’Tis Dining Month, the tastiest time of year! This means we’re dishing up fun and fascinating food content throughout October. Dig in, Milwaukee! OnMilwaukee Dining Month is served up by Potawatomi Casino Hotel.
It’s as important as ever to support the amazing collection of local restaurants that we have in our beautiful city. And there’s no better way to do so than committing to patronize them throughout the year. To guide you on your journey, I’ve composed a list of 52 amazing restaurants. Try just one of these every week and you’ll have visited them all by the end of 2024. View the full list OR download an abbreviated printable PDF file for your fridge or wallet.
Saffron Modern Indian Dining
223 N. Water St., (414) 539-4980
saffronmke.com
Modern Indian
$$-$$$
[Read more]
I love well-executed Indian fare, and Saffron delivers in spades with a modern concept that takes everything I love and turns it up a notch. The restaurant itself is gorgeous, the service is fantastic and the food is like nothing else in the city. It's fresh. It's modern. But it still pays full homage to the traditional flavors and techniques that make Indian fare so incredible.
Familiar dishes include Saffron’s butter chicken (made with smoked chicken); dal makhani; saag paneer and breads including na’an, roti and lacha paratha.
But the fun lies in the less familiar offerings like Lasooni Chicken Tikki (garlicky tandoor chicken, earthy-sweet spiced beets and a sweet, complex fig chutney); Prawns Narkel Shorshe (prawns cooked with mustard seed and curry leaves and presented in a young coconut); and Palak Nadru Kofta (dumplings made from sweet, nutty lotus stems and paneer cheese served atop a bed of creamy spiced spinach with crispy makhana). Be sure to try one of their remarkable cocktails, like the Flaming Mezcal, a cocktail that combines the smokiness of mezcal with the bitter-sweet citrus notes of Campari and subtle spice notes from chai liqueur.
Note: Saffron is also a deliciously different stop for weekend brunch.
Recommended: Fig or black garlic na’an; kale & avocado chaat; crispy cauliflower; Dum Lamb Biryani
As a passionate champion of the local dining scene, Lori has reimagined the restaurant critic's role into that of a trusted dining concierge, guiding food lovers to delightful culinary discoveries and memorable experiences.
Lori is an avid cook whose accrual of condiments and spices is rivaled only by her cookbook collection. Her passion for the culinary industry was birthed while balancing A&W root beer mugs as a teenage carhop, fed by insatiable curiosity and fueled by the people whose stories entwine with every dish. Lori is the author of two books: the "Wisconsin Field to Fork" cookbook and "Milwaukee Food". Her work has garnered journalism awards from entities including the Milwaukee Press Club. In 2024, Lori was honored with a "Top 20 Women in Hospitality to Watch" award by the Wisconsin Restaurant Association.
When she’s not eating, photographing food, writing or planning for TV and radio spots, you’ll find Lori seeking out adventures with her husband Paul, traveling, cooking, reading, learning, snuggling with her cats and looking for ways to make a difference.
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