corporate structure. But you know, the from a technical standpoint,
(14:40):
it was great. From a cultural standpoint, you know, I
really kind of began working under really tough, toxic people
from the very very beginning, and from at a young age,
you kind of feel like, hey, this is you know,
this is I guess the industry. This is what it is,
(15:02):
you know, And and I would say to other people
that you know, even if it's a big, glitzy, glamorous
casino or it's a small mom and pop shop, that
it's the what I would say, I would take back
and what I think I regret the most is surrounding
(15:25):
myself just around the great food and not necessarily around
the great people who could teach you how to you know,
be a be a good leader. And that is something
I just had to learn the hard way over the
years and today that's kind of my advice, you know,
(15:46):
is that like get you know, graduate high school, go
to culinary school if you can, it's it's definitely worth it, uh,
and then go and work for good people who in
respect and empowerment and people who want to build you
up and not push you down. So yeah, you know,
(16:12):
Donna was someone that pulled me up. She was the
kind of person that picked you up and put you
on a platform, lifted you. And I think we all
know the types of people out there that work on
pushing you down. And it's really important that young people
(16:32):
today look for the people that really want to pull
them up.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Well, you know, when you were young, you're bullied and
you had to get back up, and you're bullied in
the kitchen. It is toxic. And we actually actually look
very carefully when we go to restaurants now to see
make sure we're going to restaurants that have a reputation
for uplifting your people. We support those restaurants. It's very
important to us and should be part of what you
think about because we don't think restaurants should be sweatshops.
(17:00):
They should be It's the hospitality industry. It's a people industry, right.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
That's right. And if the people that are working there
don't feel like they're treated hospitably, they're you know, they're
not going to treat the guests hospitably, and so it's
a it's not only a good business decision, it's also
a good life decision and something that I think you
guys are doing the right move by, you know, ensuring
(17:26):
that you're supporting businesses that believe in that.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
It's really really important.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
It is very important because you know, you have when
that that toxicity is in the kitchen and in the
back of the house, as Alan said, it does transfer
at some point to the front of the house. If
somebody is having a bad day and they snap or
they're just in a bad mood, they're not going to
treat the customer like they probably should.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Right.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
Yeah, So.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
You know two things first before we get into Pomegrand Hospital,
we want to also give a nod to another woman
that has lifted you up and the charming story of
how you met your wife Emily, because she really has
also helped enable you to be the person you become.
She she was very generous with letting you pursue your
dream of going to Italy. She's been there by your side.
Talk to us about how you met and what does
(18:11):
she mean to you?
Speaker 3 (18:13):
Well, I mean she means everything to me. She's definitely
the reason that, you know, I'm able to to live
the life I always dreamed I wanted to live. And
you know, she, you know, from the very beginning, has
been just such an incredible support, not only in allowing
(18:39):
me to do things that I was passionate about doing,
but and really helping me do them the right way
and to and to serve as a partner in all
of the decisions, you know, and how and how we've
built Pomegranate Hospitality, how we are building our family. Without Emily,
(19:01):
you know, none of this would have ever come about.
So we met right after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans
at a young and Jewish and new to New Orleans
kind of mixer put on by the Jewish Federation. So
we're kind of like the poster child for like, you know,
(19:22):
the Jewish Federation's kind of young new, New Young, Welcome
to New Orleans a group that they have and so, uh,
you know, we we met there, we beat We were
friends for a while before we began dating, and and
then we began dating, and then I kind of picked
(19:43):
up and moved to Italy to go and apprentice out there.
Uh and she obviously, you know, supported me through that.
And you know we we now have a three year
old daughter named Ruth and a and a three month
old son named Ari, and uh, we you know, we
(20:06):
have our our company, Pomegranate Hospitality, and we've you know,
surrounded ourselves with incredibly great people. And our our team
uh is just you know, people that we respect and
look up to and learn from. Uh. And yeah, it's
(20:27):
you know, it's been. It's been quite the journey. And
and Emily has been kind of my my Shirpa throughout
the whole thing.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
And you have her reppings and rice and the menu
at Miss River and then your books, so she's she's
important that way as well. You know who else met
it a Jewish mixer Sarah Beeth and Bill Levine. Yeah,
fun fact and my aunt novels Jewish mixers are great,
you know, Yeah, they work, they're they're small and wonderful.
(20:58):
So let's talk about pomegran hospitality. It's big, it's you know,
as we dug deep. You're all over the place, and
it's exciting. You have something in Las Vegas. You just
got back you so you returned to Las Vegas, but
your flagship is here in New Orleans and you kind
of went full circle to embrace your Israeli roots with Saba,
(21:22):
and I have to say it's some of the best
hummus I've ever had. We learned you put baking soda
in your hummus, which is like was new to me.
Like that was interesting. Talk to us about it, Talk
to us about this. What this restaurant means to you
and why you named it after your grandfather.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
Yeah, you know, Saba is really a culmination of, you know,
me making a full circle back to my roots and
embracing my heritage and and my grandmother, my Saba and
my Softa's support for me throughout my childhood. It was
(22:06):
really a way to honor my saba, you know, my
which means grandfather and Hebrew uh to to open a
restaurant uh with his, you know, in his image, and
also in Emily's granddaddy's image, you know, her her her
(22:27):
grandfather's pictures up on the wall there as well, and
it's it's kind of just like an homage to you know,
our families who have led the way for us UH
and a a way to celebrate the the incredible, incredibly
(22:47):
diverse and dynamic food of of Israel, of the Mediterranean,
of the Middle East in general. And so it's it's
just been really great. And then of course we have
an incredible team of people, everyone from our cooks to
our servers and dishwashers and managers that have all really
(23:12):
put their love and passion into that restaurant to create
a space that I think is very welcoming. It's kind
of like a neighborhood restaurant, which we really love. You know,
it's in a residential area. We really wanted the place
to feel like you were in, you know, a neighborhood,
and we get a ton of regulars that live up
(23:34):
down the street. You know, they walk their kids there
and their dogs there, and it's just it's a really
fun energy there.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
So for our listeners, it is in Uptown New Orleans
and a very beautiful residential area, a lot of fun
shops and little cafes around there. We like to spend
our Sundays walking around there and then going up to
Autumn Park, Yeah, for a nice walk around the park.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
Yeah. It's a beautiful part of the of New Orleans. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
We encourage everybody who visits New Orleans to expand their horizons.
It's not just the French Quarter. We say that all
the time, love it, but expand. We love Middle Eastern food,
we love the Middle East. I went as I went
to Israel alone as a teenager. My grandparents, who are
Southern Jewish Jewish from Lithuania heritage, sent me to help
(24:25):
me develop a Jewish identity. I spend more time chasing boys.
But I'd like to go back with David one day.
I know it's not going to be anytime soon, give
the situation over there, but I hope that we can
go because it is a transformative experience for everybody who
does visit Israel. It really is.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Yeah, And I think you know that can be said
for you know so many you know, lots of countries,
you know, and throughout the Middle East. There's a lot
of great places to visit. When I go back to Israel,
I'm always reminded of kind of my childhood, you know,
(25:08):
my Saba and my Softa. It really reminds me of
them and the memories that I shared there with them,
and it always inspires me for cooking, because the food
scene there is not only rooted and such and a
lot of tradition, especially when it comes to the Arab
food there, like the hummus and the baba ganooche, but
(25:33):
also in kind of this very modern approach to the
melting pot of Israel, of the people that have come
there from all over the world and all over the Mediterranean,
and so you know, I'm excited to explore Georgian food
and Moroccan food, and Turkish food and Libyan and yemenit
(25:56):
in all of those and you know, Lebanese and Egyptian,
like all of those cuisines offer something that's just so
unique and so interesting. And then when they kind of
combine with a diverse group of people that are living
in the country and sharing tables together and sharing families together,
(26:17):
and the food becomes something that is very unique and
very interesting and constantly changing.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
We'd like to explore it too, and we were just
so happy that we have a restaurant like yours to
at least either dip our toes in. There's some very
good ones around the country, but not enough, frankly, not enough.
We'd like to see more because it is it's a
very healthy cooking as well, which we want to support
because it's not always easy to find in New Orleans.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Yeah, that's right, it's you know, after a few days
in New Orleans, like, a vegetable is not necessarily a
bad thing, and you know at Tsavo we try to
keep a lot of those on the menu.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Well, the Shia Barnet Foundation did the Force dish out
with this beautiful presentation of vegetables that I guess they
were lightly blant, but to me they were like it
was a bowl of jewelry. I was so excited about
that one dish because you don't really get a lot
of vegetables that beautiful here anymore. Ones usually they're like, yeah,
(27:17):
they're usually cooked to death, cooked to death or buried
in something else.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
Yeah, things are Things are definitely developing and changing, and
there's a lot of incredible, incredible examples of of of
our our local resources being treated treated uh in a
light with a lighter touch now, so that's that's good too.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Well, we're glad to see that because we're feeling the
results of it after the six months.
Speaker 5 (27:45):
There is the traditional cuisine that's very butter heavy and
sauce heavy and things like that, but there are a
lot of the menus that we have seen lately, to
Alan's point, have really started to lighten up.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
They're offering salads, they're offering things like avocado and things
like that too.
Speaker 5 (27:59):
So it's it's they're they're looking towards health because they
know that people have to have that in their lives.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Well, there's a get that no on a program which helps,
but I think everybody is conscious of it, and I
think every restaurant knows now that to have healthy options
as well as you know, low alcohol or no alcohol
options and the beverages is just part of what you
must do now.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
Yeah, and you're seeing you're seeing that. You know, there's
a lot of great restaurants that are that are embracing
that that we love to go to. And then also
in New Orleans there's just such a there's a beautiful
and strong Vietnamese presence here and we being locals here.
You know, we eat a lot of Vietnamese food because
it's just again, it just it's light, it's fresh, it's bright,
(28:45):
and very very delicious.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
We love Vietnamese food here. You know, as you've talked
about the Middle East being this incredible melting pot, which
it is in New Orleans is also this incredible melting pot,
and his you know, emerged through generations of immigration that
have come over here. So there's a kinship that's nice.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Really. Yeah, yeah, I can you know, definitely compare Israel
in America in a lot of ways, you know, in
Israel and New Orleans in a lot of ways too,
because of just the history of immigration and the combining
of those different cultures to create something super unique, you
(29:31):
know that doesn't really exist anywhere.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Else exactly exactly. So when you were approached to create
a concept at the Swinky Swinky four seasons downtown, how
did the concept from Miss River come Because it's a
completely different restaurant from Saba and in a different location.
It is for our listeners downtown in an area that
(29:55):
probably every tourist is going to go to, and it
is a beautiful hotel.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Talk to us about yeah, well, you know they reached
out to us about opening a restaurant at the Four Seasons,
and we were definitely excited about that because of the
you know, the the history of the Four Seasons brand
and the strength of their luxurious brand all over the world.
(30:24):
And so when they were like, well, what kind of
restaurant do you want to open? I was like, well,
you know, I think I would like to open a
restaurant that could be here in a hundred years and
could feel like it still belongs. And to me, that
was really just embracing the tradition of New Orleans dining,
(30:49):
of hope New Orleans dining, if you will. You know,
Emily and I have over the last twenty two years
of living here, you know, so many of our celebrations
have been at places like Brennan's and Gallatoires and uh
Commander's Palace and our Nodes and and all of these
(31:13):
restaurants that you go to and it just feels like
a celebration. It feels like you're in such a unique
place in the world. Uh. And so we wanted we
wanted Missus River to kind of be our our love letter,
uh to that experience. UH. And when we created the menu,
(31:33):
we really wanted to, you know, put all of our
effort into making delicious Louisiana creole uh cuisine. So that
that's what we've worked towards. And you know, we have
a lot of fun with it. It's pretty you know,
whimsical at times. We have a fried chicken, but it's
(31:54):
a whole fried chicken that we carve in the dining room,
and we make flaming espresso marks and we uh you know,
do a dirty rice and a in a clay pot
with a with a duck egg yolk and duck liver pate,
and so it's it's a kind of, I think, a
(32:14):
really fun uh way to celebrate New Orleans food. And
and the hotel is amazing, and the dining room is really.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Beautiful, and the probably one of the most beautiful bars
in the city, the Shandelier Bar.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
Yeah absolutely, yeah, And so we with pomegranate also, you know,
contribute to the Chandelier Bar and cook all the food
for it and help you know, we we created the
kind of identity with it along with Miss River and
it's uh, it's just been a it's a great gathering place.
(32:51):
It's a great place to uh splurge if you want,
you know, on caviar and champagne and reserve you know,
bourbon and tequilas and stuff like that, or you know,
just have some beignets or cracklands and uh and uh
in a in a vida, you know, and just have
(33:12):
some fun and relax. But it's it's a great place
to kind of get started or finish the night off.
It's it's right on the steps of the French Quarter,
Central Business District, and the Warehouse District. All three of
those neighborhoods really kind of butt right up to Miss
River and the Four Seasons, So it's a great place
(33:32):
to to really feel like you're in New Orleans but
also be super comfortable.
Speaker 6 (33:41):
Well, we had that dirty rice. It was good. It
was really it had it had the liver and the egg.
It was it had so much oomammy going on. And
we love good dirty rice, but that was elevated.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
It was.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
And I love duck eggs too, so yeah, it was
nice to have that touch too. Remember when we lived
up the Hudson Valley Melanian, Well we used to get
ducas you used to get duck eggs down there. There
was this guy that lived a couple of miles down
the road from us, and he had a pen of
ducks and a pen of chickens in his backyard, and
he had a refrigerator full of of dozens of each
type of egg in his garage that was just open
twenty four hours a day for anybody to come in
(34:16):
and leave a couple of bucks in three bucks and
we would go down and we'd fight duck eggs all
the time from him.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
It was just great.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
You know what else we liked with the blue crab
Graton with those this is such a Southern thing, buttered
toasted saltees. That's like a very Southern It's like unbelievable,
and you don't get that in the North.
Speaker 4 (34:36):
It was.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
That was a lot of fun in the mushroom toast.
You know, you could just go there and nipple.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so there's you know, definitely the
New Orleans favorites on there with things that are that
are on the heavier side, but we also try to
really keep it light and do like some really great
salads and vegetable preparations there there as well.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
I don't know, the vegetable preparation we had was mushroom toast.
That was our vegetable that day we had we had
the black and Gulf shrimp. I think you have vegetables
with that, and then I had that, I had the
koubeon they called they spell at court Byond, but local
they called koubion and I can't pass one up. There
are not enough of them on the menus here in Nuance.
(35:23):
It's like a fish stew.
Speaker 3 (35:25):
It is. It's like a fish stew with crab, shrimped oysters, uh, redfish,
and we make a roo as you do with most
Louisiana dishes to prepare to get started. And we also
at Miss River have recently put in a wood burning
oven out in the courtyard and I've been making pizzas
(35:46):
out there, which has been a lot of fun. So
we're doing uh pizzas on the menu now at Miss River,
but like really fun kind of like you know, classic Peace,
but like in it with with with a lot of spritzes,
you know, a big sprits venu that goes along with them,
and that's been really great. And then we're also roasting
(36:08):
things like koshon delay in the wood burning oven as
well during the weekends and featuring that carved on the
chef stage. So we're we're doing dishes that I think
people that come to New Orleans really want to have.
You know, you want to have Beignet's, You want to
have oysters, barbecue, shrimp, gumbo, koshon delayd Alaska, like, these
(36:32):
are all things that are on our menu because you know,
if you're coming to New Orleans, you gotta you gotta,
you gotta have that stuff. That's the that's what New
Orleans is known for from a food standpoint, So don't
miss out on that stuff.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
And yet, and yet there's amazing p you mentioned pizza.
This is like a city that's going crazy on pizza
right now. Where do you go to get your pizza
when you're off duty?
Speaker 3 (36:55):
Well, I really like I like Pizza Delicious a lot.
I think that they do a really really great job
for like a New York style pizza and for like
a wood fired pizza. We've been we've we've been going
to Margo, which has been really great. And so yeah,
(37:21):
you know, we we love pizza too. You know, I've
made tens of thousands of pizzas in my lifetime.
Speaker 2 (37:27):
So yeah, we did work in Italy for a while,
so I think, you know, pizza.
Speaker 3 (37:31):
Yeah, and then I also, you know, I had opened
a couple of Italian restaurants in town prior to cooking
Israeli food, So the pizzas are super important to me.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
We never really ate a lot of pizza until we
came to New Orleans. For some reason, it seems to
be like a thing we do quite a bit with
a bring it home and crack open some bottle of wine.
So how do you celebrate the high holy holidays, which
you're like upon us right now? Do you have any traditions?
Speaker 3 (37:59):
Yeah? Well, yeah, cook, I cook a lot of food.
You know, we have friends over now that we have
our children. Our traditions I think are are shifting and
building as we speak. So it's great. We're gonna go
to temple and be with our community and come home
(38:21):
and cook and eat.
Speaker 2 (38:24):
That's what you're supposed to do. We were with a
young restaurantor chef. Actually we told him he must go
to Saba. His roots are Hungarian Jewish, Jerry Solomon. He
has a place called Aggie's Counter.
Speaker 3 (38:38):
We brought the book.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
We showed him the book when we saw him at
Turkey and the Wolf and today because we're really into heritage,
right now that Israeli connections because we really think the
food is amazing and there's so much rich heritage. But
from Eastern Europe into Israel to the South, I'm reconnect
(39:00):
with my own roots with it right now. It's really exciting.
Speaker 3 (39:04):
Absolutely. Yeah, I've never had the pleasure of eating his food,
but it looks delicious.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
Well, he was really he hadn't had the pleasure of
eating ers. We said, bline at the Sabah before you
leave really really important. So what are some mantras you
live by now? I mean, you really have come full
circle in your life. You are now, you are very
successful as a hospitality entrepreneur, and you have this amazing
(39:30):
foundation to enable and inspire young people. What do you
what do you live by today? Your mantra or a
quote that inspires you that you want to share.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
I think my mantra today is is be kind and
be supportive to two people that I respect and love
and uh and and that's and causes that I think
are important, not only in food but with everything that
(40:09):
that's really you know what I want to teach my children,
and I think that the lessons that I'm getting ready
to teach my three year old are really the lessons
that I'm constantly reminding myself of and and trying to
trying to champion, you know, be collaborative, be kind, support
(40:33):
things that are important, you know, so do more than
just your your craft, you know, and be a part
of your community. Uh. And that that I think is
my mantra right now.
Speaker 2 (40:47):
I think about your three year old Alan, and it's
just about when you were still living Israel but about
to have a life change coming to America, and that
was such a big change for you, you know, your
your child. Your children are lucky that they have a
stable home and a family that loves them, and they
they're here and you can teach them so much based
(41:09):
on what you've learned. It's really important, it is.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
Yeah, And I've I've really you know, made a self
commitment to myself and to my to my wife and
to my children to be present and to you know,
be there for those moments, you know, cook dinner for
them and uh, be be present as a as a father.
(41:34):
And I think that I'm very fortunate that I have
a good structure around me that I can that I
can do that that's.
Speaker 2 (41:42):
Really really terrific. We want to make sure we share
with our listeners before we go a couple of things.
Your website is Palmhospitality dot com. We can't wait to
go visit your place in Vegas. We were talking before
we were on the show about Vegas. Is like you
mentioned Vegas as a Disneyland and it still sounds like one.
We have to go and check it out. We met
(42:04):
some wonderful students from the New Orleans Career Center, which
is a beneficiary of the Shia Barnett Foundation. This is
a trade school we support. We honestly, everybody should have
a trade. Everybody needs to have a trade in their
life to fall back on or to pursue. And that's
NOLACC dot org. And then we want to encourage people
(42:26):
to check out the Shia Barnett Foundation as well. And
that website is why don't you tell us because I've
pulled it up.
Speaker 3 (42:36):
Uh, Shia Barnett Foundation dot org.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
Fantastic. Well, it's been really great to see you. We've
run into at a number of events, including the Bokus
door we were at the Shia Barnett Foundation. We hope
more wonderful, high profile programs and events come to New Orleans. Yes,
make of making that happen.
Speaker 3 (42:56):
Okay, Yes, Well what the New Orleans Career Centers do
with trade education and is a great step towards that.
And I definitely recommend people to support your local programs
that are are teaching trade and not just having kids
fill out little circles with number two pencils all day long,
(43:17):
because that, to me didn't work. It works for some people,
nor did it work for me. I'm not discounting it.
I'm not saying it's not important, but I think you
have to also balance it with being able to to
do a trade because you know, you could make a
killing as an electrician or a plumber. These days, you
know a contractor or an automotive repair or cybersecurity or
(43:44):
you know a lot of different things. That the school
is is being a part of education for our community.
So it's incredible.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
Absolutely if I went back to school, that's what I
would do. I'm telling you it is the way to
go to always have a trade in your back pocket.
Very important your front project. Ellen, It's been great talking
to you. Thank you so much. Thank you for all
you do to support aspiring young chefs and future chefs,
and congratulations on your success with the restaurants at pomegran
(44:15):
and Hospitality. The one table we haven't been to yet
of yours that we want is your Monday Night red
Beans and rice dinners. We hear their epic.
Speaker 3 (44:24):
They are great, they are great.
Speaker 2 (44:27):
Well will happen.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
It's occasion Sabbat we call it.
Speaker 2 (44:33):
We like that kind of Shabbat, right, Sabbat. Well, thank
you shaloone. We wish you and your family a wonderful
holiday and we will see you probably in one of
your restaurants sort of events soon in New Orleans. And
for everybody listening, come to New Orleans, support the restaurants,
(44:54):
get out of your French Quarter comp We love the
French Quarter, but expand your horizons and visit all the
wonderful neighborhoods that the city has to offer and you'll
have an amazing hospitality experience.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
Thank you, guys, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
You've been listening to The Connected Table Live with Melanie Young,
David Ransom and on Lawn Shia. Our guest has always
we encourage everybody to travel, taste, sip, inspire, and always
stay insatiably curious. Thank you,
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