Saffron sets opening date in Third Ward
Saffron Modern Indian Dining, combining traditional Indian flavors with contemporary plating and world cooking techniques, debuts June 4 in the Third Ward.
Reservations can be made through OpenTable starting Monday, but they’re not required.
Saffron will be at 223 N. Water St., where it will have a full bar and riverfront deck for patio dining, along with its dining room that seats about 60. The site most recently was Rivalry Bar.
“It was very bar-esque . ... Everything was very dark,” said Fatima Kumar. “That’s not the look we were going for over here.” She owns and operates Saffron with her husband, Hanish.
The restaurant now has a white quartz bartop and a custom backbar of woodwork with gold accents.
White, blue, teal, antique gold and dark wood appear throughout the restaurant, Kumar said. One wall has a custom mural by Jenny Vyas.
Menu items will be made with traditional Indian spices and flavors, and the restaurant has a tandoor oven for bread and other items, but food also will be prepared in ways not typically associated with Indian cooking, Kumar said.
Some of the dishes include pulled tandoori chicken bao buns; butter chicken made with smoked chicken and a sauce of red pepper and tomato; and malai lamb chops, brined with cardamom and baked in the tandoor. Entrée prices range from $24 to $32. The menu will have gluten-free, nutfree, vegan and vegetarian dishes.
At the bar, Saffron has a menu of its own cocktails and nonalcoholic drinks.
Kumar said Saffron is modeled after Indian restaurants in New York and elsewhere where she and her husband have dined.
The menu will be posted at saf
fronmke.com. Takeout and delivery will be through the Toast online ordering platform.
Piroshky Piroshky in Milwaukee
Piroshky Piroshky, a baker of Eastern European savory and sweet hand pies and pastries in Seattle, will pop up in Milwaukee.
Customers order by 11:30 a.m. June 7 to pick up from 4 to 6 p.m. June 9 at Third Space Brewing, 1505 W. St. Paul Ave.
The piroshky are flown to Milwaukee frozen for heating at home; a $50 minimum order is required.
To order, go to piroshkybakery.com; click on Order and then on Pre-order Pickup Event.
Piroshky available include salmon pate, potato-cheese, beef-cheese, and chocolate hazelnut roll.
The bakery, in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, has won acclaim from Andrew Zimmern and Smithsonian Magazine, among others.