Alina Nicolin is living her dream.
A lady who loves to cook, Nicolin officially opened the doors this week to her new Italian takeout — Alina’s Kitchen — in the former Minelli’s location in Pine Plaza.
“It’s been my dream since I was a child to cook and have my own restaurant,” she told SooToday.
Alina is an ethnic Italian who left her home in Romania and lived in Italy for many years before she and husband Nick, daughter Sara and son Kelvin moved to Canada in 2018.
Alina has worked in the restaurant industry since she was 16.
“Romania was a poor country and they didn’t have much food so my mother dreamed of opening a business and cooking lots of food,” said daughter Sara.
Living in the Greater Toronto Area upon arriving in Canada, the Nicolin family moved to Sault Ste. Marie two-and-a-half years ago.
“A couple of young guys asked me: 'Why do you live in Toronto? It’s so expensive. You should go to Sault Ste. Marie. Houses are cheaper there.' I went home and told my wife and family and we came here for a visit,” said Nick Nicolin, who works as a general contractor.
The family visited the Sault in August 2021 and returned to stay a month later.
Nick remodelled the former Minelli’s takeout space and transformed it into Alina's Kitchen, increasing its floor space considerably and giving it a new look, including a larger waiting area for customers and new freezers containing Alina’s homemade food.
Sara said her family credits Roy Bortolussi, a local real estate agent, for helping the family find a home in the Sault and a space for Alina’s Kitchen.
“He came over to our house and said: ‘Why don’t you open your own restaurant?' We were able to open this business because of him. He’s like family,” Sara said.
She said that Alina has received a warm welcome from fellow vendors in Pine Plaza and nearby residents.
One visitor came with flowers, another with words of encouragement when SooToday visited Alina’s Kitchen on Friday.
“We’ve been doing well. People have been coming in for takeout orders and asking for menus,” Sara said.
“We love it. It’s very friendly. I think it’s beautiful,” Sara said of the Sault.
“I loved it from the first time I saw it,” Alina said.
Sara said that her family, with no relatives or prior friendships in the Sault, is fitting in well with the city’s Italian community.
“We love the friendly people and learning about the history of the Italian people who moved here and helped build this town. My mother feels like she belongs here.”
Alina’s Kitchen offers some non-Italian fare such as perogies, cabbage rolls and poutine, but the takeout specializes in Alina’s own garlic bread, bruschetta, homemade soups, salads, all types of pasta and meatballs, sandwiches, veal, chicken, roast potatoes, chicken wings and panzerotti.
“It’s all of mom’s own homemade pasta. This is my mother’s dream and because she’s helped me so much in my life I want to give back to her,” said Sara, a recent graduate of Korah Collegiate who is currently helping Alina run the takeout.
“She was seven years old when she started making bread and she cooked for her siblings at a very young age. But this is for her. We’re really happy that she’s getting to do this.”