Chef Sameh Wadi reboots Saffron in Northeast Minneapolis, paying homage to Palestinian roots

Saffron, a popular downtown Minneapolis restaurant, is rebooting a 2.0 version in Northeast Minneapolis in the former Young Joni space.

Chef Sameh Wadi says rebooting Saffron was like a rebirth 10 years in the making.

Wadi became re-inspired by going backwards, well before his training.

“It’s deeply rooted in Palestinian cuisine, which is something that I’m super honored to be able to preserve and share with the world,” he said.

The food is inspired by what’s written by his father.

Wadi found the pages in the basement of his brother’s home. It survived moves across three different countries. The manuscript, titled “The Encyclopedia of Palestinian Cuisine” was a guidebook of sorts of recipes curated by his parents.

His family was living in Kuwait at the time when his parents started writing in the mid-80s and the early 90s. Their goal was to preserve old, traditional recipes that were not being cooked. 

“My mom and dad were exiled from Palestine when they were kids. So their life’s work was always tied to preserving that history, preserving that culture, preserving the love and the joy to be able to pass those on to other generations,” said Wadi. “It encapsulates an entire generation of displaced individuals.”

Wadi says he’s just trying to absorb as much of it as he can. It changed the way he cooks, and made him want to cook with more soul.

“It has been an anchoring point in my career,” he said. “I can cook this humble food.”

Dining at the restaurant is a culinary experience. The foods are a reflection of his heritage and his family’s hospitality. There’s a sundae on the menu named after his mother, and the ingredients are sourced from the Middle East.

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On one wall hangs a dedication that his mother wrote in the manuscript.

“I will never be able to do it justice to translate it into English. But the gist of it is that she dedicates this to all the Palestinian women and the mothers that spread their roots across the globe,” Wadi says. “I feel like we’re honoring my mother by being able to carry her life’s work forwards. It’s very powerful stuff.”

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