Driving along the far eastern stretch of Queen Street near a quiet, ‘suburban Sault Ste. Marie’ residential area, you’ll see Absolutely Delicious, a popular restaurant, bakery and takeout with a brightly lit indoor dining space.
“We were located downtown for 20 years. For 10 years we were on Queen Street in the downtown, then after that we were in the Travelodge before it became the Days Inn. We relocated two and a half years ago to the east end, to Dacey Road,” said Angelisa Mills, Absolutely Delicious owner/operator.
“When we moved to the east end, we kept all the customers we had for 20 years, which is great, but at the same time we gained new customers in the new neighbourhood, so we outgrew that space very quickly.”
“That was a good problem to have, so then we moved here (to 2200 Queen St. E.) in September 2018,” Angelisa smiled.
“At first, some of the customers said ‘the east end is so far away,’ but nothing is really far away in Sault Ste. Marie.”
The loyalty of Absolutely Delicious longtime, regular customers is evident, seen through the hugs they exchanged with Angelisa as they prepared to leave after a busy lunchtime period last week.
“We have very happy regular customers. I’ve even had elderly customers help us make our moves on moving day,” Angelisa said.
“Now, we have new customers come in from this area and say, ‘Wow, I didn’t know you had all of this'.”
Absolutely Delicious, with a dining room able to seat approximately 45 people, serves breakfast and lunch, with hot meals available for takeout, as well as a freezer full of homemade frozen meals available for takeout.
“They’re used to my soups, sandwiches, quiche... they say we have the best toasted western sandwich in Sault Ste. Marie. If I don’t make 25 of them a day, I’d be surprised,” said Angelisa.
Homemade meat pies used to be available every day, but Angelisa, a professionally trained cook, said “I couldn’t keep up with it, so now we just do them on Thursdays.”
Daily specials are available, such as slow roasted porchetta and scalloped potatoes when SooToday visited Absolutely Delicious last week.
“We have many different elements here. We have our breakfast and lunch. We have all the freezers with the frozen food, all of it homemade, filled with items like our meat pies, lasagna and pizza pockets for kids,” Angelisa said.
“Smaller portions are available for seniors. The smaller portions are pre-cooked, packaged, labelled and frozen. They’re very popular. We thought it would be a favourite for the elderly, but younger people like them for dinner.”
Absolutely Delicious also caters for special occasions.
“We have soups, stews, pasta, different sauces, then of course, our baking. They say I make pastry ‘just like Grandma,’” Angelisa said with a smile.
Including Angelisa and husband Mario Bigras, Absolutely Delicious employs eight people.
Born and raised in the Sault, Angelisa said “this is something I’ve always wanted to do since I was seven or eight years old. I’ve cooked and baked all my life.”
Does she ever get tired of cooking?
“People ask me that question all the time. I still go home and cook. I enjoy it. I certainly go out and eat and it’s nice to be served, but I cook all the time.”
“It’s my thing,” she smiled.