James Beard Award-winning owner of Safta plans Italian restaurant in Denver
Ceci! Italian Lounge is named after the owners' dachshund, itself named after the Italian for 'chickpea.'
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Alon Shaya, the two-time James Beard Award-winning owner of Israeli restaurant Safta, is opening a second sit-down locale inside The Source Hotel in Denver this year.
Ceci! Italian Lounge will focus on wine, cocktails and small bites on the second floor of the RiNo hotel at 3330 Brighton Blvd., according to Pomegranate Hospitality, which Shaya and his wife, Emily, run. Safta is also located in the hotel, along with other food and market vendors.
The lounge is expected to open sometime in the middle of this year and serve variations on negronis, martinis, spritzes and other drinks made with Italian spirits. It’s named after the couple’s peppy dachshund, who itself was named after the Italian word for “chickpea.”
Shaya was born in Israel and raised in Philadelphia before settling in New Orleans. He received a James Beard Award for best chef in the south in 2015. His then-restaurant, Shaya, won a Beard award the next year for best new restaurant in the country.
The Shayas founded Pomegranate Hospitality in 2017 and are no longer associated with Shaya. They run three restaurants in New Orleans, including Miss River inside the Four Seasons hotel. Alon wrote Shaya: An Odyssey of Food, My Journey Back to Israel, published in 2018 by Knopf.
Pomegranate Hospitality announced another restaurant in New Orleans, Safta’s Table, would open in late 2025.
