Saffron Bazaar opens in downtown Ottawa

After working in restaurants across the country, Matt Intro and Monica Murzanski opened a food truck, Saffron Bazaar, last spring in Ottawa.

The food truck’s success led them to open a bar and venue late last year, coupling their Mediterranean-inspired cuisine with live entertainment. Saffron Bazaar’s menu is a combination of their favorite foods.

“Conceptually, I see all of our cuisine as global cuisine. It’s really just dependent on spices and things that grow in different locales. We have a lot of fusion food and our recipes came together in that manner as well.”

Rice bowls are Saffron Bazaar’s core menu. Guests build their own bowls by picking their protein and their sauce. The plate comes with saffron rice, cole slaw and pickled red onions. The menu is gluten free.

“(I’m) trying to stick to that gluten free intention,” Murzanski said. “Not all of our food needs to have wheat gluten in it. It’s something that’s a challenge to me as a chef as well and promotes some growth.”

The specials are small plates and more of a tapas style that will change seasonally.

“People are excited to have something that’s new and different as well as fresh because we do prepare every single food item in house from scratch. Now that we have a bar that can also showcase that I think it’s been a really great response.”

Murzanski, an Ottawa native, attended Northern Michigan University for hospitality and tourism management with a foundation in French culinary and business management. She’s worked in several restaurants across the country, citing New Holland Brewing Co. in Holland, Michigan, as one of her favorites.

“I did farm-to-table dining there. It was a 500-seat restaurant and I even did the butchering for the pig,” she said. “Every week or two we’d get a whole pig in. It was nose-to-tail dining, too, which is one of my favorite things.”

Nose-to-tail dining allows a restaurant to make ethical, sustainable use of the whole animal.

She also worked for a Spanish-Mexican restaurant in the west and managed a falafel restaurant.

Intro also worked at several restaurants across the country, both bartending and running the front end of restaurants.

When they moved into 1409 La Salle St., it had been vacant for about two years. They made some upgrades to the kitchen and other areas, as well as painting and redecorating.

The dining room includes a stage for entertainment. Their first plated dinner with live entertainment — a four-course meal with entertainment by Chad Link — is Saturday. The sold-out event sold 50 tickets in five days. They’d like to host these events monthly.

“I think the community really likes an indoor venue that’s a little more intimate,” Intro said.

In addition to live music, Saffron also has darts and a pool table.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 2 to 11 p.m. Saturday, 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday. The kitchen closes at 10 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Saffron Bazaar is cash only. Delivery is available via DoorDash.

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