Liliana Myers
Safta | Denver
july 2022
Throughout high school in Long Island, Liliana Myers spent her afternoons working at local delis. Even after moving to Pittsburgh to study chemical engineering, the only place she really wanted to be was on the line. So she turned to her Zagat guide, and sent her resume to the 50 best restaurants she could find. When Bouchon Bakery offered her a stage, Myers bought a pair of clogs and a one-way train ticket back to New York. She spent a year at Bouchon as a pastry cook before starting at Bar Boulud, where she found a mentor in James Beard Award-winning Ghaya Oliveira. In 2009, Myers traveled to France and cooked at Auberge la Fenière, then returned home to a pastry sous chef position at Brasserie 8 ½. She spent the next four years in the kitchens of Plein Sud, Desmond’s, and the Michelin-starred vegan concept, Rouge Tomate.
Tired of the NYC grind, Myers moved to Boulder, Colorado, where she ran the pastry programs at some of Boulder’s top restaurants, including The Mediterranean Restaurant, Brasserie Ten Ten, Pizzeria Locale, and Frasca Food and Wine. Since 2018, Myers has been the executive pastry chef at Safta, Rising Stars alum Alon Shaya’s first Denver restaurant. In addition to creating a menu full of playful, Israeli-inflected desserts, she runs the colossal bakery program, pumping out around 1,200 oven-fresh, za’atar-dusted pitas every day. This year, Myers was selected as one of The Lee Initiative’s “Women Culinary & Spirits Program Mentees,” with Rising Stars alum Jessica Koslow as her mentor.
