Phillip Brewer has been in the restaurant business for 15 years and a chef for about the last ten.
"I was in Colorado the last eight years. I worked at a place in downtown Denver called the Thirsty Lion for six years, then at Cattivella for about a year and a half," Brewer said.
Now, Brewer is calling Sault Ste. Marie home by opening up Prime Cuts Italian Steakhouse.
"My parents have been up here for about six years now. My dad has been trying to get me to do this ever since. I told him a couple times I wasn't ready, then finally I told him 'lets do it while I am still young. I knew I had enough experience at that point where I knew what I was doing. I was pretty confident. Plus I wanted to do this while I was still young enough knowing the hours I will put in. I work 6 a.m.-11 p.m., seven days a week," the 31-year-old Brewer said.
The menu at Prime Cuts is full of specialty dishes that Brewer is proud to create and offer. However, some of them were not perfected on the first try.
"I have several dishes on the menu that I have done in Denver or other times when I was working. However, a lot of cooking is trial and error. You make something, if it doesn't work, you try it again. When I brought the cooks in for training, I told them that it's all trial and error," Brewer explained.
After a year of completely remodelling the old Angios building, they officially opened up Jan. 20, 2025.
"I looked at the building in Jan. 2024 and closed on building Feb. 2024. I knew this would be the one because of its location alone being on the Business Spur along with the big parking lot," Brewer said.
In the short time Prime Cuts has been open there's already a customer favorite.
"Ribeye steaks. We are selling those like crazy," Brewer said.
"The first few days were chaotic. Even though the workers were new, they really looked like they knew what they were doing so we are going to be okay as we move ahead. We have a really good crew," said Tari Miller, Prime Cuts manager.
Like Brewer, Miller also recommends the ribeye steak dinner. But she said the whole menu is chocked full of homemade and hand-made items and says it's because of the hard work of Brewer and the line cooks.
"He is in here from morning until night. He deserves this to work for him," Miller said.
Prime Cuts Italian Steakhouse is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and is located at 3350 I-75 Business Spur.
