Pita is a central part of the menu at Safta’s Table, a new Mediterranean restaurant from Alon Shaya.
Hot from the oven, which is visible just over the counter, it might go with a hummus plate or mezze sampler of dips and pickles, just like it does at the chef’s upscale New Orleans restaurant Saba.
But at Safta’s Table, that pita is also the basis for breakfast sandwiches with pastrami in the mornings, or topped with whole cloves of well-oiled garlic confit for a quick snack next to an afternoon coffee or a bright spritz. And there’s a chicken schnitzel pita that has all the makings to become a crosstown destination sandwich.
Safta’s Table is a casual restaurant in New Orleans for Mediterranean flavors, breakfast through dinner. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Safta’s Table is the latest from Alon and his wife, Emily Shaya, and their Pomegranate Hospitality group. It opened this week in the West Lake Shore Shopping Center, near the lakefront marinas.
Safta’s Table is their most casual and versatile restaurant yet, a counter service, all-day café. Shaya calls it “neighborhood Mediterranean.” It’s part deli, part diner and all fresh and easy.
Retro modern
The counter curves around from pita oven to bakery section to an open kitchen at Safta’s Table a casual restaurant in New Orleans for Mediterranean flavors. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
There’s a retro appeal across its clean lines, big windows and smooth curves. Even the durable, soft-toned plastic trays bring to mind an old-school cafeteria. It feels like a mid-century modern eatery adjacent to the city’s mid-century modern Lake Shore/Lake Vista neighborhood.
Safta’s Table has a variety of options for diners. There are tables to gather the family for brunch over a few drinks, a counter to pop open a laptop with a latte and a latke, and outdoor seating in a partially sheltered patio.
Lamb ragu hummus is on the menu at chef Alon Shaya’s casual restaurant Safta’s Table in New Orleans. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
There’s also a grab-and-go case for quick snacks, take-home staples and family-style dishes, like chicken pot pies, lasagna, eggplant parmesan and chicken noodle soup.
“We want to fit the food into people’s everyday lives,” Shaya said.
Some dishes are drawn from the Saba menu, though the range of flavors goes more broadly through the Mediterranean, including Greek and Italian.
The unifying thread is right there in the name.
Who’s your safta?
Safta is Hebrew for grandmother, and Shaya’s own safta, the late Matilda Gerassi, was a foundational inspiration for the chef’s own career. This restaurant is a tribute.
The emblem of Safta’s Table restaurant is an ode to chef Alon Shaya’s own safta, or grandmother Hebrew. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
The Safta’s Table logo is a likeness of her, personified as a pomegranate wrapped in a kerchief, and it can be seen across the room and menus among pretty, spring-like flower designs.
Some of the dishes come right from her recipes. See the spinach and feta borekas, flaky as croissants, crunchy with butter-brushed sesame seeds, and the lutenitsa spread, with a backbeat of charred eggplant under the sweetness of peppers.
“We wanted the whole menu to have that feeling of grandmother comfort food,” Shaya said.
Build a plate, healthy choices
Safta’s Table is a casual restaurant in New Orleans for Mediterranean flavors, breakfast through dinner. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Entrées with a choice of sides can feel a bit like a Mediterranean “meat and three,” except instead of meatloaf and mac and cheese, a plate lunch could be a cut of salmon gleaming with olive oil or garlicky roasted lamb with ginger-spiked jasmine rice and baba ghanoush. The menu is full of light and healthy options.
Pita sandwiches are another centerpiece, and the chicken schnitzel pita is a knockout. The thick cutlet is juicy under a toasty crust. The pickles, Green Goddess aioli and a tzatziki slaw tangled with fennel and herbs make each bite both bright and creamy. The fresh pita gives just enough structure.
Chicken schnitzel sandwiches on fresh pita bread are a specialty at Safta’s Table, a casual restaurant in New Orleans for Mediterranean flavors. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
There’s no standalone bar, but order at the counter for wines (including carafes from the tap), cocktails, beer and zero-proof options.
Chef Omar Ortega runs the kitchen at Safta’s Table, while Marie Guevara is general manager, and the restaurant is also homebase for Pomegranate’s catering operation now.
Kids, coffee, flowers
Baklava, pita bread, cookies and borekas fill a bakery case at Safta’s Table, a casual restaurant in New Orleans for Mediterranean flavors. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
In addition to pita, the kitchen makes its own challah and other baked goods, while bagels come from the Mid-City shop Flour Moon Bagels.
Right by the pita oven, there’s a counter section devoted to pastries and treats, including baklava with a ripple of spice under its crinkle-crunch and chocolate chip cookies swirled with tahini.
Cups of tiramisu line a shelf in the grab-and-go cooler. In one corner, there’s a selection of cut flower bouquets ready to bring home, perhaps as a sweet surprise with a takeout dinner.
A grab-and-go section of prepared food and drink is at the ready at Safta’s Table, a casual restaurant in New Orleans for Mediterranean flavors. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Sweet touches abound, including plenty for kids. They can color and do the puzzles on their own paper menus (with pita pizzas, buttered noodles and kid-sized hummus), peel off sticker sets of flowers and pomegranates and sip a “kiddocino,” a hot chocolate topped with steamed milk, training wheels for the grown-ups’ full-tilt cappuccinos.
Safta’s Table
129 Allen Toussaint Blvd.
Daily 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. (9 p.m. Friday-Saturday)
Dining and Cooking