Local Flavor: New bakery in Saco, and new Mexican restaurant

When Victoria Gilson Torres was looking for a location for her new bakery, she found the perfect spot on Main Street in Saco.

Torres opened Sea Spray Confections earlier this month at 209 Main St., suite 103. When coming up with a business plan for her new business, she wrote a list of all the things she needed in a location. When she saw the space at 209 Main St., where Sugar Mama’s Café used to be, it checked all the boxes.

I visited Sea Spray Confections on Thursday afternoon, and the first thing I noticed was the delicious aroma. Torres was working on a custom order of a Black Forest cake, and the smell of it baking permeated the whole café.

Everything at Sea Spray Confections is made from fresh ingredients – with no preservatives or fillers. If Torres is making cupcakes with a strawberry filling, she’ll chop up strawberries and make the filling. Likewise, a strawberry rhubarb pie will have rhubarb from her garden.

“It’s all scratch baking. You definitely get a heartier taste when you cook from scratch instead of using mixes,” she said.

Sea Spray Confections features classic bakery items – the kinds of things you might see in your grandma’s recipe box, like whoopie pies, ginger snap cookies, cinnamon buns and chocolate chip cookies.

Torres also does wholesale baking for convenience stores, and her most popular item is the oatmeal maple cream pie, which she also sells at the bakery.

I was fortunate enough to be given one by Torres. The best way to describe it is that it’s a far superior version of a Little Debbie Oatmeal Crème Pie. The cookies were soft, and the maple gave it a nice flavor. The amount of filling was perfect – not skimpy, but not overwhelming. It was frosting-like but not overly sweet.

Torres quit a job in the corporate world to open her bakery. It was, she said, “a leap of faith,” but she’s been encouraged by the number of repeat customers as well as people who heard of her through word of mouth.

“I come from a very long line of cooks and bakers. I grew up helping my mom make desserts and pies,” she said.

She honed her baking skills and a few years ago, opened a self-serve bakery stand at 38 Bradley St. She intends to keep the bakery stand stocked, so that busy moms and people who work during the day can have access to her fresh baked goods even if they can’t make it to the Main Street bakery.

Sea Spray Confections also serves lunch items like salads and vegetarian wraps. Torres is looking to expand the menu, with soup in the winter, and breads.

“I just got my grandpa’s biscuit maker. He owned a restaurant in Wells decades ago and I’m trying to recreate his biscuits,” she said.

Seaside Confections is open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.

New Mexican restaurant in Saco

El Tequila opened this week at 512 Main St., Saco, in a building vacated by Boomers earlier this year. The restaurant, which also has a location in Waterboro, has an extensive menu including vegetarian options, lunch specials and kid’s items.

Liz Gotthelf is the publisher of Saco Bay News. She also loves to eat and support local businesses. If you have any local restaurant or food news, she’d love to hear from you. Send her an email at newsdesk@sacobaynews.com.