Restaurant in Denver, United States
James Beard pedigree, approachable Israeli comfort food.
Safta is James Beard Award-winner Alon Shaya's first restaurant outside Louisiana, serving Israeli comfort cooking inside Denver's Source Hotel. At $$$, it delivers genuine culinary craft — roasted chanterelle hummus, harissa chicken, freshly baked pita — in a relaxed setting. Book at least three weeks out: this is one of Denver's harder reservations to land, with a Google rating of 4.5 across 2,100+ reviews to explain why.
At the $$$ price point, Safta delivers some of the most considered Israeli cooking in the Mountain West, backed by a James Beard Award-winning chef and a Google rating of 4.5 across more than 2,100 reviews. If you are visiting Denver and want a dinner that combines genuine culinary credentials with a setting that feels current rather than formal, this is the booking to make. The caveat: securing a table takes planning. Safta is hard to book, and walk-in availability is unreliable.
Safta is located inside the Source Hotel on Brighton Boulevard, in Denver's River North Art District (RiNo). The entry is deliberately low-key: you pass what looks like a coffee counter before the space opens into the restaurant proper. The room is airy and open, with a kitchen-facing energy that leans casual without feeling unpolished. For a first-timer, the format can feel loosely structured — the menu moves through hummus and salatim (pickled vegetables and spreads) before opening into larger plates. Follow that progression rather than treating it like a conventional Western dining sequence, and the meal lands far better.
The flavors here are rooted in Israeli comfort cooking, the kind associated with home kitchens rather than hotel dining rooms. Dishes reference familiar Middle Eastern ingredients , harissa, pomegranate, chermoula , but presented with more technical precision than the grandmother-cooking concept might suggest. The hummus arrives topped with roasted chanterelle mushrooms and chermoula butter, served alongside freshly baked pita. That combination of approachable format and culinary attention is what the $$$ pricing is really buying: not ceremony, but craft. For a direct flavor comparison in Israeli cooking at the source, Alena at The Norman in Tel Aviv or George and John in Tel Aviv operate in a similar register of refined-but-grounded Israeli cuisine.
The service philosophy at Safta aligns with the room: warm, relatively informal, and knowledgeable about the menu without being instructional. For a first-timer unfamiliar with Israeli food conventions, that means staff will generally guide you through the salatim-first format without making it feel like a lecture. That is the right call at this price point. Where some $$$ Denver restaurants use formal service as a way of signalling value, Safta relies on the food itself to do that work. That approach suits the concept well, though diners expecting the kind of polished table management you find at Beckon will notice the difference. Safta is friendlier and less precise , which is not a criticism, but it is a real distinction worth knowing before you arrive.
Hotel context also matters for setting expectations. Being inside the Source Hotel means the space absorbs hotel-bar foot traffic, particularly earlier in the evening. If a quieter table and more focused service matter to you, book for later in the dinner window. No hours data is available in our records, so confirm current service times directly with the venue before planning your evening.
Plan to book at least three weeks out, and more if you are targeting a weekend. Safta's combination of a well-known chef, a strong national reputation, and a relatively compact footprint in a hotel setting means availability tightens quickly. Alon Shaya earned the James Beard Award for Leading Chef: South in 2015 while cooking in Louisiana, and Safta represents his first restaurant outside that state , a fact that draws out-of-town visitors specifically, adding pressure to the reservation calendar. The booking method is not confirmed in our records, so check the Source Hotel's website for the current reservation platform. Given booking difficulty, we recommend reserving before you finalize any other Denver plans rather than after. For a broader picture of what else is worth your time in the city, see our full Denver restaurants guide, Denver bars guide, and Denver hotels guide.
For context: Safta sits in a peer group that includes some of Denver's most-discussed restaurants, including The Wolf's Tailor, Brutø, and Alma Fonda Fina. Against that field, Safta's $$$ pricing sits in the middle, below the $$$$ tasting-menu venues but above the more casual end. If you want a special dinner that does not require a fixed tasting-menu commitment, Safta is a strong choice. If you want the deepest culinary ambition Denver currently offers, The Wolf's Tailor or Brutø at $$$$ will challenge you more. Nationally, Safta operates in a different register from tasting-counter experiences like Lazy Bear in San Francisco or Smyth in Chicago, but that is the point: the format here is more accessible and social, not less serious.
Safta is located at 3330 Brighton Boulevard, Suite 201, inside the Source Hotel in Denver's RiNo neighborhood. Price range: $$$. Google rating: 4.5 from 2,175 reviews. Pearl Recommended Restaurant (2025). Booking difficulty: hard , reserve well in advance. Phone and hours are not confirmed in our records; check directly with the venue. For more on what to do around the area, our Denver experiences guide and Denver wineries guide are good starting points.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Safta | Israeli Cuisine | $$$ | Helmed by James Beard’s “Best Chef: South” of 2015, Alon Shaya, Safta (which means “grandma” in Hebrew) is an homage to the comfort food of Israel… Exactly what you’d expect your grandmother to make....; Safta may mean "grandmother" in Hebrew, but there's nothing old school about this restaurant, Chef Alon Shaya's first outside Louisiana. Instead, this hot spot is located in the trendy Source Hotel. At first glance, it looks like you’re walking toward a coffee counter (and you are), but it wraps around to the restaurant and the kitchen. It's all airy and upbeat, just like the Israeli menu that lists many favorites but feels original and interesting. There must be hummus, of course, but here it's given a fresh take with roasted chanterelle mushrooms and chermoula butter served with freshly baked pita. Next up is a selection of salatim, or pickles and spreads, followed by a panoply of dishes ranging from harissa chicken, duck matzo ball soup, and short rib-stuffed cabbage to pomegranate lamb shank.; Pearl Recommended Restaurant (2025) | Hard | — |
| The Wolf's Tailor | New American, Contemporary | $$$$ | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Tavernetta | Italian | $$ | Unknown | — | |
| Brutø | Contemporary | $$$$ | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Alma Fonda Fina | Mexican | $$ | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| ChoLon | Asian Fusion | Unknown | — |
A quick look at how Safta measures up.
Start with the hummus — the version here uses roasted chanterelle mushrooms and chermoula butter with freshly baked pita, and it sets the tone for the meal. Follow with a round of salatim (pickles and spreads), then move to mains: harissa chicken, duck matzo ball soup, and short rib-stuffed cabbage are all documented on the menu. At the $$$ price point, ordering broadly across the menu rather than a single main gives you the best return.
The room inside the Source Hotel is described as airy and upbeat, not formal. A clean, put-together casual look fits the setting — think what you'd wear to a well-regarded neighbourhood bistro, not a white-tablecloth tasting room. Overdressing will feel out of place; underdressing (think tourist-casual) will feel slightly off given the $$$ pricing.
For ambitious, chef-driven cooking at a similar price tier, The Wolf's Tailor and Brutø are the closest peers in terms of reputation and seriousness. Alma Fonda Fina is worth considering if you want a different cultural angle on creative cooking in Denver. ChoLon and Tavernetta round out the field for strong but more mainstream options — ChoLon for modern Asian, Tavernetta for Italian.
Israeli cuisine is structurally accommodating for vegetarians — hummus, salatim, and vegetable-forward dishes are central to the menu format, not afterthoughts. The specific menu at Safta lists dishes like duck matzo ball soup and lamb shank alongside plant-friendly options, so omnivores and vegetarians at the same table should both find enough to work with. check the venue's official channels for allergen specifics before booking.
At $$$, Safta earns its price primarily through the calibre of the chef: Alon Shaya won James Beard's Best Chef: South in 2015, and Safta is his first restaurant outside Louisiana — it carries real pedigree. The format (shareable Israeli dishes, fresh pita, a progression from hummus through salatim to mains) rewards tables willing to order broadly rather than conservatively. If you want a single main and a glass of wine, the value case is weaker; if you commit to the full spread, it holds up.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
