Safta 1964 pops up at Wynn Las Vegas this month as a playful spinoff of chef Alon Shaya’s Michelin-recognized Safta restaurant in Denver.
The beautifully plated Ora King salmon at Safta 1964; ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF WYNN LAS VEGAS
Beginning April 4, Safta 1964 will take over Jardin at Wynn Las Vegas for a limited time, injecting the bright space with even more vibrancy through the “energy, colors, flair, music and flavors of the 1960s,” shares Alon Shaya. Here, the award-winning chef dishes on his full-circle moment, the limited-run concept and his quirky safta (“grandmother” in Hebrew) who inspired it.
What does it mean to you to be able to come back to Las Vegas after getting your start here? When I was not even old enough to drink alcohol, and the ink on my culinary school notebooks had not yet dried, I came to Las Vegas for the first time to begin my internship as a cook. Immediately, it was a life-changing experience. I remember looking up at the electric billboards of gastronomical heroes that I had only seen on television or read about in class back at the Culinary Institute of America and thinking that maybe one day I could be among them. Coming to the Wynn to open Safta 1964 is a full-circle moment for me. It’s a testament to the intuition I had that nothing in Vegas is impossible and dreams really can come true.
Chef Alon Shaya
How will Safta 1964 compare to the stand-alone Safta in Denver? Safta 1964 is a prequel to Safta restaurant. Imagine Safta, my grandmother, at the age of 25, driving out West to Vegas in a white convertible ’64 Ford Thunderbird to throw a party and show off her recipes to the world. She will be cooking her storied and soulful recipes of whipped, creamy hummus and fire-baked pita, and the aromas of blistered peppers and eggplant will be seeping from the kitchen into the dining room. But this time, culinary fantasy will become reality, and Safta will be able to show off her food in a way that is only possible when you are surrounded by dreamers. … King crab tagine with hand-rolled couscous accompanies shaved truffles piled onto warm butter welled up in a plate of her hummus. Succulent lamb slow-cooked in pomegranate juice, and whole heads of cauliflower poached with olive oil, lemon and Aleppo chile grace the table. Towers of sparkling cocktails and a wine list that crosses the border of predictability round out the experience.
What are your menu favorites? The salatim platter, I believe, should grace every table in the dining room. If you have never had hummus topped with warm buttered jumbo lump blue crab and Osetra caviar, have you ever really lived?
The salatim platter
The elegant Language of Flowers cocktail
What do you hope guests will experience? I imagine that a tower of sparkling and herb-laced Gazoz cocktails will blow everyone’s mind when it arrives at the table, and I hope you can’t get that Elvis song out of your head once you leave. I want my safta’s culinary spirit to come through with every bite, and [for] every look around [to make] you feel as if you are immersed in a very unique experience that feels like a vintage dream has become reality. If you leave Safta 1964 and are super excited to tell your friends they need to go back in time to Safta 1964, we will be doing it right.
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