Dive Bar Jukebox with Alon Shaya
"If dreams were lightning. And thunder were desire."
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Welcome back to Dive Bar Jukebox, where every Friday bartenders, writers, chefs, musicians, and a host of dynamic people answer the question: If we were hanging out together at a bar and I put ten credits on the jukebox, what songs would you punch in and why? The answers reveal thoughts on their favorite dive bars along with a hand-picked, annotated 10-song playlist for your weekend listening pleasure.
Please welcome today’s special guest…
Alon Shaya
Israeli-born chef Alon Shaya was raised in Philadelphia and now calls New Orleans his home. Shaya and his wife Emily founded Pomegranate Hospitality in 2017, on the foundational core values of respect, equality, and fostering a comfortable environment for all to grow and thrive. Shaya is the chef-partner at Saba, Saba’s Lounge, and Miss River (named one of America’s “Best New Restaurants” by Esquire) and Chandelier Bar at the Four Seasons Hotel in New Orleans, and Safta in Denver, Colorado. As part of his philanthropic outreach he co-foudned the Shaya Barnett Foundation, committed to providing culinary education and resources to high school students.
Shaya’s debut book, Shaya: An Odyssey of Food, My Journey Back to Israel, is as much a memoir as it is a cookbook and chronicles his culinary journey from Jerusalem and Milan to Philadelphia and New Orleans, with recipes including Roasted Chicken with Harissa, Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Whipped Feta, and Crab Cakes with Preserved Lemon Aioli.
The multiple James Beard Award winner was awarded Best Chef: South (2015) and Best New Restaurant (2016), as well as being listed as one of Southern Living’s “50 People Who Are Changing the South.”
We’re thrilled to have Alon in the mix for this week’s Dive Bar Jukebox, where he hips us to his favorite New Orleans dive and shares a genre-hopping playlist with songs from Pink Floyd, John Prine and 2Pac, along with the first DBJ appearance of “Free Bird” (finally!).