WSLA: Saffy’s - Wine & Spirits Magazine

WSLA: Saffy’s


The wine list at Saffy’s offers Mediterranean and island wines to pair with kebobs and shawarma. (Photo courtesy of the restaurant)

Opened in June 2022, Saffy’s is the third restaurant from chefs Ori Menashe and Genevieve Gergis (of Bestia and Bavel). Named for their daughter, Saffron, Saffy’s embodies her whimsy—it’s a casual neighborhood bistro where you can hang out with friends and eat with your hands. With ornate light fixtures and Art Deco glass windows, the décor is reminiscent of early 1970s Morocco, which hints at the cuisine, inspired by Menashe’s time in Israel. His menu centers around a wood-burning oven for dishes like lamb kabobs, beef shawarma and red-snapper tagine, or hummus two ways, and tabbouleh with burnt-onion yoghurt.

Wine Director Jeremiah Doherty likes coastal Mediterranean whites and island wines with racy acidity, like the Ligurian vermentino from Spagnoli, or Diamantis’s 2018 single vineyard Xinomavro from Macedonia, and includes hard-to-find bottles like the arinto by Adegado Vulcão from the Azores, or Domaine Economou’s aged liatiko from Crete. 

Saffy’s is part of our Top 30 LA List of 2023. Read the whole story here.


4845 Fountain Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90029

(424)699-4845

Middle Eastern

Based in Los Angeles, California, Alissa Bica is the Spirits Editor and Critic at Wine & Spirits. She is also a Certified Sommelier and co-runs the home wine tasting company, Côte Brune and Blonde. In any rare moments of free time, she writes about obscure grape varieties in the blog Off the Beaten Wine Path.


This story appears in the print issue of Spring 2023.
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