Saffron Bazaar is located at 1409 LaSalle St, Ottawa Il 61350. Their hours are 4pm to 11pm Tuesday through Thursday, 4pm to 2am Friday and Saturday, and 3pm to 10pm on Sunday. Learn more about their menu and live entertainment on their Facebook page.

We are just a few days away from the beginning of Restaurant Weeks (read the event description here), on March 8th! Our bite-sized series of interviews continues, with Saffron Bazaar’s Matt Intro. Saffron Bazaar originally started off as a food truck at the Ottawa Farmers and Makers Market, about three years ago. Saffron moved into its current location in late 2023.

First, Matt gave us a rundown of the ideas behind Saffron Bazaar’s creation.

“It’s just a local flair, and we cater towards that idea of random. We started locally, we started organically, and then we still continued to do that in the same way,” Matt said. 

After that, we got some information about what guests can expect from Saffron during Restaurant Weeks. Any “foodies” out there are bound to enjoy these enticing selections!

“We have the reimagined classic, it’s going to be a Chinese five-spiced braised fried chicken legs, with a saffron basmati rice, that we’ve always featured on our menu. So, it’s kind of like a hometown classic, reimagined fried chicken, but kind of flipped on its head,” Matt explained. 

“The chef’s selection is going to be a tagliatelle pasta kind of presented in a Japanese-Ramen way,” Matt said. “The tagliatelle dish is an Italian consommé pulled smoked pork, sous vide egg. Think ramen presentation but Italian flavors,” he added.

Saffron makes their pasta by hand every day. Perfect for the chef’s selection and comfort food reimagined themes of Restaurant Weeks? But what else is on the menu? We asked Matt if he has any favorites. Maybe they could be yours too!

“Honestly, the reason why I’m highlighting that chicken… That’s my favorite thing on the menu,” he said. “I do like gyros, gyro bowls, fried chicken, you know. I’ve got a pork chop, sandwich BLTs, random appetizers, cheeseburgers things like that.  Again, it’s all kind of Midwest Classics reinvented by me as a chef, but presented in a Midwest classic way.”

Getting hungrier (for knowledge), we wanted to know what Matt’s favorite part about running a restaurant in Ottawa is.

“The best thing about working in and operating in a restaurant in Ottawa is the small town community. The connection you can have with the local guests are the best part. We have a wonderful people,” he said. “It really is a blessing. We have the best town, full of the nicest people. I win the lottery every day, just coming to work.” 

And we couldn’t agree more! We are so excited and proud to be working with twelve restaurants in our community for an event like this. Make sure to stay connected with us on our socials for more updates on Restaurant Weeks, as we continue to serve up these bite-sized interviews! The event kicks off on March 8th through the 21st.

Many thanks to Matt for having us!