Saffron Restaurant - Butte
Author: Traveling Diners
Traveling Diners
We recently went to an event at the Motherload theater in Butte. We decided to spend the night in Butte rather than travel back to Townsend late at night.
In the past, when we stayed overnight in Butte, we stayed at the historic Finlen Hotel. It is in the Butte Historic District, and we always have a pleasant stay. But this time we decided to try another hotel in Butte’s Historic District and found a “boutique hotel” right in the middle of the Historic District.
The Miner’s Hotel is a restored building on West Park Street in uptown Butte. It is not a modern, new hotel, but it was a really charming, cozy room in the historic building. Parking is in an empty lot right next to the hotel, which was very convenient. We loved the room, but found uptown Butte can be pretty noisy on a Saturday night. That was really our only complaint about the hotel. The hotel is located about 2 blocks from the Motherload Theater, which is also located on West Park Street. That made it very convenient to walk to the theater.
We have dined at Casagranda’s on Arizona Street several times. It is one of our favorite restaurants in Butte. However, we thought this time we would try a new restaurant, one we had not tried before. I had read several good reviews of the Rib and Chop House on Harrison Avenue – quite a ways from the Historic District and we made a reservation for dinner.
However, in just walking around the Butte Historic District, we found a restaurant we had never heard of: Saffron. Saffron is conveniently located on West Park Street, about halfway between our hotel and the theater. It is a Middle East restaurant featuring kebabs, rack of lamb and, of course, good Montana Beef.
It looked interesting, so we cancelled our reservation at the Rib and Chop House and made a reservation at Saffron. It was a great decision. We thoroughly enjoyed the ambiance and the food at Saffron.
The restaurant is located below grade, so we walked down a flight of stairs from the sidewalk to the entrance of the restaurant. The entryway is very nicely done. On our way out, we noticed the stairs up to the sidewalk level had different ornamental faces on each step.
The restaurant itself is very beautiful, and our server was a delightful young lady who made the meal even more enjoyable. We ordered the beef kebab and rack of lamb. We also split the salad-du-jour. There were several appetizers that looked great, but it was just too much food for two people.
The kebab dinner was four very nicely spiced kebabs served with fresh vegetables and a flat bread. The rack of lamb was a generous 7 ribs served with a salad of arugula, beets, pine nuts and feta cheese. The lamb had a small serving of whipped goat cheese on each rib.
The menu states that the table does not have salt and pepper because the chef knows how to season the food properly (but they are available on request). We did not need either. Everything was seasoned perfectly.
For dessert, we ordered a mango “mochi” (basically ice cream as a dough) and baklava – it is a Middle Eastern restaurant after all! The desserts were not quite as good as the rest of the meal. The mango ice cream was great, but the dough added nothing to the dessert. The baklava was okay; the nuts and honey filling were good, but the pastry was not light and flaky, but rather heavy.
We would heartily recommend eating at Saffron for both the ambiance and the excellent meal – but maybe have an appetizer and pass on dessert!
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PhotoCredit: Traveling Diners
Image 1 Caption: Going down to the restaurant
Photo Credit: Traveling Diners
Image 2 Caption: A refreshing Salad of beets, pine nuts, macadamia nuts, feta cheese on Arugala greens served with an orange dressing.
Photo Credit: Traveling Diners
Image 3 Caption: Entrees of Kebab and Rack of lamb
Photo Credit: Traveling Diners
Image 4 Caption: A great use of old Mining Carts
Photo Credit: Traveling Diners
Image 5 Caption: Steps leading to the sidewalk level
Photo Credit: Traveling Diners
