In an attempt to deny accusations of anti-Semitism, a celebrated restaurant on East Colfax that barred Zionists earlier this week told one former patron that “Zionism is a political ideology like Nazism is.”
On Sept. 8, Sap Sua, a modern Vietnamese restaurant that has received national attention for its menu, posted on its Instagram “From the River to the Sea, Falastine will be free.”
Among the Jewish and Zionist users who reacted to the post was Emily Lanigan, former president of Har HaShem in Boulder.
She engaged in a back and forth with the restaurant and its chef-owner Anthony “Ni” Nguyen, attempting to explain that she equates the slogan “River to the Sea” to a call for the “the annihilation of the state of Israel and the millions of Jewish people that live there.”
She told Nguyen that she believes in the “the self-determination and the freedom and the autonomy of Palestinian people,” and that she “would welcome an open dialogue and conversation about what he believed Zionism was and what Zionism means to most Jews.”
By the conclusion of the back and forth, Lanigan was called a fascist, racist and bully and accused of making statements that she denies making.
According to Nguyen’s subsequent posts on both his personal Instagram as well as his restaurant’s, he said he was called racist names and told to go back to his country by users who criticized his anti-Zionist posts. Nguyen was born in California and co-owns Sap Sua with his wife, Anna, a pastry chef.
The two were semi-finalists for the James Beard Foundation’s best emerging chefs in 2025.
Among his responses to various users on the post, Nguyen wrote “Conflating Judaism and Zionism incorrectly implies that all Jewish people universally hold the same political views as State of Israel.” When a user responded with the definition of Zionism — “the Jewish right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland” — and that a majority of Jews are Zionists, the response from Sap Sua’s account included “a vast majority of Germans were Nazi’s [sic] in the 40’s. what’s your point?”
On the same thread, Lanigan again offered “the opportunity to sit down and have this conversation with you” in a long comment she wrote about Zionism and Jewish identity.
Nguyen, from his personal account, responded: “Palestine is home to Palestinians.” The response from the restaurant’s account: “no one is reading allat [sic],” followed by a laugh out loud emoji.
When Lanigan wrote that Nguyen’s responses made her feel unwelcome in his restaurant, Nguyen wrote that “everyone is welcome . . . except for anyone who aligns with the genocidal apartied [sic] ethno-supremacist regime of Israel,” followed by two hug emojis.
At that point, Lanigan gave up. “There wasn’t any type of openness to have a discussion.”
The furore escalated over Rosh Hashanah, when Nguyen posted a short video that included the statement “[Expletive] Israel” and denounced the people who had critiqued his “River to the Sea” post.
It was in comments in that and subsequent posts on Monday, Sept. 14, where both the restaurant and Sap Sua’s accounts stated that Zionists would not be welcome at its restaurant.
By the end of the day, Sap Sua had walked back its explicit banning of Zionists, but still maintained that Nguyen “loves the Jewish community. Opposing Zionism as a political ideology is not the same as opposing Jewish people or Judaism as a faith, and he’s not going to let those get conflated.”
Lanigan believes the message was worded to “circumnavigate any sort of legal ramification,” such as a violation of Colorado’s public accommodation laws, which define as unlawful withholding goods, services and accommodation based on protected characteristics including disability, race, national origin or ancestry.
The same applies to publishing or circulating any written or electronic communication that “indicates” withholding of goods, services and accommodation based on protected characteristics.
Nguyen, she says, “is trying to differentiate the two, much as people hide behind ‘anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism’ . . . but when you’re talking about excluding a group of people from being welcome at your restaurant right that serves the public and you’re doing it under the ‘I’m not anti-Semitic’ flag when studies show that 80 to 86% of adult Jewish people are pro-Israel . . .”
That the chef decided to double down and post his anti-Israel expletive on Rosh Hashanah motivated Lanigan to respond to its Sept. 14 post walking back its explicit banning of Zionists.
The restaurant reached out to her privately, writing that “Jews are welcome. Zionism is a political ideology, not a race, religion, color, or even nationality, so it would [not] be considered an immutable protected class,” says Lanigan.
In that exchange, she was accused of harassment and bullying, to which she responded: “I believe in every single person’s right to their personal opinions, but when you make statements about the annihilation of the Jewish homeland from your restaurant’s page, not your personal page, then you are subject to the consequences of those actions.”
That private back and forth ended with the restaurant stating that “Zionism is a political ideology like Nazism is.”
The ADL also reached out to the restaurant on Sept. 14. Susan Rona, regional director of Mountain States ADL, pointed the IJN to a statement the organization released late Monday, saying that the ADL remains “dedicated to engaging the restaurant owners in constructive dialogue” about harmful terminology.
For Lanigan, Sap Sua isn’t merely an Instagram account. She says she has dined at the restaurant multiple times and always received excellent service. She even celebrated a birthday there and has met Nguyen in person.
Despite — or because of — the positive experiences she has had at the restaurant, “This [was] something I was deeply upset about because I wanted there to be a safe conclusion,” she says.
“It’s deeply troubling to me that I wouldn’t be welcome in that setting based on my belief in the self-determination of my people to our ancestral homeland.”
© IJN 2026
