Saffron Restaurant & Lounge
123 N. Third St. (First Ave.) 
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Minneapolis, MN 55401
612-746-5533 | Make Restaurant Reservations
 Everything’s right on the money in this creative downtown café---except crowd control. It’s absent because there isn’t a need, and that’s a darned pity. Taking over the cavernous digs of a former Warehouse nightclub and softening its décor with Arabian touches, the youthful chef-owner, who hails from Palestine, has devised a fusion menu that’s a far cry from the sorry pack of amateur blenders. He starts with traditional Middle Eastern dishes; then he softens or sparks them with Modern American techniques. This results in standouts like a blue crab salad infused with citrus and curry and a roasted cauliflower soup jazzed up with charmoula. Worthy entrées include duck breast sided with a goat cheese-medjool date tart and a salmon-clam tagine. Suave service adds to the pleasure. |
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