BY BETTS GRIFFONE
EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO, Linda Rouyer helped start a catering business that served romantic dinners in private homes. She brought everything — gourmet food, music, table cloths, napkins, flowers — to create the right ambience. Paris L.A. Candlelight Dinners for Two was launched mostly because she liked to entertain.
What started as a hobby became so successful that another pair of hands was needed in the kitchen to keep things going, so Rouyer’s mother, Sherry Powell, joined the party.
One day, Rouyer brought a few sandwiches to her father’s office, and employees were ready to order more the following day. Word spread and surrounding businesses started placing orders.
So began the adventure.
In 2002, the growing catering business expanded again with the opening of a restaurant in Ontario’s historic Guasti Villa, in the heart of what once was an enclave of Italian families — nestled among the vineyards.
“The villa is like a lovely lady that needed to be treated with respect,” Powell said.
“A little worn and tattered, she just needed some pampering.” With a restaurant called Paris L.A., however, most people coming in for lunch expected French food, so the name was changed to Saffron.
Open only for lunch, Saffron gained enough of a following that evening events were added during the summer. Saffron Nights attracted hundreds of people to the Villa with a changing buffet, live music and dancing. Little white lights in the trees added a magical touch to the warm summer evenings.
But Guasti Villa was sold, and Saffron needed a new home. Rouyer and Powell were so happy in that lovely old building, they started looking at other historic buildings for the new site. They found one at the Riverside Art Museum, in a Julia Morgan building dating from the 1920s, which had just lost its restaurant.
Saffron opened at the museum in January, and the notice soon followed. Its young executive chef, Matt Sramek, has been selected to represent the United States at the Academi Culinaire de France — a cuisine and pastry competition where he will face entrants from 12 other nations.
In addition, Saffron was recently recognized on the Fox (Channel 11) Hot List.
Not ready to stop growing, Rouyer and Powell are looking to bring the Saffron concept to other historic buildings in San Dimas and Upland. They also hope to bring back Saffron Nights, and maybe one of the new locations will make it a possibility.
Saffron
3425 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside
Lunch 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday-Friday; dinner 5:30 to close Tuesday-Saturday (951) 367-1396 Rooted in romance
